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The purpose of the Remediation Service project's Communications Team is to:

• provide a framework for presenting understandable and consistent information to interested parties during the investigation and cleanup of areas that may have been contaminated in Los Alamos County.

Goals for the Communications Team include:

• Broaden the base of involved individuals and groups;
• Continue to build trust by focusing on personal contact, dialogue, and mutual education;
• Obtain meaningful public input in decisions regarding cleanup issues;
• Learn a better, more cost-effective way of involving the public early in the project process;
• Promote sustainability within the Environmental Stewardship Division and LANL by incorporating sustainability principles into project activities and programs whenever possible; and
• Ensure that all project activities comply with all DOE and NMED requirements for public participation.

Programmatic and Regulatory Drivers
The community outreach and involvement activities of the project are governed in part by the DOE policies and orders; the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency and the New Mexico Environment Department, as contained in Module 8 of the Laboratory's Hazardous Waste Facility Permit; and by provisions of Appendix F in the contract between the University of California and the DOE. The Environmental Stewardship Division issues directives that require specific activities.

Our Key Publics
"Public" means the general public, Laboratory employees not directly involved in the project, representatives of government agencies and elected bodies, and others interested in or affected by the project. The Communications Team believes that University of California employees and subcontractors are a valuable asset in informing their families, friends, and neighbors and have designed an extensive inreach program to inform this key audience.

The governing bodies of San Ildefonso, Santa Clara, Jemez, and Cochiti Pueblos are involved through a separate government-to-government process established under recent cooperative agreements between the DOEand those pueblos. Members of all Indian Pueblos and Tribes are regularly encouraged to participate in the activities described in this plan.

Trends and Issues
The project began its public outreach program in 1991. In 1994, members of the public were invited to brainstorm informally on ways to obtain more effective public involvement and resolve historic problems of lack of trust and the traditional, one-way manner of providing technical information. Three concepts emerged during that session:

1. Involving the public in a dialogue is more valuable than presenting draft information and asking for "public comment";
2. Reviewing what has worked at other facilities avoids "reinventing the wheel"; and
3. Sending teams of project technical staff and experienced interviewers into the community to listen and respond can provide helpful suggestions to resolve problems related to trust, honesty, and openness.