Agenda Work Group
Meeting Minutes
January 03, 2002
ORRHES members:
Barbara Sonnenburg, Chair, Jeff Hill; Susan Kaplan; James
Lewis; Don Creasia (phone)
Public members:
Linda Gass (phone)
ATSDR staff:
La Freta Dalton (phone), Bill Murray
The meeting was called to order by the Chair, Barbara
Sonnenburg, at 4:00 PM.
The following issue was held over from the December ORRHES
meeting:
Barbara Sonnenburg stated that an update is needed on
the issues and questions for Dr. Robert Jackson, Health
Resources and Services Administration.
Susan Kaplan thinks that a new work group should be formed
to address the issue of a clinic for Oak Ridge Reservation
residents. There was an extended discussion about the clinic
issue. James Lewis stated that the issues and questions
were not captured in the list of action items or in the
minutes. He believes that the videotape of Dr. Jackson’s
presentation at the September 2001 ORRHES meeting should
be reviewed to identify the issues and questions raised
by ORRHES members at that meeting. Susan Kaplan and Barbara
Sonnenburg asked who would do the review. La Freta Dalton
said that Bill Carter of ATSDR would review the videotape
and send a list of the issues to Dr. Jackson by email.
James Lewis also said that a decision needs to be made
whether a new work group is formed or the issue is referred
to the Health Needs Assessment Work Group (HNAWG) and a
rationale for a clinic needs to be developed. Jeff Hill
suggested that the issue be raised as new business in the
next ORRHES meeting.
Barbara Sonnenburg reiterated that the issue is whether
to establish a new work group or refer the issue to HNAWG.
Barbara Sonnenburg brought up the issue of having a DOE
person as an ex-officio member of ORRHES. She said the
discussion of this issue was tabled at the last ORRHES
meeting.
James Lewis said the issue needs to be analyzed in a work
group session after reviewing and evaluating the discussion
from other meetings.
Susan Kaplan agreed.
Linda Gass said the pros and cons were laid out at the
1st and 3rd ORRHES meetings at which there were extensive
discussions. A vote was taken and, during the vote, the
Chair ruled that it was a major issue, requiring a 2/3
majority. The vote failed. Linda Gass stated that there
are no disenfranchised members on ORRHES.
Barbara Sonnenburg questioned whether to bring the issue
up since the motion failed. Jeff Hill said that Kowetha
Davidson requested the issue be put on the next ORRHES
agenda and a block of time be allotted for discussion.
James Lewis that an analysis of the past discussions is
needed before bringing the issue to the table.
Jeff Hill said that the issue has not been assigned to
any work group.
James Lewis insisted that it must be assigned to a work
group.
Barbara Sonnenburg reminded the group that the Chair requested
the time.
Linda Gass said there are inconsistencies in handling
issues. Not all issues go through a work group. The process
is circumventing the FACA process. She thinks it is unfair
for the Chair to keep putting the issue on the agenda.
Jeff Hill made a motion to “put on the agenda whether
to have a DOE representative on ORRHES as an ad hoc, non-voting
member.”
Don Creasia seconded the motion.
Linda Gass said the motion was out of order. James Lewis
referred back to Linda Gass’s comment and stated
that an ad hoc work group is needed to capture past dialogue
on this issue.
Barbara Sonnenburg called the question. The motion failed
(2 yes [Jeff Hill, Don Creasia]; 3 no [Susan Kaplan, James
Lewis, Linda Gass]).
James Lewis voted no because it is not being done in an
organized fashion.
Barbara Sonnenburg referred to the public health assessment
(PHA) issues listed in the email as concerns raised by
ORRHES (I-131 approach; ATSDR screening of contaminants;
health needs assessment study; work group updates).
Bill Murray reviewed the items briefly.
Linda Gass stated she is concerned about doing a standard
PHA and thinks that the issues should be identified.
James Lewis has two concerns: 1) there is no analysis
of lessons learned; 2) there have been no additional PHA
work group meetings.
Barbara Sonnenburg said there have been problems because
of vacations. She raised the issue of medical surveillance
programs for DOE workers.
Bill Murray described the legislation that is driving
the program and that it is being implemented across the
whole DOE complex.
Susan Kaplan said that information is needed on the legislative
background.
James Lewis said that OR residents do not trust the local
physicians and that the process used in the Worker Health
Protection Program (WHPP) that the Paper, Allied Industrial,
Chemical, and Energy (PACE) union has set up here in conjunction
with Queens College in New York City to do surveillance
on their workers should be looked at.
Jeff Hill suggested we have the DOE talk first.
James Lewis said documenting exposures is a key issue.
Barbara Sonnenburg said we should hear how Queens College
does their diagnoses.
Linda Gass made a motion to have knowledgeable persons
present to ORRHES what goes on in the DOE medical surveillance.
The motion was withdrawn.
Jeff Hill suggested we bring in PACE/Queens College in
the meeting after DOE presents.
Barbara Sonnenburg agreed to do it later.
Susan Kaplan made a motion to “have an agenda entry
for a program/process review of DOE Headquarters worker
medical and exposure surveillance program.”
Jeff Hill seconded.
The motion passed unanimously.
Barbara Sonnenburg remarked that we should start to set
agenda up.
Linda Gass requested that there be a discussion of the
historical oversight roles by representatives from the
Tennessee Department of Environment, EPA, and the Local
Oversight Committee.
There was discussion of setting times on the agenda for
the routine items. James Lewis wanted to allot 30 min.
to Jerry Pereira. He reiterated that there is no project
plan, time line or procedures for the work being done here.
La Freta Dalton said we need to allow 1.5 hrs for work
group reports and 30 min for public comment.
Barbara Sonnenburg asked about talks by the Tennessee
Department of Health (TD) on the cancer registry and a
NOSH update.
La Freta said she would send out a revised agenda that
gives 2 hours for the PHA, 1.5 hours for DOE, 1 hour for
TD, and ½ hour for Jerry Pereira.
The next meeting will be on January 17, 2002, at 4:00
PM.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 PM.
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