By Frank Munger
The Knoxville News Sentinel, February 5, 2001

Land use on the government's Oak Ridge reservation is a hot topic, scorching hot, as evidenced by the crowd (more than 200 people) that attended a public forum last week.

The battle lines are classic preservation versus development and it seems like everybody has an opinion about how to use the Department of Energy s 34,000-acre showplace (what's left of the original 60,000 acres of farmland absconded for the World War II Manhattan Project).

This vast expanse, of course, already is home to various federal installations, such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and East Tennessee Technology Park -- the former K-25 uranium-enrichment plant now being converted to private industrial use.

Other areas have been targeted for future DOE activities, including a large part of Chestnut Ridge where construction is underway on the $1.4 billion Spallation Neutron Source -- the big project that's supposed to make Oak Ridge the world's leading research center for neutron sciences.

The current controversy relates to the thousands of mostly forested acres "unused" on DOE's reservation, at least where there are no major buildings already in place or planned or where there's no reservoir of buried nuclear waste that would prohibit future use.

The community is philosophically divided.

Local governments and business organizations generally favor additional development of the federal property to attract new investment, build the tax rolls and boost the retail economy. Conservationists and environmentalists and hunters have banded together to oppose future development -- particularly what's been described as a piecemeal approach that threatens wildlife habitats and the natural systems in place nearby.

What's interesting is how the controversy has affected the Department of Energy s Oak Ridge Operations.

It has become the defining issue of Leah Dever's still-brief (year and a half) tenure as Oak Ridge manager, and she's feeling the heat from the various interest groups, of course, but also from members of her management staff.

And she has not backed away.

Dever opted to host last week's public forum, even though it wasn't tied to any decision-making documents or required by the National Environmental Policy Act. She said it was a good way for people to talk and maybe learn about others' wishes and concerns.

For weeks, maybe longer, there had been persistent reports about heated disagreements in the upper-management tier at DOE's Oak Ridge office about how to proceed on proposals that had galvanized the land-use controversy.

Dever was seen as regularly taking the environmental side of things, while reports suggested other managers such as chief of administration Dan Wilken and assets manager Robert Brown staunchly promoted DOE's relationship with the Oak Ridge business community and support for their needs.

Before the start of last week's meeting, I asked Dever about disunity in the management ranks.

"I would say that most of our managers are really . . ." She paused and started again, "The last couple of weeks we've taken a hard look together as a team at our land-use issues." 

She said that didn't mean federal officials were necessarily on the "same page," but noted, "There's been a lot of discussion, yes, a lot of discussion."

Dever discounted reports that she favored the environmental perspective.

"We have to do what is the right thing for the future of the Oak Ridge reservation and the Department of Energy. That's where I line up. I'm not tied to preservationism or economic development. I have to do the right thing for the U.S. Department of Energy. That's where I am."

A few minutes after making those remarks, Dever opened the meeting and, before accepting public comments, she announced DOE s planned course regarding three proposed developments.

She said she would quickly sign an environmental assessment that permits the transfer of floodplain property along the Clinch River. That provides river access for a proposed residential development nearby on 1,200 acres of land currently owned by the Boeing Co.

Dever also said DOE hoped to complete within the next month or so an environmental review that will enable the transfer of some property at Oak Ridge National Laboratory for private development. That action is expected to spur the outside investment needed for a segment of UT-Battelle's lab modernization plan.

The surprise of the evening came when Dever announced she was putting on hold the transfer of the ED-3 parcel for an industrial park on the west end of the reservation. She said it was time to "take a pause and reflect on the overall course and context of federal land use before proceeding."

Stalling development of 450 acres for a "mid-level industrial park" near the K-25 plant was mostly a symbolic gesture because the property will be developed eventually or so it appears. DOE seems inclined to let the entire west end of the reservation become an industrial zone.

Still, the news was a stunner, especially to business executives and officials from local governments who came to the meeting prepared to lobby for quick action on the ED-3 proposal.

Most shocked of all, however, were some of Dever's DOE colleagues, who were blind-sided and embarrassed by the announcement.

Dever had informed only a few close confidantes of the decision, apparently fearing that if she told other DOE managers they might inform their business buddies in advance of the meeting. If alerted, might they have staged a walk-out?

Whatever the reason, her move put an additional chill on Dever's relationship with some of the DOE managers she inherited in summer 1999, when she arrived in Oak Ridge. It also may have earned her the lasting scorn of power brokers in the Oak Ridge business community, some of whom are already spouting off about plans to oust Dever from her federal post.

At the same time, Dever probably won some additional support outside the Oak Ridge establishment and clearly showed, more than with any other decision since taking the job, that she is her own person and quite willing to take the risks therein.