Turnover in key committees in the upcoming Congress might not have a major impact on the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management (EM).
When Democrats assume leadership in the House of Representatives next month, the primary question involves not the incoming chairs of each panel, but how much they might be swayed by likely House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other party leaders, an industry source said this week.
For example, will party leaders push House appropriators to point more dollars toward away from nuclear cleanup overseen by EM and toward areas such as DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, the source asked.
The cleanup office was one of DOE’s appropriation winders in fiscal 2019, funded at $7.2 billion through Sept. 30 of next year, which was more than the $6.6 billion request by the Trump administration.
“Some of the programs here and there might get tweaked,” said a separate source with a DOE environmental management contractor. But, generally, “everybody is willing to fund everything” these days, he added.
Still, sources said this week said rumored moves at committees do not particularly worry weapons complex cleanup interests much.
Longtime Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) should become the new chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Pallone, elected last month to his 16th term in the lower chamber, is currently the panel’s ranking Democrat. He would succeed sitting Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.), who has already been selected as Republicans’ ranking member for the committee.
The committee has a wide oversight authority over agencies including the Energy Department, its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It occasionally calls upon these agencies to justify what they are or are not doing.
During a February hearing on nuclear infrastructure, Pallone said the Energy Department has done a so-so job of overseeing the safety and efficiency of its own work. He questioned if an agency such as the NRC, which regulates the nuclear industry, should play a role in overseeing DOE safety practices. The New Jersey lawmaker also bemoaned the department’s large environmental liability.
At the same time, Pallone voted to reauthorize the West Valley Demonstration Project cleanup in New York state. “I don’t think Pallone would be bad for us [with an interest in nuclear cleanup],” said a third source who tracks federal policy. “He definitely knows his way around DOE issues,” she said.
The House Democratic Caucus was expected this week to vote on committee chairs, but that was delayed by memorial services for former President George H.W. Bush, who died last week, a congressional staffer noted. The Caucus vote is still expected this month, the staffer said.
While the staffer expects Pallone to become chairman, he did not know who might become vice chairman at Energy and Commerce. Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who is retiring, currently holds that position.
Walden announced Nov. 30 the House Republican Steering Committee had elected him ranking member for Energy and Commerce. “Under my leadership, the Energy and Commerce Committee has worked in an overwhelmingly bipartisan manner to advance key legislation for our district,” Walden said in a press release, adding there is “much more work to be done.” Walden became chairman two years ago and replaced Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), whose term at the helm expired.
Walden has been an active supporter of funding for environmental management of the Energy Department’s Hanford Site, which sits about 40 miles from his congressional district in neighboring Washington state.
On the Senate side, where the GOP slightly expanded its majority, Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) is expected to remain in that post. However, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) is said to be interested in moving to another committee, and numerous news outlets have reported Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) wants to succeed her. The panel vets key DOE nominees.
Manchin tweeted this week he had a “productive” lunch Tuesday with President Donald Trump and discussed “a wide range of bipartisan issues we can work together on next year.” Some Democrats, however, have said they are not thrilled to have a coal industry champion heading a committee with influence on climate change policy.
Two years ago, Manchin’s name circulated as a possible energy secretary in the Trump administration, a post that went to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
Cantwell is said to be interested in Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, where Ranking Member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) lost his re-election bid last month. Cantwell has pushed hard for Hanford safety and funding efforts.
A fourth industry source noted Manchin is not a “nuclear agnostic” and the cleanup lobby would probably be more comfortable with him than Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), a frequent critic of nuclear power.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is headed by Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) and Ranking Member Tom Carper (D-Del.). Both are expected to stay on in their current posts. The committee’s jurisdiction includes NRC, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
For the committees that hold the purse strings, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) is the ranking Democrat on House Appropriations and could be line to become chair. The Republicans have already chosen Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) as the panel’s ranking member. She is effectively swapping in for current Chairman Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), who is retiring from Congress. Lowey said in a Nov. 30 statement she is excited about working with Granger “if I have the honor of being chosen by the House Democratic Caucus.”
Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) has headed the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee, which develops the first congressional budget proposals for DOE, the NNSA, and NRC. Under his leadership, the panel has promoted generous funding for DOE cleanup. Simpson plans to remain on the subcommittee, presumably as ranking member.
Subcommittee Ranking Member Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) is generally expected to become its chairman, sources agreed. Kaptur, now serving her 17th term in the House, is one of the longest-tenured women in congress.
One source believes Kaptur will be friendly to nuclear cleanup. “She cares a lot about union jobs,” she has a good relationship with Simpson, and she has DOE facilities in her state such as the Portsmouth Site and the now-completed Fernald site, he noted.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), a longtime promoter of the Oak Ridge Site and Y-12 National Security Complex, among other nuclear causes, chairs the Senate Appropriations energy and water subcommittee. The ranking Democrat on the subcommittee is Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). At press time, it was not known if either of those senators could be moving to new roles.