UPDATE #1: NRC  has basically verified all this. Listen to this phone call.

* * *

Once again the NRC is up to its old antics of creating secret meetings for the privileged few it deems as stakeholders.  NRC’s alleged Government-to-Government meeting is in direct violation of federal and state Sunshine Laws, the NRC Chair’s commitment to NRC transparency and inclusiveness, and President Obama’s promise for Change to the electorate to usher in a new era of openness in our federal democracy.

According to the private email sent by the NRC to selected public officials:

The meeting is closed to members of the public and the media and it will not be publically noticed.  The meeting is open to elected State/Town officials or a member of their staff and selected representatives from your State agencies.  The purpose of the meeting being closed is to provide you an opportunity to have an open and frank discussion, ask questions and express your concerns.  Our goal is for the invitees to feel comfortable in an environment that won’t lead to possible misquotes in the media or misunderstandings with your constituents.

The initial email sent out by NRC included a PDF document detailing the meeting.  I have pasted the entire PDF at the bottom of this post.  

SUBJECT: U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION, REGION I

VERMONT YANKEE GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT MEETING

Dear:

You are cordially invited to attend a government-to-government meeting among the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); representatives of various Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts state agencies; and Federal and local government officials from the communities surrounding the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. At this meeting, NRC will discuss its independent inspection of Entergy’s groundwater initiative program and the NRC’s review, to date, of the activities related to the recent tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee site.

The NRC is providing this information in advance of the public release of its inspection report on

this subject to better equip government stakeholders to answer questions they may receive from their constituents. The meeting will be limited to elected officials, or their staff, to best facilitate an open and courteous discussion and will not be open to the public or the media.

UPDATE #2:

From the comments:

   At a minimum . . .

. . . I expect the Democratic candidates for Governor with the exception of Matt Dunne who is not an elected official to send staff to this meeting. Why should Dubie get a pass? He should be there with a tape recorder too.

This meeting must be recorded in accordance with Vermont’s Open Meeting laws. If these four Vermont government officials send their staff, then all records. . . are public documents. . .

I want to see all four elected candidates commit to upholding open government on one of the biggest liabilities the Douglas administration is hoisting on Vermont’s taxpayers and all of us rate payers.

This is a really good idea!

Do you want to know what is happening? Time to get on the phone to Susan Bartlett, Deb Markowitz, Doug Racine & Peter Shumlin.  There is no excuse for them, or someone representing them, not to be at that meeting protecting Vermont’s interests.  

These entities have proven that they can never be trusted behind closed doors. Can we trust our elected representatives to attend and give a full accounting? Let’s find out.

* * *

UPDATE #3:

The Times Argus has now picked up this story:  

No wonder Entergy feels it is legitimate business to hold private press conferences  as detailed by Ed in his Green Mountain Daily blog or allege that they have conducted an-independent-legal-review as detailed by Shay Totten in his March 3, 2010 Seven Days column entitled Old Habits Die Hard.

Ironically, my sources have informed me that the NRC meeting arranged to be held at the Keene Country Club in Keene, NH on the evening of April 14, allegedly includes a select list of attendees from the towns within the 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone (EPZ).  To quote from the email:

The attendees will include State, Federal, Congressional and local (town selectmen) representatives from the districts within the 10 mile EPZ of the power plant.

Yet, to date, towns like  Brattleboro, Hinsdale, Guilford, Marlboro, and Halifax are not on the email address list.  Is there another list?  

Could it be that the other towns have received a separate email?  

Or is the NRC selecting those towns it deems stakeholders?  

With a uniquely crafted NRC presentation leaving out the details about Entergy’s knowledge of the tritium leak for more than one-year prior to the spreading plume and leaving out the latest validated science on tritium whose to complain about the hundreds of gallons of tritiated water floating around Entergy Nuclear’s Vermont Yankee (ENVY) site or for that matter the Connecticut River.  See the report on the JFO website detailing ENVY knowledge of its buried pipes entitled A Chronicle of Issues Regarding Buried Tanks and Underground Piping at VT Yankee.  Read the accurate science on Tritium in which Dr. Bertell says that “dilution has never been, and will never be the solution for pollution.” The health effects of tritium by Dr. Bertell.

While the NRC has been notorious in calling for closed meetings under all types of circumstances, this circumstance does not seem to fit the intent of the Sunshine Act 5 U.S.C. 552.b.  If by some peculiar twist of NRC legal interpretation or promulgation of a new regulation as the NRC is wont to do, NRC has the right to call for a closed meeting like this one, such a meeting flies directly in the face of NRC Chairman Jaczko’s proclaimed commitment to President Obama’s January 21, 2010 memorandum on transparency and open government.

Speaking at the 22nd Annual Regulatory Information Conference in Rockville, Md, March 18, 2010, Chairman Jaczko said,

I believe that all of this scrutiny and attention makes it even more important that we conduct the public’s work in an open and transparent manner.

Furthermore, let me quote from the NRC’s-own-website which states:

Throughout his tenure on the Commission, Dr. Jaczko has focused on the NRC being a decisive safety regulator with the confidence of the public.  He has worked to have the agency clearly communicate with the public and its licensees.

Dr. Jaczko firmly believes that the NRC should be as open with information as possible to best accomplish its mission of protecting public health and safety and the environment.  Because he believes public involvement strengthens the formulation of public policy, Dr. Jaczko has encouraged all stakeholders – including licensees, vendors, state and local governments, interest groups, and the general public – to participate in NRC policy-making efforts.

Whether or not this secret meeting shows that the NRC commissioners are simply giving lip service to President Obama, in spite of Chairman Jaczko’s word to the contrary, the meeting is in direct opposition to Dr. Jaczko’s public commitment to open and transparent process made at the NRC’s March 18, 2010 Regulatory Information Conference.

Dr. Jaczko’s complete speech may be found at here.  In an excerpt he said,

I believe that all of this scrutiny and attention makes it even more important that we conduct the public’s work in an open and transparent manner.

Over the past few months, we have moved forward with implementing the President’s Open Government Directive. As an independent agency, we were not required to comply with this Directive, but we have done so because it’s in line with our historic organizational commitment to openness and transparency. This is an area that will always require our continuing focus. We can’t simply check a few boxes on a form, and then declare ourselves open and transparent. We have to continually explain to the public what we are doing, how we are doing it, and why we are doing it.

Our staff has done much good work in this area by reaching out to the public and to our stakeholders in developing new regulations and explaining our implementation. Consistent with that approach, I hope that over the next few months the Commission will begin to meet more frequently in public to deliberate and vote on matters under consideration. I believe that this kind of openness and transparency will build public confidence in the agency by highlighting our strengths: the hard work and dedication of the staff, and the diligence of the Commission.

Finally, I believe that this secret meeting meeting is also a violation of New Hampshire’s open meeting regulations that states,

Openness in the conduct of public business is essential to a democratic society.

The purpose of this chapter is to ensure both the greatest possible public access to the actions, discussions and records of all public bodies, and their accountability to the people.

Which government meetings are open to the public?

The law states that all gatherings of a quorum of members of a public body for the purpose of deliberating and deciding public policy.

Notable exemptions to this definition include:

• collective bargaining strategy and negotiation

• consultation that would fall under the attorney-client privilege

• single party caucuses

• circulation of draft documents that merely finalize decisions made in open meetings.

What government bodies are subject to the laws?

The act defines government body as any agency of the state or any of its political subdivisions. This definition explicitly includes the legislature, the executive council and all boards of other state agencies and political subdivisions. The act also includes non-profits corporations whose sole member is a public agencies.

For the record, I want to state three items:

• First, in addition to founding Fairewinds Associates in 2003, I began my career as a newspaper journalist since 1991 and have continued to free-lance since 1996.

• I am married to nuclear engineer Arnie Gundersen, who is a member of the Vermont Yankee Public Oversight Panel, and chief engineer with Fairewinds Associates.  Our firm has a contract with the Joint Fiscal Office.  

• The material provided herein was provided to me in my role as a journalist, and was not provided to Arnie in his role as a panel member or to us in our contractual role with JFO.

Due to my paralegal work in nuclear safety, engineering and reliability as well as my ongoing work as a journalist and blogger with Green Mountain Daily, I recently asked again to be on a press call and to receive press releases from NRC Region 1.  I had several recent emails with Region 1 spokesperson Neil Sheehan, who said, “This was an informational briefing for media outlets. As such, only reporters were on the call.”  And, “I’ll have to take a look at that web site. I’ve been doing this for 13 1/2 years and have never heard from a reporter for the Green Mountain Daily.”

Ironically even the media has been left out of this little NRC New Hampshire junket.  

You may remember that Sheehan is the same spokesperson who claimed that the leaking and crashing cooling towers were simply “more sagging, deformation in some of the wood.”

And that was the official line until actual images were posted by Phil Baruth on Vermont Daily Briefing.

 

If I knew how to post a PDF in full I would, but here is the whole letter cut and pasted.  Unfortunately the Agenda does not format correctly:

UNITED STATES

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

REGION I

475 ALLENDALE ROAD

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA 19406-1415

SUBJECT: U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION, REGION I

VERMONT YANKEE GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT MEETING

Dear:

You are cordially invited to attend a government-to-government meeting among the U. S.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); representatives of various Vermont, New Hampshire

and Massachusetts state agencies; and Federal and local government officials from the

communities surrounding the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. At this meeting, NRC will

discuss its independent inspection of Entergy’s groundwater initiative program and the NRC’s

review, to date, of the activities related to the recent tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee site.

The NRC is providing this information in advance of the public release of its inspection report on

this subject to better equip government stakeholders to answer questions they may receive from their constituents. The meeting will be limited to elected officials, or their staff, to best facilitate an open and courteous discussion and will not be open to the public or the media.

The meeting will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 14, 2010, at the

Keene Country Club, located at 755 West Hill Road in Keene, NH. Prior to the meeting, the

NRC will host an informational poster board session from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Registration

will begin at 5:30 p.m. Staff from the NRC’s Region I office will present information on the

NRC’s independent inspection activities and assessment of Entergy’s groundwater investigation. The NRC has also invited our federal partners from the Environmental Protection

Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be present to answer questions

pertinent to their agencys’ mission. A preliminary agenda is enclosed.

Please RSVP, by April 5, 2010, by sending the enclosed form via e-mail to Nancy McNamara at

Nancy.McNamara@nrc.gov or by faxing the completed form to (610) 337-5349. This form may

also be used to provide preliminary questions in advance of the meeting. Please indicate on

your registration form if you will attend in person or send a member of your staff selected in your place. Based on the number of invitees and limited space, we respectfully request that you limit participation to two individuals.

2

We look forward to meeting with you on April 14. If you have any questions about our planned

meeting, please contact Nancy McNamara at (610) 337-5337.

Enclosures: As Stated

Sincerely,.

Darrell J. Robe ,Director

Division of Reactor Safety

US NRC GOVERNMENT TO GOVERNMENT MEETING

April 14, 2010, 6:00 p.rn. – 9:00 p.m.

AGENDA

5:30 – 6:30     Registration

6:00 – 6:30     Poster Board Information Session

6:30 – 6:40     Welcome

               Meeting Structure

6:40 – 6:50     Nuclear Engineering Institute

               Ground Water Initiative

6:50-7:10       Vermont Yankee Groundwater Program

7:10 -7:30      Q&A

7:30 -7:45      Break

7:45 – 8:20     Vermont Yankee Groundwater      

                  Contamination

8:20-8:30       NRC Ongoing Activities

8;30-9:00       Closing Remarks

9:00 – 9:30     Staff Available for Questions

Staff available for Questions:

John White

James Noggle

Darrell Roberts