On March 5, 2012 Harvey Abouelata and Dr. Sam Weaver, the President of Proton Power and inventor of the CHyP System, described a bioenergy technology from Proton Power, Inc called the CHyP System, (which stands for Cellulose to Hydrogen Power).
Any type of biomass material, from energy crops such as switchgrass to even common waste, is the feedstock for this system which will make biofuel.
On March 12 Tom Rogers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL told about the ORNL Carbon Fiber Initiative.
Tom is Director, Industrial and Economic Development Partnerships.
ORNL recently received a $35 million award from DOE to design, construct, and
operate the Carbon Fiber and Composites Technology Center, which will include a pilot plant capable of producing t 25 tons of new low-cost carbon fiber materials.
On March 19 Helen Rucker of TVA Natural Resources Plan described the proposed Natural Resource Plan, designed to enhance stewardship of public recreation facilities, water resources, wildlife and plants, and historic and cultural sites on TVA-managed reservoir lands.
With thousands of acres to look after, the Tennessee Valley Authority has now come up with a 20 year plan to manage all it’s resources.
TVA now wishes to have
Public engagement to educate and involve people and organizations in the shared stewardship responsibility for protecting and enhancing public lands.
March 26th: Susan Gawarecki. Spoke on the topic”The Importance of Public Participation in DOE Decisions”
Dr. Gawarecki is an environmental professional with 30 years of experience. Her immediate past employment was as Executive
Director of the Oak Ridge Reservation Local Oversight Committee. Prior to this she worked at environmental consulting firms with a career focus on Superfund site investigations. Her technical background is in geology and groundwater. Dr. Gawarecki received her PhD from the University of South Carolina and is a registered professional geologist in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Kentucky. Her passion outside of her career is raising, training and showing llamas and alpacas.
She described a number of organizations that citizens can be involved with:
ORSSAB
COP-OR
EQAB
RCERB
NHPA
PKP
CROET
AFORR
ETEBA
ETEC
FORNL
OREPA
She described agreements and regulations:
FFA ( with EPA)
TOA (establishing TDEC and DOE-O)
She mentioned CERCLA and the NPL and how to influence CERCLA decisions through
RI/FS
EE/CA
LUCIP
On the ORR, CERCLA decisions incorporate “NEPA values”
She said permit hearings are required under
NPDES
TSCA
You can get public involvement news at
www.ucor.com/public_involvement_news.html
It was a very informative talk.