Placing the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup branch within the Office of the Undersecretary for Science should not result in sweeping changes in the work, industry sources said this week.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced the long-anticipated DOE reorganization on Friday.
Moving the department’s $6.5 billion Office of Environmental Management from the Office of Management and Performance to the Office of Science “actually makes a little more sense” in terms of organizational fit, one industry source said Tuesday.
Both that source, and a second industry source who spoke to Weapons Complex Morning Briefing on Wednesday, like having Environmental Management report to new Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar.
In addition to working as a managing director on energy investments for J.P. Morgan, Dabbar served as a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. He has also been a member of DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board for several years during a tenure that didn’t end until early 2017.
Dabbar “understands nuclear stuff,” the first source said, pointing to his nuclear Navy background. In addition, he already has a working knowledge of the Environmental Management office, the second source said.
“I think he would be heavily involved” in environmental management issues given his background, the second source said. Dabbar will probably take an active role, and that should be good for EM, the source added.
The Office of Management and Performance will be moved under the Office of the Undersecretary of Energy, headed by Mark Wesley Menezes. Menezes, a former executive with Berkshire Hathaway Energy, works with energy policy and emerging energy technologies at DOE.
Both sources expected to see the U.S. Congress pass another continuing resolution to keep the government open before leaving Washington, D.C., for Christmas break. The fiscal year began on Oct. 1, and the current stopgap budget expires Friday. Continuing resolutions are “the new normal” in recent years, whether Congress is controlled by Republicans or Democrats, the first source said.
