The top members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee want the Government Accountability Office to evaluate how the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management sets its priorities for using technology to further its mission.
The study was requested in a Wednesday letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro from Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-Okla). They asked that the GAO look at emerging waste remediation technologies, including those being developed in other nations.
The lawmakers note that a 2019 study from the National Academies of Sciences suggested that Office of Environmental Management headquarters in Washington, D.C., take a more direct hand in setting priorities for the application of science and technology. Traditionally, the home office has essentially let sites take the lead on new technology decisions, according to the NAS report.
The lawmakers said DOE nuclear cleanup office funding for science and technology has decreased from $300 million, or 3% of the total EM budget in the 1990s, to $25 million, or 0.3% of the office’s nearly $7.5 billion budget in fiscal 2020.
The committee members suggested more emphasis on technology could help the Office of Environmental Management reduce its estimated $377 million in environmental liability across its 16 remediation sites.
