The Department of Energy’s Environmental Management Advisory Board is being discontinued after 30 years, the Energy Communities Alliance (ECA) said Tuesday.
Members of the Environmental Management Advisory Board (EMAB) were recently informed that DOE during the second Donald Trump administration has decided “to sunset the board,” ECA said in a member email Tuesday.
The EMAB is charged with giving expert advice on nuclear cleanup issues to Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management Tim Walsh. During a Monday conversation with Exchange Monitor, ECA Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg noted that the Office of Environmental Management (EM) Site-Specific Advisory Boards remain in operation.
The EMAB charter expired Jan. 12 “and the decision was made to sunset the board,” according to an email sent to EMAB members recently. “Thank you for being a valuable board member and volunteering your time to improve the Environmental Management program. It was a pleasure to support you during your service,” according to text of an email viewed by Exchange Monitor.
In a Friday email to Exchange Monitor an Environmental Management spokesperson largely repeated the decision to sunset the board and reiterated that DOE “values the recommendations received and the members who volunteered to share their expertise.” The spokesperson did not offer any details on the reasons DOE was ending the EMAB. The spokesperson did confirm the site-specific advisory boards continue to operate.
“Leaders of EM and the Office of Science (including President Trump’s last Undersecretary for Science) [Paul Dabbar] have come from the Board,” ECA said Tuesday. “The Board highlighted key issues to the EM Assistant Secretary from independent parties – several of which are states, tribes and local governments that host DOE facilities. We are disappointed to see the end of the EMAB.”
EMAB operated under the Federal Advisory Committee Act. One of the last reports issues by EMAB was a July 2024 examination of best practices on groundwater remediation and monitoring.
Amy Fitzgerald, Ph.D. was co-chair of the board at that time, according to the EMAB website.
“The board works to identify applicable private and public sector best management practices and provides counsel on how to integrate them into the EM program,” according to the EMAB website. “The board works with the private sector to identify barriers to the effective execution of the assistant secretary’s program objectives and facilitates discussions between the department, private industry and the public for knowledge sharing. Lastly, EMAB provides strategic management advice on where and how to focus the program’s resources to achieve maximum impact and greatest risk reduction.”