A hold by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is seemingly the only barrier remaining between Anne Marie White and a vote by the full Senate on her nomination to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management.
The Senate Armed Services Committee said Tuesday it on March 1 automatically advanced White’s nomination to head the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM) and its roughly $6.5 billion annual budget. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee had already sent the nomination to the chamber floor on a Jan. 30 voice vote The nomination is now on the Senate executive calendar.
The White nomination was jointly referred to both committees in January. Under Senate rules, the Armed Services Committee had 30 days from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee vote to take action, before the nomination would automatically advance, which is what happened, a Senate source said. Armed Services did convene a public nomination hearing last week, but White fielded only a few questions.
The Armed Services move would seem to bring White to the brink of getting an up or down vote from the Senate, which an industry source said could happen this month.
The industry source said Tuesday he believes the Trump administration is working to persuade Barrasso to remove his hold on the White nomination. However, the Senate’s attention this week has been dominated by efforts to revise banking regulations passed after the financial crisis of 2008.
As of press time, Barrasso’s office had not responded to a number of requests for comment.
The Wyoming Republican wants White and DOE to commit to ending the agency’s uranium barter program, which helps fund cleanup of the Portsmouth Site in Ohio but which Barrasso believes hurts the ailing domestic uranium production industry. The parties should be able to resolve the dispute in short order, the industry source said.
Another industry observer agreed last week, saying in a $6.5 billion budget EM should be able to find money to fully fund Portsmouth decommissioning without having to tap money from trading excess government uranium.
White Gets Senate Frustration with DOE Cleanup
In 13 pages of questions and answers submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee before her March 1 confirmation hearing, White said her meetings with senators have driven home a sense of frustration about the pace of cleanup.
“During the meetings with the Senators and their staff, it was clear there is broad frustration with [the Office of Environmental Management’s] lack of progress given its approximately $6 billion annual budget,” she wrote. “If confirmed, I will be accountable for meeting the commitments EM makes.”
It has been approaching a decade since EM marked a major site remediation closure, White said. The Energy Department wrapped up cleanup of the Rocky Flats site in Colorado in 2005, Fernald site in Ohio in 2006, and the Mound Site in Ohio in 2010.
The Office of Environmental Management has to date completed remediation at 91 of its 107 assigned sites. The biggest job, at the Hanford Site in Washington state, is currently projected to be cleaned up around 2070.
If confirmed, White said she would prefer to decontaminate and demolish old buildings and infrastructure, “rather than maintaining them.” White said she is willing to explore “accelerated cleanup” for certain properties where feasible.
“Accelerated cleanup could yield positive results, but may require a higher, up-front investment,” White said. She did not offer specifics on what sites might be candidates for such an effort, and acknowledged budget constraints can hinder cleanup timelines.
White, who holds a master’s degree in nuclear engineering, began her career doing physical cleanup work before forming her own consulting firm in 1995. Her company has, in the past, subcontracted to major contractors at many sites in the DOE cleanup complex.
