The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management needs a confirmed assistant secretary to address challenges facing the cleanup program, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said yesterday at the Weapons Complex Monitor Decisionmakers’ Forum. EM has not had a confirmed assistant secretary since the departure of Ines Triay in 2011. Currently the role is being filled in an acting capacity by Mark Whitney, while Monica Regalbuto has been nominated for the role but has been not been confirmed. “A nominated and confirmed Assistant Secretary would provide the EM program with a much needed level of certainty and sense of continuity,” Hastings said in prepared remarks. “And, in turn it would provide the program leader with the authority and accountability needed to meet cleanup challenges. Having an Assistant Secretary in place would help strengthen the Environmental Management program and put the federal government in a better position to meet its legal cleanup obligations.”