SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000, as amended (42 U.S.C. 7384 et seq.), was originally enacted on October 30, 2000, and the primary responsibility for administering EEOICPA was assigned to the Department of Labor (DOL) by Executive Order 13179 (65 FR 77487). In section 2(c)(vii) of that Executive Order, DOE was directed to publish a list in the Federal Register of Atomic

Weapons Employer (AWE) facilities, DOE facilities, and facilities owned and operated by a Beryllium Vendor (as those terms are defined in sections 7384l(5), 7384l(12) and 7384l(6) of EEOICPA, respectively). Pursuant to this direction, DOE published a list of these three types of facilities covered under EEOICPA on January 17, 2001 (66 FR 4003), and subsequently revised and republished the entire list on June 11, 2001 (66 FR 31218), December 27, 2002 (67 FR 79068), July 21, 2003 (68 FR 43095) and August 23,

2004 (69 FR 51825). In subsequent notices published on November 30, 2005 (70 FR

71815), June 28, 2007 (72 FR 35448), April 9, 2009 (74 FR 16191), August 3, 2010 (75

FR 45608), May 26, 2011 (76 FR 30695), February 6, 2012 (77 FR 5781), February 11,

2013 (78 FR 9678), July 16, 2015 (80 FR 42094), February 17, 2016 (81 FR 8060) and

August 3, 2022 (87 FR 47399), DOE further revised the August 23, 2004 list by removing a total of 24 AWE facilities, and formally designating one additional AWE facility, without republishing the list in its entirety.

Following the amendments to EEOICPA that were enacted as subtitle E of Title XXXI of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005, Public Law 108-375, 118 Stat. 1811, 2178 (October 28, 2004), OWCP promulgated final regulations governing its expanded responsibilities under EEOICPA on December 29, 2006 (71 FR 78520) and amended those final regulations on February 8, 2019 (84 FR 3026). One of those regulations, 20 CFR 30.5(y)(2), indicates that OWCP has adopted the list of DOE facilities that was published by DOE on August 23, 2004, and notes that OWCP “will periodically update this list as it deems appropriate in its sole discretion by publishing a revised list of covered [DOE] facilities in the Federal Register .” In making these updates, § 30.5(y)(1) specifies that the Director of OWCP is solely responsible for determining if a particular work site under consideration meets the statutory definition of a Department of Energy facility. This sole responsibility is derived from the grant of primary authority to DOL to administer the EEOICPA claims process contained in Sec. 2(a)(i) of Executive Order 13179.

II. Purpose

Since OWCP last published a notice listing all DOE facilities covered under EEOICPA in the November 5, 2018 Federal Register, the Director of OWCP has made a number of determinations in connection with claims filed under EEOICPA. Those determinations are briefly described in this Supplementary Information and are memorialized in the two updated lists of DOE facilities published by OWCP today.

Specifically, the Director of OWCP has determined that the Elza Gate work site, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, meets the definition of a Department of Energy facility for the purposes of claims filed under EEOICPA because an entity conducted environmental remediation at the site under contract to DOE. In addition, OWCP's research has led the Director to modify the designation of the Reduction Pilot Plant that has appeared in OWCP's prior published lists by extending the covered period for that work site to include the additional period January 1, 1964 through November 26, 1978. As a result, the modified period of coverage for this work site now spans the time period from 1951 through May 18, 1979, with the period November 27, 1978 through May 18, 1979 for remediation only.

By updating the two lists found below, OWCP is presenting the public with the most current listing of DOE facilities in order to assist potential claimants and their families. OWCP is continuing its efforts in this area as it adjudicates claims filed under EEOICPA, and further revisions of these lists should be expected. Although DOE maintains a website ( https://ehss.energy.gov/​Search/​Facility/​findfacility.aspx) that provides information on AWE facilities, Beryllium Vendor facilities and DOE facilities to the public, the information on that website regarding DOE facilities should not be relied upon as it may not be up to date, nor is it binding on OWCP's adjudication of claims filed under EEOICPA. Instead, OWCP is solely authorized to give the public notice of the Director's determinations regarding DOE facilities.

III. Introduction to the Lists

The five complete lists previously published by DOE included all three types of work sites described in Executive Order 13179, i.e., AWE facilities, Beryllium Vendor facilities, and DOE facilities. On the other hand, the lists published on June 23, 2009, November 24, 2010, March 6, 2012, April 8, 2013, January 20, 2015, November 5, 2018 and again today by OWCP only include work sites that meet the definition of a Department of Energy facility, because the authority to designate both AWE facilities and Beryllium Vendor facilities has been granted to DOE. However, since some work sites can meet the definition of more than just one type of covered work site during either the same or differing time periods, simply presenting one list of DOE facilities (without also differentiating among them in some easily understood fashion) could lead the reader to wrongly conclude that a listed work site has always been a DOE facility when, in fact, it only had that status during a brief period. To lessen the potential for this type of ( printed page 59833) misunderstanding, OWCP has decided to continue its practice of presenting two separate lists of DOE facilities.

The first list consists exclusively of work sites that have only been DOE facilities for purposes of coverage under EEOICPA, and the second list consists of work sites that have also been at least one other type of covered work site in addition to a DOE facility. To see what other types of covered work sites the DOE facilities appearing in the second list are or have been, readers can refer to the Federal Register notices published by DOE on August 23, 2004 (69 FR 51825), November 30, 2005 (70 FR 71815), June 28, 2007 (72 FR 35448), April 9, 2009 (74 FR 16191), August 3, 2010 (75 FR 45608), May 26, 2011 (76 FR 30695), February 6, 2012 (77 FR 5781), February 11, 2013 (78 FR 9678), July 16, 2015 (80 FR 42094), February 17, 2016 (81 FR 8060) and August 3, 2022 (87 FR 47399). Since covered time periods for a particular DOE facility are statutorily limited to periods during which “operations” are or were performed by or on behalf of DOE (or its predecessor agencies) at that DOE facility, and when DOE (or its predecessor agencies) either had a proprietary interest in the facility or had entered into a particular type of contract with an entity regarding the facility, the lists below include date ranges during which covered employment at each work site could have been performed. These date ranges, however, often do not reflect the exact day and month that a work site either acquired or lost its status as a DOE facility, and are not considered binding on OWCP in its adjudication of individual claims under EEOICPA. Rather, they are presented in this notice for the sole purpose of informing the public of the current results of OWCP's research into the operational histories of these work sites, some of which extend back to the establishment of the Manhattan Engineer District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on August 13, 1942. OWCP's efforts in this area are continuing, and it expects that the date ranges included in this notice will change with the publication of future notices.

DOE facilities appearing on the lists that have undergone environmental remediation at the direction of or directly by DOE are identified by the following symbol—†—after the date range during which such environmental remediation occurred. During those periods, only the work of employees of DOE contractors who actually performed the remediation is “covered work” under EEOICPA.

87 FR 59831