A New Model for Improving Infrastructure in Energy Communities – Following DOD’s Lead
ECA Staff | 10/11/2019
Success at DOE and NNSA sites across the nuclear complex is achieved best when surrounding local communities work in partnership together to facilitate the DOE/NNSA mission and the communities’ goals. DOE’s involvement with state, local, and tribal governments could take one step further and become even more effective by following the Department of Defense’s (DOD) newest program pursuant to which DOD
invests with the community in infrastructure to advance its mission.
Given the similarities between DOE sites and military installations, an energy community infrastructure program modeled after the new Defense Community Infrastructure Program (DCIP) would strengthen DOE’s engagement with the public and its ability to accomplish important national security, science, and defense missions.
By improving the areas “outside the fence,” there are several mutual benefits to DOE sites and to those who live nearby. Such investments by DOE into the communities would help workforce recruitment, improve facility resilience, ensure safety, improve operational efficiency, and potentially create cost savings long-term.
Lawmakers have already recognized that these benefits exist for military installations, as Congress authorized DCIP in 2018.
The program allows DOD to make direct grants to state and local governments to “address deficiencies in community infrastructure supportive of a military installation, if the Secretary determines that such assistance will enhance the military value, resilience, or military family quality of life at such military installation.”
The House and Senate Armed Services Committees even noted “the importance of the communities that surround and support U.S. military installations and believe that this program can be of tremendous benefit to both the surrounding community and respective installations.”
The communities contribute at least 30 percent of the funding for any project (unless in a rural area). Congress identified specific projects that qualify for funding: "any transportation project; school, hospital, police, fire, emergency response, or other community support facility; or water, wastewater, telecommunications, electric, gas, or other utility infrastructure project that is located off of a military installation and owned by a State or local government.”
There are at least 200 defense community infrastructure projects identified as potential recipients of DCIP grants. They span various types of infrastructure: a joint-use water treatment plant at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center; repair of access roads at Tyndall Air Force Base;
construction of a new STEM-based high school next to Whiteman Air Force Base; and improvements to the microgrid for the Virginia National Guard.
Local communities are often relied upon to foot the bill for infrastructure and municipal services that benefit the DOE sites. For example, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) officials have announced plans for new construction projects to accommodate the lab’s increased role in plutonium pit production. Some of that construction, such as the road improvements, would be the responsibility of the state or local governments, according to LANL director Tom Mason. This shared infrastructure, which benefits laboratory operations and the employees who commute from surrounding areas, exemplifies the same relationship that Congress recognized between military installations and their communities.
Community infrastructure extends beyond what usually comes to mind, such as roads and utilities. Schools and housing are becoming more important than ever at a time when DOE and NNSA are attempting to recruit a new generation of employees into the workforce. Incentivizing the brightest prospective workers and their families to accept jobs at a DOE site means investing into the community to make their quality of life as attractive as possible.
Establishing this type of program for energy communities is especially viable given recent developments in the federal budget. The recent budget deal that raises federal spending limits now provides Congress with more flexibility in national security funding, as domestic and defense spending is set to increase more than $320 billion over the next two fiscal years.
Communities are the lifeblood of DOE sites and national laboratories—from the workers to the local services. Congress should take this opportunity to prioritize the authorization and funding of an energy community infrastructure program.
NUCLEAR SAFETY
CONTRACTING & ACQUISITION
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
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