A senior industry source said Tuesday he is hearing an increasing amount of “chatter” that the Trump administration might early next year nominate someone to lead the Department of Energy’s nuclear cleanup office.
The source said the talk is circulating among a trusted circle of industry representatives who often share such rumors.
Assuming approval by the U.S. Senate, the nominee would replace acting Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management (EM-1) James Owendoff, a DOE veteran who took the job on an interim basis in June.
When asked, the source said Stoller Newport News Nuclear Vice President Barbara Mazurowski was among the names being considered to lead DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. He could not immediately recall the other names in circulation.
After a separate source last week cited Mazurowski as a potential EM-1 nominee, the Stoller executive told Weapons Complex Monitor she was surprised to hear her name was being mentioned. A third source said this week the Mazurowski speculation might now be out of date. The source declined to disclose any names that might be more current.
The source who spoke Tuesday said EM-1 is a tough position for DOE to fill, given the demands of the role: “It’s a real meat grinder of a job.”
The EM-1 oversees DOE’s roughly $6.5 billion annual defense cleanup program, representing one-fifth of the department’s total budget. The program encompasses massive, complex environmental remediation projects at former and current weapons sites including Hanford in Washington state and Savannah River in South Carolina. Congress keeps a close eye on these programs, alert to any decrease in funding – as Energy Secretary Rick Perry learned firsthand in June when he went to Capitol Hill to defend DOE’s latest budget request. Meanwhile, state regulators have their own demands on the pace of remediation and aren’t afraid to take DOE to court to enforce them.
In addition, qualified candidates typically can make more money at government contractors than they can as EM-1, the source said. Most people who are senior enough to handle this level of responsibility are also at a point in their life where they want build up funds for retirement, he added.
There hasn’t been a permanent EM-1 since Obama-era appointee Monica Regalbuto stepped down after President Donald Trump took office in January. This summer, Atkins executive Alan Parker withdrew his name from consideration. John “Rick” Dearholt, a former Jacobs Engineering manager, was also believed to be in the EM-1 mix months ago.
The source who said the EM-1 speculation was increasing cautioned, however, that the actual nominee often ends up being someone off the rumor-circuit radar.
Retirement of EMCBC’s Holland Called Big Loss for EM
On another personnel issue, the source said DOE will have a difficult time replacing Ralph Holland as the head of the Environmental Management’s Consolidated Business Center (EMCBC). Holland recently told DOE he would retire at the end of this month.
Holland has served in a number of DOE management posts over the past 22 years, and in August 2015 assumed responsibility for the Cincinnati-based operation that provides technical and business services across the department’s nuclear cleanup complex.
In his current role, Holland oversees a staff of about 175 people and an annual budget in excess of $1 billion. He is highly capable and “the industry is going to miss him,” the source said: “It would be easier if he had a deputy that you always see with Ralph.”
DOE has not, to date, released the name of an interim replacement for Holland.
If Holland wants to stay busy after turning in his keys at DOE, the source expects he will find companies interested in hiring the long-time government hand as a consultant.