Bill Reported Out of Committee Late This Week
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
5/9/2014
Members of the House Armed Services Committee dropped funding for a new federal contribution to the Uranium Enrichment D&D Fund from the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act before reporting the bill out of committee late this week. As originally drafted, the bill would have authorized $363 million in funding for a federal contribution to the fund, $100 million less than what the Obama Administration had requested. The bill did not include, however, language reauthorizing the fund itself, and therefore several observers have suggested that the authorized funding for a new federal contribution was included only to provide lawmakers with the ability to use it as an offset for other priorities to be added during the amendment process. Ultimately, during the lengthy committee markup hearing on the bill this week, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) removed the funding as part of an amendment to increase funding for the Army National Guard and for helicopter-related activities.
The uranium enrichment D&D fund is used to help cover cleanup costs at the Oak Ridge, Paducah and Portsmouth sites. The fund, which saw its authorization expire in 2007, was to last for 15 years, with utilities to contribute a total of $2.5 billion and DOE to contribute a total of $4.95 billion. Utilities wrapped up paying their obligations to the fund in 2007. In recent years, DOE has repeatedly proposed a reauthorization of the fund and both federal and industry contributions. Such proposals have been met with strong opposition, though, from the nuclear industry and some lawmakers, and have never moved forward.
Bill Includes Boost for Tech. Development
Only a small portion of the overall defense authorization bill relates to the Department of Energy’s cleanup efforts. For defense environmental cleanup activities, which cover most of DOE’s major cleanup sites, the bill would authorize a funding level of $4.870 billion (not counting any proposed uranium enrichment D&D fund contribution), largely matching DOE’s FY 2015 budget request. On a site-by-site basis, the bill would authorize funding levels matching DOE’s request. However, the bill would also authorize approximately $19 million in technology development funds for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, up $6 million from the Department’ request. In addition, the bill includes language that would create a Manhattan Project National Park made up of facilities at Hanford, Oak Ridge and the Los Alamos National Laboratory; and would direct DOE to convey two parcels of land at Hanford to the site’s Community Reuse Organization by the end of the year for economic development.
