Budgetary Interpretation of the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Restoration Risk Data Sheets for Fiscal Year 1998. A. R. Strohl, Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc, Trevion I Bldg, Suite 210, 12850 Middlebrook Road, Germantown, MD 20874; D. S. Williamson, Belfort Engineering and Environmental Services, Inc., 20201 Century Blvd., Bellemead 2 Building, 4th Floor, Germantown, MD 20874; L. M. James, Analytical Services, Inc., 7135 Minstrel Way, Suite 303, Columbia, MD 21045; and L. C. Treichel, U.S. Department of Energy, 19901 Germantown Rd., EM-44, Cloverleaf Bldg., Germantown, MD 20874
The Risk Data Sheet (RDS) process is a tool used by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management (EM) for evaluating impacts and the probability of occurrences for incidents related to EM activities. A major change from the EM Fiscal Year 1997 budget process was the integration of risk through the use of RDSs and the Management Evaluation Matrix (MEM). The MEM enabled programs to score activities in seven categories including Public Safety and Health, Site Personnel Safety and Health, Environmental Impact, Compliance, Mission Impact, Mortgage Reduction, and Social/Cultural/Economic Impacts by using before, during, and after scenarios. The FY 1998 budget process was the first time that RDSs were formally developed in parallel with the budget formulation documentation. The RDSs were originally prepared in 1995 to support the production of the draft risk report to Congress entitled Risks and the Risk Debate: Searching for Common Ground, "The First Step." Because the information in RDSs proved beneficial in FY 1997 budget formulation decisions, the Assistant Secretary for EM instructed that a formal risk evaluation be used annually in the budget formulation process. This paper evaluates the results of the FY 1998 budget risk data and demonstrates that risk must be considered in times of decreasing Federal budgets.