The Department of Energy and Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) are committed to involving their stakeholders in activities that may impact neighbors of the Laboratory. Accordingly, the Peconic River Cleanup Working Group has been formed to create an opportunity for dialogue between stakeholders and the Peconic River project team. The intent is to help the project team make better decisions through stakeholder input. The establishment of the Working Group will ensure that stakeholders with an in-depth interest or special knowledge of the Peconic River will have a direct line of communication and input with the Laboratory Peconic River cleanup project team, and the project team will have the availability of a group of stakeholders to act as a sounding board for planned activities. This Working Group will not preclude other opportunities for community input such as the Community Advisory Council, public comment periods, and roundtable sessions. When issues become apparent that exceed the project level, they will be elevated to other appropriate forums for discussions and community input in accordance with the BNL Community Involvement Plan.

The objectives of this group are to:

 a.  Provide community input to the Peconic River project team on project-level decisions with regard to cleanup of the Peconic River.

 b.  Provide early and informal access for stakeholders to project planning, operations, and findings in a manner that facilitates early input to the project team.

 c.  Identify policy–and value-related issues that may be of interest to the broader community and bring these issues to appropriate forums.

Based upon the current schedule, input in developing decisions for project-level activities noted below will be requested from the Working Group. It is anticipated that the Working Group will need to be in place for approximately two years until the Proposed Remedial Action Plan (PRAP) for the Peconic River is out for public comment and work is initiated in the Peconic River to clean it up. The decision points are as follows:

1.  Provide input on the implementation and evaluation of the pilot studies to be conducted in the Peconic River.

2.  Provide input on the development of the risk assessment and the subsequent development of draft cleanup goals.

3.  Provide input on the development of the draft Proposed Remedial Action Plan for the Peconic River Cleanup.

4.  Provide input on the cleanup process.

The scope of responsibility for the Working Group members is defined as follows:

1.  Gain and maintain a sufficiently detailed knowledge of the project and project-specific issues to allow direct input to project team members.

2.  Inform their parent and/or associated organizations and the community at large regarding project specific planning decisions and operations.

3.  Identify technical and individual concerns with regard to the Peconic River cleanup process and activities.

4.  Advise the Laboratory Peconic River project team and, more specifically, the Peconic River Cleanup manager or designee with regard to technical and community related issues.

5.  Provide input that supports and enhances the project-level decision process with regard to the major Peconic River cleanup activities. In doing so, assist the project team in identifying options for project activities.

6.  Identify appropriate project-related issues to be discussed with the broader community.

7.  Attend routinely scheduled meetings prepared to discuss agenda items.

1.  Provide accurate and timely information about the pilot study process of Peconic River cleanup technologies, and the Peconic River cleanup process in general, especially information related to environment and public health issues.

2.  Consider advice provided by the Working Group when making decisions regarding the project and provide timely feedback with regard to those decisions.

3.  Acknowledge, consider, and act appropriately on input from the Working Group that support and enhance the decision process about milestones along the path to the Peconic River cleanup.

4.  Be responsive to information requests and support the Working Group in its role.

5.  Bring project-related issues before the Working Group for its information and discussion.

6.  Provide sufficient information about project direction and activities to facilitate identifying options for project activities.

7.  Schedule, facilitate, and support the regular meetings.

8.  Attend routinely scheduled meetings prepared to present and discuss agenda items.

9.  The Project Team will provide the Working Group with full and complete access to available information with regard to issues pertaining to the Peconic River Cleanup project.

1.  The Peconic River Cleanup Manager and the Peconic River DOE Project Manager (non-member), or their designees, will attend each meeting.

2.  Laboratory management will inform the community at large regarding the project-level planning decisions and operations, as well as the operations of the working group.

The Working Group is expected to consist of expert and interested stakeholders. The Peconic River Cleanup Manager and the Department of Energy Project Manager, or their designees, will attend. Members will be solicited from the Community Advisory Council; regulatory agencies; local government offices; surrounding special interest, civic and environmental organizations; and Laboratory employees.

Members are expected to serve until the Peconic River cleanup work plans are developed and work is initiated. This is expected to be approximately two years.

Membership solicitation will be initiated by BNL. Meetings are anticipated on a monthly basis initially and may be held more or less frequently as the Group matures and the project evolves.