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PAHRUMP NUCLEAR WASTE & ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE DRAFT MINUTES March 04, 2022 Pursuant to NRS, a meeting of the Pahrump Nuclear Waste & Environmental Advisory Committee was held on March 04, 2022, at 11:30am at the Pahrump Community Library. 1. Pledge of Allegiance and Call to Order The Pledge was recited. 2. Roll Call John Pawlak, Robert Adams, Debra Perna, Mike Smith, Bill Stremmel Absent: Dale Griffith Guests: Heather Freeman – UNR Cooperative Extension, Tamilan Taylor – NyeCC, Nye Prickly Pears – Barbara Iardella, Carolene Logue, Ginny Okawa 3. Approval of the Agenda for March 04, 2022. Bill S. – 1st Debra P. – 2nd 5 – yay / 0 - nay 4. GENERAL PUBLIC COMMENT (Three-minute time limit per person.) Action will not be taken on the matters considered during this period until specifically included on an agenda as an action item (first). None. 5. For Possible Action – Discussion and deliberation of minutes of the Pahrump Nuclear Waste and Environmental Advisory Committee (PNWEAC) meeting of, January 07, 2022. Debra P. – 1st Mike S. – 2nd 5 – yay / 0 - nay These minutes from two months ago had to be reapproved by the Committee as they had been submitted to the County in January with nominations of two members whose terms were expiring that needed to be submitted to the BOCC before the minutes could be formally approved at the February 4th meeting. A correction was made to the name of Haley Maio mentioned in item at the request of Heather Freeman. 6. For Possible Action – Discussion and deliberation of minutes of the Pahrump Nuclear Waste and Environmental Advisory Committee (PNWEAC) meeting of, February 04, 2022. Debra P. – 1st Mike S. – 2nd 5 – yay / 0 - nay 7. Announcements (first) Chair John P. said that in addition to the regular meeting on April 1st there would be a special meeting one week later on April 8th for planning the Earth / Arbor Day event on ---PAGE BREAK--- PAHRUMP NUCLEAR WASTE & ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE DRAFT MINUTES March 04, 2022 April 16th. E-Waste collection will be happening in the parking lot behind the Pahrump Valley Library from 12: noon to 3:00 pm Saturday, March 12th. September 19th is National Cleanup Day. 8. Committee Comments (This item limited to announcements or topics/issues proposed for the future.) Robert A. noted that the call-in number and reference to “freeconferencecalling.com” on the website, stating that “If we’re not monitoring that, we should remove it from the home page” [Town of Pahrump], since remote attendance is no longer an option with the lifting of pandemic restrictions. Chair John P. said he would ask County staff to delete them. Bill S. remarked about the darkest scenario of a “Nuclear Winter” if current tensions over Ukraine were to erupt into a full-blown exchange of weapons hurling as much as 150,000,000 tons of debris up into the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight to the extent of plunging temperatures in continental locations of a moderately high elevation as much as 50 degrees F below normal. 9. For Possible Action – Discussion and deliberation regarding changes to the local environment. Bill S. recalled seeing much more dense snow cover on the east side of Mount Charleston during a recent trip driving up US-95 through Searchlight, and, recalling the Chair’s knowledge of cloud seeding, if such activity was deliberately causing more snow to fall on the east side of the Mountain than on the west side? John P. responded that the money for cloud seeding had run out and that this was all-natural snowfall. 10. For Possible Action – Discussion and deliberation regarding 2022 Earth Day/Arbor Day event. Bill S. – 1st Debra P. – 2nd 5 – yay / 0 – nay Heather Freeman suggested for publicity contacting Pam Christy @ PVTimes.com who publishes a “Briefs” column about local events. John P. said that “hopefully” Home Depot would be demonstrating a bidet to save toilet paper. Heather Freeman suggested a posterboard where people could post their guesses as to which items were suitable for recycling. John P. is looking for someone to do the solar cooking. He said “grill cheese rollups” could be added to the traditional fare. John P. said that 250 Chicago-style hotdogs and 250 cans of “Prickly Pear” soda were to be provided, the carbonated beverages to demonstrate a way for sequestering carbon dioxide. He was also seeking provision of San Pellegrino natural carbonated water for this same purpose. John P. said this was comparable to recycling carbon dioxide back into oxygen, exemplifying a “circular” as opposed to a “linear” economy. A member of the Prickly Pear group made a suggestion about T-shirts in conjunction with the 4-H club. Among participants mentioned were: Amargosa Conservancy, Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, BLM, Clean-up Pahrump Donna Lamb – pottery, Friends of Discovery Park, Nevada Department of Agriculture Nevada Division of Forestry, Pahrump Valley Fire & Rescue, and Wild West Extravaganza. ---PAGE BREAK--- PAHRUMP NUCLEAR WASTE & ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE DRAFT MINUTES March 04, 2022 Heather Freeman asked if a letter of support had been obtained from either of the banks for a shredding machine? But John P. said that after disappointing attempts at outreach to them, Mike S. had instead arranged with provision of a shredder by “Assured Document Destruction, Inc., and passed out a flyer with their information. Mike S. offered that his company, Pahrump Valley Disposal to pay the bill [ $900.] for the shredder. A member of the Prickly Pear group remarked that there had been discussions about salvage “for some of the metal which is so pervasive in our valley and trying to just connect people with some of the salvage companies that are here.” She asked if “There is something that is going to be available there for salvage?” Mike S. said “We’re [Pahrump Valley Disposal] available for anything. The hardest part about that is getting people to give it up.” The Prickly Pear member asked, “Is there an ability to get money/finances to people to salvage their materials?” Mike S. said, “We always try to get people some money,” depending on what metal pricing is like and the cost of hauling. Mike recalled a last year’s clean-up of Beatty removing abandoned cars and other junk. He said they recovered 45 cars out of 80, commenting that “Right now metal prices are great. @ $250. /ton it’s easy,” compared to $50./ton price in the past. Mike S. went on to explain that there’s only one yard in Pahrump that actually takes abandoned cars, stating that: “We have a wrecker’s license with the state.” The Prickly Pears member requested flyers about salvage facilities and services offered by his company, and Mike S. responded that these would be provided. A Prickly Pears member announced that there is a National Environmental Day and that “We could work with the town.” Heather Freeman said there is an alternate group called “Neighborhood Cleanup” that does collection four times a year in Petrack Park. Mike S. said BLM is “Very particular about cleanups” on federal land. The Prickly Pears member stated that: We are not experts, just observers. Mike S. said “We can get pretty close” with an estimate of what will be paid. HF: Asked if accumulated metal junk suitable for salvage would be grounds to get Nye County involved with offending property owners to prompt them to make give it up? Mike S. said that Nye County will not send code enforcement out to inspect properties unless a formal complaint is filed by neighbors. John P. asked Tamilan Taylor to comment about NyeCC’s role at the event. Tamilan Taylor responded that there would be a focus on healthy eating more fresh fruits and vegetables and plant-based proteins. She also said, “We will have some AmeriCorps this year.” Chair John P. asked her to send him an email describing NyeCC’s plans for the event. John P. reiterated his request for someone to operate the solar cooker, and various suggestions were made by the guests. The Prickly Pears member offered to have an event flyer at their table at the Pahrump Music Festival. The Prickly Pears member asked Chair John “Can you consider putting on your May agenda an item about National Environmental Day in November?” John P. said that a case of the San Pellegrino could cost $19-20 and could out of his event allowance, but one of the guests volunteered to purchase this item. 11. Presentation – Discussion regarding future informational presentations to the Board of County Commissioners. Item not heard. ---PAGE BREAK--- PAHRUMP NUCLEAR WASTE & ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE DRAFT MINUTES March 04, 2022 12. For Possible Action – Discussion and deliberation – Regarding Environment issues in Southern Nevada and within the Town of Pahrump to include comments to the Board of Nye County Commissioners. Item not heard. 13. For Possible Action – Discussion and deliberation – Regarding Nuclear issues in Southern Nevada and within the Town of Pahrump to include comments to the Board of Nye County Commissioners. Item not heard. 14. General Public Comment (Second) Carolene Logue, recalling discussion about emergency management at a recent BOCC meeting and possible consequences of nuclear war brought up earlier by Bill asked about various emergencies necessitating evacuation of the Pahrump Valley, stating “At one time” they were “Addressing Emergency Management” with questions about “When and to Whom and How information can be disseminated?” Carolene went on to say there is a problem “If the public does not know what to do at the time of the emergency.” Carolene said it was right to do something, recalling her work with the San Onofre nuclear plant when it was being built and she was working at a nearby school. She said that initially there was no planning for evacuation until adjacent stakeholders pressed the plant’s developers to outline plans for informing the public. Heather Freeman said that Nye County School District used to train their staff about procedures for “Shelter in Place” but did not know “If they were continuing to do that.” John P. said he would ask Nye County’s Emergency Service Coordinator Scott Lewis if he could make a presentation with information about current procedures and the how the public is being informed about them. 15. Announcements (second). None. 16. ADJOURNMENT Mike S. – 1st Bill S. – 2nd 5 – yay / 0 - nay 12:30 PM. The next meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 1, 2022 @ 11:30 am. APPROVED this 2022. Chair