SRSCRO August 2021 Update

SRS Assets for Services Update

What does the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Savannah River Site (SRS) do with outdated or unneeded materials, supplies, machinery, and equipment? They work with the Savannah River Site Community Resource Organization (SRSCRO) through the DOE-SR established Asset Transition Program (ATP). The SRSCRO conducts the ATP as DOE’s designated agency for donation of surplus material no longer needed for SRS operations. The program has helped the government avoid disposal costs while generating cash for investments in the regional economy.

The equipment, much of it is aged and weathered, is liquidated at yard sale prices – approximately 6.5 percent of the acquisition value – generating revenue for the SRSCRO while minimizing DOE disposition costs. The impressive financial performance of the ATP has enabled the SRSCRO to distribute funds to member counties for infrastructure improvement projects, including spec buildings, land purchases, and expansion of industrial parks as well as matching funds for general economic development purposes.

The revenue from the sale of these excess assets is used for our regional economic and workforce related programs which in turn, empowers and fuels local economies. Items of value originally paid for by taxpayer dollars are being reutilized to benefit the entire region. Some items like glove boxes, firefighting aids and tools have been donated to schools, colleges, rural fire departments or community programs like the Salkehatchie Summer Service.

Over the past seven years, the SRSCRO has invested more than $5 million in regional programs like Career Connection Forums (a science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) educational event), various regional industrial park expenditures, SRS Economic Impact and Regional Workforce Studies, and support for local economic recruitment efforts. These program funds are evenly divided between the SRSCRO five-county region.

The SRSCRO is very fortunate to have excellent partners in Bolin Marketing Group (BMG). Von Bolin, BMG President, brings significant expertise and networking in the surplus/salvage business and Ricky Gooding, BMG Site Project Manager, has been executing removal projects efficiently and safely. The SRSCRO and BMG have been a proven successful team at SRS for over 15 years.

The SRSCRO is a private, non-profit organization charged with developing and implementing a comprehensive strategy to diversify the economy of a five-county region consisting of Aiken, Allendale and Barnwell counties in South Carolina and Richmond (Augusta) and Columbia counties in Georgia. Eighty percent (80%) of the SRSCRO revenue percentage (20% is used for SRSCRO expenses to administer the program) go directly back to our five counties through economic development organizations for infrastructure/development projects and other workforce efforts.

Even though the SRSCRO is a non-profit organization, it does incur expenses just like any normal business. And, while BMG receives a percent of the sales for their efforts, from this subcontract payment, BMG must pay labor, transportation, storage, insurance, and other normal operating expenses. BMG does make a fair profit, like any successful business would expect. But no one is getting rich from SRS or the taxpayer.

Save the Week!

Nuclear Science Week’s 2021 big event will be hosted in Washington D.C. beginning October 19, 2021. Special events and speakers will focus on the important role of nuclear science in the lives of Americans and the world.

In our region in South Carolina and Georgia , Nuclear Science Week (October 18 – 22, 2021) events are coordinated through a committee hosted by the SRS Community Reuse Organization. Activities will be presented through Ruth Patrick Science Education Center, Plant Vogtle, Savannah River Site, Citizens for Nuclear Technology Awareness and more.

Nuclear Science Week (NSW) is an international, broadly observed, week-long celebration focused on all aspects of nuclear science. Local events take place all over the nation during the week. It is celebrated in cities big and small, and any community is invited to get involved and host a Nuclear Science Week celebration. Each year a different city is chosen to host the national celebration, and smaller celebrations take place throughout the country and the world.

NSW is directed by an international steering committee working with the National Museum for Nuclear Science and History, a Smithsonian Affiliate, located in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Appropriations Committee Report Language

Report language refers to information provided in reports accompanying committee reported legislation as well as joint explanatory statements, which are included in conference reports. Report language contains more detailed guidance to departments and agencies than is provided in related appropriations bills or legislative text in conference reports. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) report, linked here, provides an overview of the key components of appropriations report language and how that language is developed by the House and Senate Appropriations Committees.

Although the language contained in these reports is not considered binding in the same manner as the statutory language of appropriations acts, report language plays an essential role in the congressional consideration of appropriations measures and affects how federal agencies obligate the funds provided by those measures.

House and Senate rules mandate that committee reports for general appropriations measures provide lists of appropriations not authorized by law and the disclosure of congressionally directed spending (commonly referred to as “earmarks”). In addition, the House requires that rescissions and transfers, as well as language changing existing law, be listed in committee reports accompanying general appropriations measures.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees primarily use report language for two broad purposes. First, report language explains the provisions of an appropriations measure to Representatives and Senators who will subsequently consider the accompanying measure. Second, report language is used to communicate with the federal agencies receiving the appropriations by providing supplementary information and an explanation of the measure’s legislative intent, which often includes a range of directives to the agency.

While the House has made significant progress on appropriations legislation, the Senate is behind in its mark up of its spending bills. All 12 appropriations bills must be passed by the House and Senate and signed by the President before the fiscal year ends on September 30 to avert a government shutdown. Depending on your optimistic or pessimistic outlook, the jury is out on whether legislators can complete the FY 2022 bills on time.

In every similar instance since FY 1997, Congress has resorted to passing a continuing resolution (CR), which provides the same funding level as the prior year, to buy time to complete the appropriations process. Even with the added time provided by a CR to finalize the individual spending bills, legislators frequently resort to passing several appropriations bills together in a massive year-end omnibus package.

In This Issue

SRS Assets for Services Update

Save the Week!

Appropriations Committee Report Language

Spotlight

Congressional Staffer Zoom-In

Instead of our normal “in-person” annual “fly-in”, where staffers visit the area and conduct tours and hold discussions about SRS issues of interest, the SRSCRO hosted a “Zoom-in” for the Congressional Staffers, both local and from the DC area. The zoom meeting was held on August 10 and consisted of a 2-hour interactive dialogue about SRS issues from the perspective of the SRSCRO. The meeting objective was to have staffers from both sides of the river better informed about our local initiatives, which can only make the communities stronger politically, and the staffers better informed. A total of 10 congressional staffers attended the zoom-in meeting.

Flip Flops Fun Facts

1. Did you know that the Egyptians were already using flip flops in 4000 BC? This is shown on ancient murals dated around that period.

2. The earliest pair of flip flops, from between 1550 B.C. and 1307 B.C., were found in Europe and are made of papyrus leaves.

3. Throughout the centuries, ancient population wore flip flops in different ways. The Greeks wore the toe strap between their 1st and 2nd toes, the Ancient Romans wore the strap between the 2nd and 3rd toes, and the Mesopotamians wore the strap between the 3rd and 4th toes.

4. Flip flops as we know them today originated from the Japanese sandal called the zōri. The shoe started making its appearance in America after World War II, when soldiers returned home.

5. The name flip flops takes its origins from the sound these shoes make while walking. This term has been used in American and British English since 1972.

6. If you thought that running in flip flops was impossible, think again. The Tarahumaras, a tribe living in Mexico’s Copper Canyons, run hundreds of miles across woods and on rocky terrain wearing only Huaraches, self-made sandals very similar to flip flops. Keith Lavasseur, a man from Maryland, ran the 26-mile Baltimore marathon while wearing black Reef sandals. He finished in 29th place out of more than 3000 participants and it took him 2 hours, 46 minutes and 58 seconds to finish the marathon.

7. The most expensive flip-flops cost a whopping $18,000! The shoes were painted by famous Los Angeles Artist David Palmer, and they are adorned with a hand-made 18 carat solid gold emblem of the brand that produced them, Chipkos.

8. Last but not least: did you know that there is a National Flip Flop Day? This unofficial holiday is celebrated every third Friday of June. It was founded by Tropical Smoothie Café in order to raise money for Camp Sunshine – a camp that supports children with life threatening illnesses. Customers who visit the café wearing flip flops receive a free smoothie and, for each customer, the company makes a donation to help the cause.

9. An interesting controversy can be found surrounding flip flops when in 2005 during a visit to the White House, Northwestern University’s national champion women’s Lacrosse team donned flip flops on their feet. They were highly criticized for their choice in footwear. The team responded by auctioning off their flip flops on e-bay and raised just over $1650 USD for a young cancer patient.

The 2021 SRSCRO meeting schedule is available here.

Closing Thoughts

"If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner." -- Tallulah Bankhead

"He can compress the most words into the smallest ideas of any man I ever met." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Never harbor grudges; they sour your stomach and do no harm to anyone else." -- Robertson Davies

"Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water." -- W. C. Fields

"It's so much easier to suggest solutions when you don't know too much about the problem."

-- Malcolm Forbes

"Even a mistake may turn out to be the one thing necessary to a worthwhile achievement."

-- Henry Ford

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

-- Winston Churchill

Contact Information

SRSCRO, PO Box 696, Aiken, SC 29802

Staff:

Rick McLeod | President/CEO | 803.508.7402

Mindy Mets | Director of Regional Workforce Programs |803.508.7403

Amy Merry | Administrative & Business Manger | 803.508.7401

Kim Saxon | Assistant Coordinator | 803.508.7656

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