Budget & Policy

The Senate took a major step forward yesterday toward approving Daniel Santos to serve on the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, voting to end debate on the nomination. The move all but assures that Santos will be confirmed by the Senate as early as today. Santos was nominated by the Obama Administration in June to […]

Despite last-minute intra-GOP wrangling over funding for the Homeland Security Department, the Senate on Saturday passed a spending bill that boosts Department of Energy cleanup funds by $160 million above President Barack Obama’s $5.01 billion request, cuts $83 million from the Administration’s $8.31 million request for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program, provides $345 […]

The Senate could clear a handful of nominees early this week, including Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board nominee Daniel Santos, State Department arms control nominee Frank Rose, and Department of Energy fossil energy pick Chris Smith. Notably absent from the list of nominees was DOE Environmental Management pick Monica Regalbuto, who was nominated earlier this […]

Patricia Falcone, the Assistant Director for National Security and International Affairs at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, will address the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories today at 10 a.m. in Alexandria, Va. The Congressionally mandated commission will meet for the fourth time today at the Institute […]

Weapons Complex Monitor is accepting until Monday, Dec. 15, nominations for this year’s Winners and Losers list, which highlights the good and the bad from 2014. This year’s list is set to be published in the Dec. 19 issue of WC Monitor. Send your nominations or make your case to Editor-in-Chief Mike Nartker at nartker@exchangemonitor.com.

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he is disappointed the Board dropped to the bottom of this year’s list of best “small” federal agencies to work for, but reiterated steps the Board is taking to help improve employee morale and satisfaction. The Board was […]

There is a legendary story in the lore of ExchangeMonitor. In the early 1980s, as Ed was just a few years in to building what would become ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums, one of Ed’s first reporters was just about at his wits end after only a few months on the job. After watching his story […]

ExchangeMonitor Founder and Publisher Edward Helminski Dies at 72 WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Edward Lawrence Helminski, the founder, publisher and president of ExchangeMonitor publications, died peacefully in his home in Washington, D.C, on Dec. 5. He was 72.  Helminski’s diverse career spanned from academia to energy policy work with states and the White House to newsletter […]

WIPP Recovery Funded, Savannah River Sees Cuts Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Most sites in the Department of Energy’s cleanup program would receive a funding boost in the Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill Congress released this week, with an increase that could stave off looming layoffs at Portsmouth, though in the meantime the Savannah […]

Mike Nartker WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has dropped his hold on Monica Regalbuto’s nomination to serve as the next Assistant Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management, but it remains to be seen if she’ll be confirmed by the Senate before the current Congress goes out of session, expected next week. Barrasso chose […]

ExchangeMonitor Founder and Publisher Edward Helminski Dies at 72 WC Monitor 12/12/2014 Edward Lawrence Helminski, the founder, publisher and president of ExchangeMonitor publications, died peacefully in his home in Washington, D.C, on Dec. 5. He was 72.  Helminski’s diverse career spanned from academia to energy policy work with states and the White House to newsletter […]

There is a legendary story in the lore of ExchangeMonitor. In the early 1980s, as Ed was just a few years in to building what would become ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums, one of Ed’s first reporters was just about at his wits end after only a few months on the job. After watching his story […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 With continued gridlock between the House and Senate on long-term plans for high-level waste, no funding for either Yucca Mountain or a pilot interim storage plant made it into the compromise version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Appropriations omnibus bill released this week. The House and Senate have taken […]

Kenneth Fletcher WC Monitor 12/12/2014 With Congressional Nuclear Cleanup Caucus Chairman Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) set to retire next month, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) this week announced that he will be leading the group.  The caucus is comprised of lawmakers with Department of Energy cleanup sites in their districts, and Fleischmann said he is looking […]

Jeremy L. Dillon RW Monitor 12/12/2014 The Senate confirmed this week Jeffrey Baran to a longer term on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with a 52-40 vote along party lines. President Barack Obama nominated Baran to serve the remaining years left on outgoing NRC Chair Allison Macfarlane’s term, which would expire in June 2018. Baran initially […]

WC Monitor 12/12/2014 IN CONGRESS The Republican-led 114th Congress will retain the current chairs of the House Armed Services subcommittees on Strategic Forces, Seapower and Projection Forces, Tactical Air and Land Forces and Readiness. Reps. Mike Rogers (Ala.), J. Randy Forbes (Va.), Mike Turner (Ohio) and Rob Wittman (Va.) will head the respective groups, according […]

RW Monitor 12/12/2014 IN USACE The Army Corps of Engineers Buffalo District last week added an additional two weeks to the response due date for the Request for Proposal for remediation services at its Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program site in Luckey, Ohio. The contract for environmental remediation services and ancillary construction to support […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Robert Scher, the Obama Administration’s pick to be the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Capabilities, was cleared by the Senate Armed Services Committee this week. Scher was one of three civilian nominees on Dec. 9 that the Senate Armed Services Committee favorably reported out, by voice vote, […]

There is a legendary story in the lore of ExchangeMonitor. In the early 1980s, as Ed was just a few years in to building what would become ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums, one of Ed’s first reporters was just about at his wits end after only a few months on the job. After watching his story […]

There is a legendary story in the lore of ExchangeMonitor. In the early 1980s, as Ed was just a few years in to building what would become ExchangeMonitor Publications & Forums, one of Ed’s first reporters was just about at his wits end after only a few months on the job. After watching his story […]

ExchangeMonitor Founder and Publisher Edward Helminski Dies at 72 GHG Monitor 12/12/2014 Edward Lawrence Helminski, the founder, publisher and president of ExchangeMonitor publications, died peacefully in his home in Washington, D.C, on Dec. 5. He was 72.  Helminski’s diverse career spanned from academia to energy policy work with states and the White House to newsletter […]

ExchangeMonitor Founder and Publisher Edward Helminski Dies at 72 NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Edward Lawrence Helminski, the founder, publisher and president of ExchangeMonitor publications, died peacefully in his home in Washington, D.C, on Dec. 5. He was 72.  Helminski’s diverse career spanned from academia to energy policy work with states and the White House to newsletter […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 The Congressional Advisory Panel on the Governance of the Nuclear Security Enterprise is recommending not only a major overhaul for the National Nuclear Security Administration, but a recasting of how weapons complex contractors are compensated. The 12-member panel this week released its long-awaited report, “A New Foundation for the Nuclear […]

Brian Bradley NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 The Senate is expected to vote as early as today on a Fiscal Year 2015 omnibus spending bill unveiled on Dec. 9 which would allocate $853.3 million for research, development, testing and evaluation for the Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine replacement program. The appropriations bill, approved by the House Dec. 11, […]

Most Nonpro Programs See a Boost Kenneth Fletcher NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Despite the Administration’s plans for a shutdown of the project, construction of the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility would continue at the $345 million funding level included in the Fiscal Year 2015 spending bill released by Congressional appropriators this week. That compares to the […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/12/2014 Throughout the two-weeklong 20th Conference of the Parties (COP20) wrapping up in Lima, Peru, this week, representatives from the nearly 200 countries in attendance have worked well together, U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern said during a press briefing at the conference this week. The COP20 is […]

Todd Jacobson NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 The Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration are not adequately employing best practices in the analysis of alternatives (AOA) for major capital projects and may continue to see cost and schedule increases on its major projects, the Government Accountability Office said in a report released this week. […]

Mike Nartker NS&D Monitor 12/12/2014 Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board Chairman Peter Winokur said this week that he is disappointed the Board dropped to the bottom of this year’s list of best “small” federal agencies to work for, but reiterated steps the Board is taking to help improve employee morale and satisfaction. The Board was […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/12/2014 With Congress set to soon go out of session, the Department of Energy remains without a confirmed Assistant Secretary of Fossil Energy.  Christopher Smith, who currently holds the title of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, the number two position at FE, was nominated to fill the Assistant […]

Abby L. Harvey GHG Monitor 12/12/2014 Emile “Chip” Troxclair has been named to lead the Kemper Country Energy Facility to commercial operation as the Vice President of Kemper development, Mississippi Power announced late this week. In his new role, Troxclair will oversee the world’s first integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) plant with carbon capture and storage […]