The Energy Department’s growing environmental liability will be the subject of a May 1 hearing before the House Energy and Commerce oversight and investigations subcommittee.
“The Department of Energy faces nearly $500 billion in environmental liabilities related to cleaning up nuclear and hazardous waste left over from Cold War weapons production and federal energy research,” committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) and subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) said in a joint statement announcing the upcoming hearing.
About $377 billion of the future liability falls under the agency’s Office of Environmental Management, which manages remediation at 16 active and retired nuclear sites.
The growing liability has drawn increasing attention in Government Accountability Office (GAO) reports. The GAO has listed federal environmental liability as a high risk for several years.
A number of factors have been cited for the growing cost estimate for future environmental work. These include the cost of major infrastructure projects such as the Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state and continued interim storage of high-level radioactive waste at DOE facilities.
“Our hearing will continue the Committee’s longstanding efforts to ensure the Department of Energy is effectively managing cleanup of these deadly hazards,” the two Democrats said. “We also want to know why the environmental liabilities continue to skyrocket even though the agency is investing more in cleanups.”
The hearing, titled “DOE’s Mounting Cleanup Costs: Billions in Environmental Liability and Growing,” is set for 10:30 a.m. ET on May 1 in Room 2322 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The hearing will be webcast live.
No witness list or supporting material was posted on the panel’s website as of Friday morning.
