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Access Issues |
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September 26, 2008
Negotiated rulemaking meetings will be moved from Hatteras
By IRENE NOLAN  All future meetings of the negotiated rulemaking committee that is trying to formulate a long-range ORV plan for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore will be at the pavilion at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. None of the future meetings will be on Hatteras Island. Previous meetings have alternated between Hatteras locations and locations on the northern beaches – mostly in hotels. Seashore superintendent Mike Murray said yesterday that the location change “will enable the NPS to accommodate more of the general public at the meetings.” It will also, he said, allow the Park Service to “assume control of meeting security through NPS law enforcement and manage any perceived or actual threats to committee members.” Some of the 29 members of the negotiating committee and their alternates have complained about threats and harassment. Murray said some of the complaints were made to him in writing and some were verbal. The number of complaints, he said, over several months was more than five but fewer than 10. Murray said he made the decision to move the meetings off Hatteras on the “unequivocal advice from the process experts” – including solicitors for the Department of the Interior, other DOI advisers, and the Institute for Conflict Resolution. “I need to do what I can to protect the committee members,” Murray said in a phone interview. “The relocation,” he added, “is more directly tied to the poor treatment some committee members have received in the community. “In general terms, the meetings have been civil,” Murray said. He said that most of the complaints about harassment and intimidation of committee members have occurred in situations outside of the meetings – in the community. He said he has no control over those incidents but that he felt a responsibility to conduct the meetings in a “facility where the Park Service can provide the security to make sure meetings are conducted in a safe atmosphere.” Meetings at the Park Service’s pavilion, he said, would put the meetings in a neutral location and may help the committee focus more on reaching consensus and less on “outside behavior” that affects interpersonal communications among committee members. And, he said, it may help members feel more comfortable in voicing their opinions. The 29-member committee, with its 29 alternates, is made up of all of the various stakeholders in the issue of ORV access to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This includes environmental groups, who would like to limit access to protect natural resources, and pro-access groups, who advocate for continued free and open access for ORVs on the beaches. At a recent committee meeting in Avon, the argument boiled down to two opposing viewpoints. The environmental groups take the approach that the beaches are closed to vehicles unless they can be opened and still protect wildlife and other resources. On the other side are pro-access groups that believe all the seashore’s beaches should be open, unless there is a compelling reason to close them. The committee started its formal meetings in January and must finish its work by January of next year. Along the way, the two sides of the issue have become increasingly polarized, and very little progress has been made negotiating resources protection, ORV routes on the beach, and such issues as ORV closures in front of the island’s villages. Murray concedes that moving the meetings from Hatteras may further exacerbate antagonism against environmental groups, the Park Service, and the negotiated rulemaking process. He stressed, though, that the Park Service’s goal was to give the committee the “best chance possible” to reach consensus – at least on some of the issues. “We are running out of time,” Murray said. “I still think it’s possible to make a deal, but people need to be willing to deal.” A large issue at a two-day negotiated rulemaking committee meeting in Avon earlier this month was public access and transparency of the process of this federally appointed group. Warren Judge, a committee member and chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, offered that the county would pay to videotape the meetings, which last all day, and make them available on cable television’s government access channel and perhaps on the Dare Web site. Murray, as the committee’s designated federal official, polled the group on their views. Only six said they objected to the taping of the meetings. Murray said in today’s interview that he had not yet made a final decision on allowing the meetings to be videotaped. He said a decision would be made before the next committee meeting in November. Judge is unhappy with the Park Service dragging of its feet on the issue of public access to its proceedings. “How unfair to deny our rights, the peoples’ rights, their right to access to see how 29 men and women are negotiating their access to an American treasure, to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area, land taken from people but with the promise that we would always be able to hunt, fish and access the beach as we were accustomed to.” In addition to moving the meetings to Kill Devil Hills, Murray announced that the Oct. 22-23 meeting will be cancelled. “This will allow NPS the time to complete its work on ORV management alternatives,” Murray said in a media release, “so it can share that information with the committee and the public, and shift all remaining full committee meeting time until after those alternatives are made available. In addition, the cancellation will give the committee members time to continue work in subcommittees, an informal opportunity to reflect on the committee’s efforts and progress to date, and a chance to renew their focus on the primary purpose of the committee, which is to assist NPS with negotiating a consensus alternative for long-term ORV management and regulation.” Murray also said the Park Service will complete the executive summary of public comments received on the ORV management Alternatives Options Workbook and post it on the NPS Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) website by November 1, 2008. The full compilation of workbook comments are available on-line in a PDF format at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=358&projectId=10641&documentID=23208. He noted that the Park Service is also working to finalize and release to the committee and the public the NPS draft ORV management alternatives to be later included in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that is being developed under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. In addition, Murray’s release to the committee, the public, and the media noted: At the November meeting, NPS will ask committee members to reaffirm their commitment to the groundrules. NPS believes the committee needs to keep focused on the substantive issues at hand, more now than ever. These groundrules include the following responsibilities: • Members commit to the principles of decency, civility, and tolerance. Parties must be willing to envision and shape a future for all users and people interested in the seashore, including descendants of families living on the Outer Banks when the seashore was established, current property owners and visitors, and those that care about the accessibility, ecology, and/or preservation of the national seashore and national parks. • Parties also must be willing to accept there are different views (locally, regionally, and nationally) and the different stakeholders each have a legitimate interest and right to be part of determining the solutions. Committee representatives must exercise leadership within their respective constituencies to foster a climate of joint problem solving on the Committee and publicly, to keep their constituencies informed, and to ensure their constituents support rather than undermine the process. • Members and alternates understand that a decision to take legal, political, or media action may seriously compromise negotiations. • Committee members will not attribute statements to others involved in this negotiated rulemaking, seek to present or represent the views or position of other members or alternates, nor attempt to speak on behalf of the committee as a whole in or to the media. • Personal attacks, name calling, and other such negative behaviors will be addressed immediately, either privately or publicly, by committee members and facilitators. • If a member does not abide by various provisions of the groundrules, then NPS, after consultation with the facilitators, will record this “breach” of these groundrules in writing, post it on the project Web site, include it in the administrative record, and distribute it to all Committee members and alternates for their use as they see fit, including use in any formal submittals to a court. “NPS is committed to completing the negotiated rulemaking process and commends the committee for its hard work on these very difficult issues,” Murray said. “As the Designated Federal Officer (DFO), I want to ensure that the remaining meetings are managed to give the committee its best chance of success. I intend, and encourage all committee members, to make the most of the remaining opportunity to negotiate an ORV management alternative and regulation that everyone can accept.” The next negotiated rulemaking committee meeting will be Friday and Saturday, Nov. 14 and 15, in the pavilion of the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills. The public can attend. The meetings usually begin at 8:30 a.m. and end around 5 p.m. Members of the public can comment around noon each day and at 5 p.m. on the first day of the meeting. FOR MORE INFORMATION More information on the negotiated rulemaking process and the negotiated rulemaking meeting in early September in Avon is available on the Beach Access Issues Page. |
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