Anne Marie White could be confirmed this week as assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, and in the meantime has already started working as an adviser at the Energy Department, a DOE official said Monday.
“She has reported to DOE” in a senior advisory role, according to Jim Colgary, chief of staff to Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette. “She is in the building.”
This should help White get off to a fast start once she is confirmed by the Senate, Colgary said during a presentation at the opening plenary to the Waste Management Symposia in Phoenix, Ariz. He did not say when White started as an advisor.
White, an energy consultant with longstanding ties to the DOE complex, is not doing any of the duties of the “EM-1” position, but is advising Energy Secretary Rick Perry on general policy, a source indicated Monday. She is now a limited-term member of the Senior Executive Service.
Having cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Senate Armed Services Committee, White was still facing a hold last week by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo). Barrasso is using the hold to press DOE to stop trading excess government uranium to help finance cleanup of the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. Sources have said DOE officials have been communicating with Barrasso to address his concerns.
Colgary did not say if there was any particular reason for his optimism that White’s confirmation might be imminent.
Colgary also touted the Trump administration’s first two budget plans as offering the most funding for the Office of Environmental Management in more than a decade. The administration requested $6.5 billion for EM in the current fiscal 2018, but is still waiting on a final budget from Congress, along with $6.6 billion for fiscal 2019.
Trump has also installed a leadership team at DOE that believe enough studies have been completed and “we need to get stuff done” on cleanup, Colgary said. The Office of Environmental Management has 16 active remediation sites.
