| 2004 |
|
| November 18 |
President George W. Bush signs the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Study act. |
| |
|
| 2005 |
|
| March 7 |
Meeting held on Capitol Hill to discuss implementation of
the bill. |
| March 8 |
Follow-up meeting held on implementation of the bill. Agreement
reached that DOE Office of History and
Heritage Resources (Gosling) will host the project web site and coordinate submission of
materials to the National Park Service (Brown). |
| March 8 |
Senators Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) and Jeff Bingaman (D-New
Mexico) discuss implementation of the Park Service bill. They agree that sites
in Dayton, Ohio,
associated with the Manhattan Project will be added to the study. In Dayton,
scientists used newly-developed refinement techniques to produce polonium,
which was a radioactive element essential for the detonation of bomb trigger
devices. |
| July 16 |
Brown and Gosling discuss information requirements. Agreement reached that Park Service
will begin by reviewing Cultural Resource Management Program (CRMP) documents
of Oak Ridge, Richland, and Los Alamos. |
| July 17 |
Gosling requests CRMPs from the three sites. |
| July 22 |
CRMPs received and sent to Brown. |
| July 26 |
Brown confirms receipt of the CRMPs and informs
Gosling that they have been distributed to appropriate Park Service regional offices and
the Denver Service Center. |
| October 5 |
Brown and Gosling discuss a letter being
prepared by the Park Service that will be sent to Deputy Secretary Clay Sell
requesting DOE participation in conducting the study. Brown informs Gosling
that the Park Service has $250,000 in FY06 funds and that the study will be
conducted by the Denver Service Center. Brown informs Gosling that he is retiring and that
Carla McConnell (Denver Service Center) will be the Park Service point of contact. |
| October 14 |
McConnell and Gosling discuss next steps, including
the letter to Deputy Secretary Sell. McConnell states that the Park Service
plans public meetings in each of the three Manhattan Project communities,
probably in March-April 2006. Gosling promises to help coordinate the meetings. |
| October 18 |
McConnell asks Gosling to obtain further
documentation from Oak Ridge, Los Alamos, and Hanford. Specifically McConnell and Harlan Unrau request any
Multiple Property forms, National Register forms, and NHL forms that have been
completed so that the first task of the project—writing the statement of
national significance—can be completed. McConnell states that the next request
will be for a list of any EA or EIS studies that have been done for the sites.
Gosling e-mails Gary Hartman (Oak Ridge), Vicki Loucks (Los Alamos), and
Annabelle Rodriguez (Richland/Hanford Site) informing them of the Park Service
request. |
| |
|
| 2006 |
|
| March 14 |
The Park Service issues a Notice of Intent to prepare an
Environmental Impact Statement for the Manhattan Project Special Resource
Study. |
| March 21-22 |
The Park Service holds public meetings in the Tri-Cities
area in Washington to gather
public input. Park Service staff and DOE staff tour Manhattan Project
properties on the Hanford Site. |
| March 24 |
Sue Masica, Associate Director, Park Planning, Facilities,
and Lands at the National Park Service sends a letter to DOE Deputy Secretary
Clay Sell. Masica explains that Public Law 108-340 directs the Park Service to
“conduct a study on the preservation and interpretation of the historic sites
of the Manhattan Project for potential inclusion in the National Park System”
and that the act “also requires that this study be conducted in consultation
with the Department of Energy (DOE).”
Masica notes that Skip Gosling, the DOE Chief Historian, is
already involved with the project and asks in addition that DOE participate in
public meetings and project work sessions, review documents prepared during the
study, designate a DOE point of contact at each site, provide information on
hazardous materials and contaminants at sites, provide cost estimates to allow
visitor access and safety, and provide information on how the Department of
Energy can meet its management goals in compatibility with potential management
alternatives.
Masica informs Sell that the NPS Denver Service Center
office is managing the study and that a general agreement document will be
signed to formalize the relationship between DOE and NPS for the study. |
| April 11-12 |
The Park Service holds public meetings in Oak
Ridge, Tennessee, to gather
public input. Park Service staff, the DOE FPO, and Oak
Ridge staff tour Manhattan Project properties. |
| May 24-25 |
The Park Service holds public meetings in Dayton, Ohio, to
gather public input. |
| May 26 |
DOE Deputy Secretary Sell responds to Sue Masica’s March 24, 2006, letter. Sell
expresses the Department’s full support for the study and states that he has
directed Gosling to coordinate the Department’s activities in support of the
study. Sell tells Masica that Gosling will ensure that the documents and
information the Park Service needs to conduct the study will be produced in a
timely fashion so that working together DOE and the Park Service “can produce a
study that provides preservation and interpretation strategies that
appropriately commemorate one of the most significant chapters in modern
American history.” |
| June 7-8 |
The Park Service holds meeting in Los Alamos
and Santa Fe, New Mexico,
to gather public input. Park Service staff tour “behind the fence” Manhattan
Project assets with DOE/NNSA and Los Alamos National Laboratory staff. |
| June 30 |
The public comment period closes for the first stage of the
Special Resource Study (Set the Stage for Planning). Stage 2 (Develop
Preliminary Alternatives) will last until Spring 2007 and will “Identify a
range of reasonable alternatives for NPS involvement, assess their effects,
analyze public reactions, and select a preferred alternative.” |
