President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team this week drew a snarl from one of the Senate’s top nuclear policymakers, who vowed to keep a close eye on the incoming administration’s demand that the Energy Department provide target budget and staffing levels for its national nuclear cleanup programs.
“I intend to closely follow the transition process at the Department of Energy and also will be monitoring the incoming administration to determine whether employees and contractors are being mistreated,” Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, wrote in a Tuesday letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz.
Cantwell — who has many constituents at and around DOE’s Hanford Site near Richland, Wash. — also asked for copies of any answers DOE sends the incoming Trump administration in response to a wide-ranging list of questions transition officials sent the agency last week.
Among other things, Trump transition aides asked how much money DOE’s Office of Environmental Management needs for its national nuclear cleanup program, and what the office’s staffing priorities are in the coming year.
Cantwell’s fellow Washington state senator, Patty Murrary (D), also put President-elect Donald Trump and his choice for energy secretary, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, on warning over Hanford.
“It is imperative for Governor Perry, or any Energy nominee, to truly understand the sacrifices Hanford workers and the Tri-Cities community made to help America win World II and the Cold War,” Murray said in a prepared statment on Wednesday. “Any effort to roll back progress at Hanford, shortchange [the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory], destabilize BPA, or privatize portions of the Department of Energy will be met with swift opposition.”
