42 U.S.C. § 7274g: Environmental restoration…

Summary

The Secretary of Energy must publish a five-year plan each year by September 1. The plan covers environmental cleanup and waste work at all Department of Energy sites except defense nuclear facilities. It looks at the five-year period starting October 1 of the next year. The plan also describes work done in the current fiscal year and work planned for the fiscal year starting October 1. The goal is to finish environmental cleanup at these sites by the year 2019. A draft of the plan must be ready at least four months earlier and sent to Governors, Attorneys General of affected States, tribal representatives, and the public for review and comment. When the final plan is issued, it must go to the President and Congress, be announced in the Federal Register, and be shared with the same state, tribal, and public contacts. The Secretary must consult with the EPA Administrator, affected States, and tribes, and include their comments and a public-comments summary as an appendix. The first plan under these rules was issued in 1992. The plan must follow all laws, permits, and agreements. It must include actions and specific projects for legal compliance and cleanup, per-site restoration plans, needed research and development, required technologies and facilities, waste management projects (including running, cleaning up, or shutting down sites), ways to reduce waste, and the estimated cost and staff for each item. It must say how the final plan differs from the draft and why, review how the previous plan was carried out, and may include other items the Secretary finds useful. Preparing or adopting the plan or its draft is not treated as a major Federal action under subparagraphs (C), (E), or (F) of section 4332(2). The Secretary may give grants or cooperative agreements to affected States and tribes to help them take part. Up to $20,000,000 of funds authorized under section 3103 may be used for those grants. Each year when the President sends the federal budget to Congress, the President must also send a report listing plan activities or funding that are not in the budget or are different, and explain why.

Title 42, §7274g

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Five-year plan

(1)Not later than September 1 of each year, the Secretary of Energy shall issue a plan for environmental restoration and waste management activities to be conducted, during the five-year period beginning on October 1 of the next calendar year, at all facilities owned or operated by the Department of Energy except defense nuclear facilities. The plan also shall contain a description of environmental restoration and waste management activities conducted during the fiscal year in which the plan is submitted and of such activities to be conducted during the fiscal year beginning on October 1 of the same calendar year. Such five-year plan shall be designed to complete environmental restoration at all such Department of Energy facilities not later than the year 2019.

(2)The Secretary shall prepare each annual five-year plan in a preliminary form at least four months before the date on which that plan is required to be issued under paragraph (1). The preliminary plan shall contain the matters referred to in paragraph (4) (other than the matters referred to in subparagraph (J) of that paragraph). The Secretary shall provide the preliminary plan to the Governors and Attorneys General of affected States, appropriate representatives of affected Indian tribes, and the public for coordination, review, and comment.

(3)At the same time the Secretary issues an annual five-year plan under paragraph (1), the Secretary shall submit the plan to the President and Congress, publish a notice of the issuance of the plan in the Federal Register, and make the plan available to the Governors and Attorneys General of affected States, appropriate representatives of affected Indian tribes, and the public.

(4)The annual five-year plan, and the actions and other matters contained in the plan, shall be in accordance with all laws, regulations, permits, orders, and agreements. The plan shall include, with respect to the Department of Energy facilities required by paragraph (1) to be covered by the plan, the following matters:

(A)A description of the actions, including identification of specific projects, necessary to maintain or achieve compliance with Federal, State, or local environmental laws, regulations, permits, orders, and agreements.

(B)A description of the actions, including identification of specific projects, to be taken at each Department of Energy facility in order to implement environmental restoration activities planned for each such facility.

(C)A description of research and development activities for the expeditious and efficient environmental restoration of such facilities.

(D)A description of the technologies and facilities necessary to carry out the environmental restoration activities.

(E)A description of the waste management activities, including identification of specific projects, necessary to continue to operate the Department of Energy facilities or to decontaminate and decommission the facilities, as the case may be.

(F)A description of research and development activities for waste management.

(G)A description of the technologies and facilities necessary to carry out the waste management activities.

(H)A description of activities and practices that the Secretary is undertaking or plans to undertake to minimize the generation of waste.

(I)The estimated costs of, and personnel required for, each project, action, or activity contained in the plan.

(J)A description of the respects in which the plan differs from the preliminary form of that plan issued pursuant to paragraph (2), together with the reasons for any differences.

(K)A discussion of the implementation of the preceding annual five-year plan.

(L)Such other matters as the Secretary finds appropriate and in the public interest.

(5)The Secretary shall consult with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Governors and Attorneys General of affected States, and appropriate representatives of affected Indian tribes in the preparation of the plan and the preliminary form of the plan pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2). The Secretary shall include as an appendix to the plan (A) all comments submitted on the preliminary form of the plan by the Administrator, Governors and Attorneys General of affected States, and affected Indian tribes, and (B) a summary of comments submitted by the public.

(6)The first annual five-year plan issued pursuant to this section shall be issued in 1992.

(b)Treatment of plans under section 4332

The development and adoption of any part of any plan (including any preliminary form of any such plan) under subsection (a) shall not be considered a major Federal action for the purposes of subparagraph (C), (E), or (F) of section 4332(2) of this title. Nothing in this subsection shall affect the Department of Energy’s ongoing preparation of a programmatic environmental impact statement on environmental restoration and waste management.

(c)Grants

The Secretary of Energy is authorized to award grants to, and enter into cooperative agreements with, affected States and affected Indian tribes to assist such States and tribes in participating in the development of the annual five-year plan (including the preliminary form of such plan).

(d)Funding

Of the funds authorized to be appropriated pursuant to section 3103, $20,000,000 may be used for the purpose of carrying out subsection (c).

(e)Budget reports

Each year, at the same time the President submits to Congress the budget for a fiscal year (pursuant to section 1105 of title 31), the President shall submit to Congress a description of proposed activities and funding levels contained in the annual five-year plan (issued, pursuant to subsection (a)(1), in the year preceding the year in which the budget is submitted to Congress) that are not included in the budget or are included in the budget in a different form or at a different funding level, together with the reasons for such differences.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

section 3103, referred to in subsec. (d), is section 3103 of Pub. L. 102–190, div. C, title XXXI, Dec. 5, 1991, 105 Stat. 1566, which is not classified to the Code. Codification Section was enacted as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 1992 and 1993, and not as part of the Department of Energy Organization Act which comprises this chapter.

Amendments

1994—Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 103–337, § 3160(a)(1), substituted “all facilities owned or operated by the Department of Energy except defense nuclear facilities” for “(A) defense nuclear facilities and (B) all other facilities owned or operated by the Department of Energy” in first sentence and inserted “such” after “restoration at all” in third sentence. Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 103–337, § 3160(a)(2), substituted “The plan shall include, with respect to the Department of Energy facilities required by paragraph (1) to be covered by the plan, the following matters:” for “The plan shall contain the following matters:” in introductory provisions. Subsec. (a)(6), (7). Pub. L. 103–337, § 3160(a)(3), (4), redesignated par. (7) as (6) and struck out former par. (6) which read as follows: “The Secretary shall include in the annual five-year plan issued in 1992 a discussion of the feasibility and need, if any, for the establishment of a contingency fund in the Department of Energy to provide funds necessary to meet the requirements in environmental laws, to remove an immediate threat to worker or public health and safety, to prevent or improve a condition where postponement of activity would lead to deterioration of the environment, and to undertake additional environmental restoration activities at Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities that are not provided for in the budgets for fiscal years in which it is necessary to meet such requirements or undertake such activities.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Public Participation in Planning Pub. L. 103–337, div. C, title XXXI, § 3160(e), Oct. 5, 1994, 108 Stat. 3095, which was formerly set out as a note under this section, was renumbered section 4408 of Pub. L. 107–314 by Pub. L. 108–136, div. C, title XXXI, § 3141(g)(9), Nov. 24, 2003, 117 Stat. 1765, and classified to section 2588 of Title 50, War and National Defense, and was repealed and restated as section 6179 of Title 10, Armed Forces, by Pub. L. 119–60, div. C, title XXXI, § 3111(a), (b)(1), Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 1393, 1458.

§7274g Environmental Restoration and Waste Management Five-year Plan and Budget Reports