The House Appropriations’ Energy & Water subcommittee is proposing a $7.7-billion budget for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management in fiscal 2026.
That is according to the July 13 House Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill. A summary of the legislation is here and the bill text is here.
The subcommittee bill, expected to go before the full House Appropriations Committee Thursday, proposes less money for the DOE nuclear cleanup office than the fiscal 2025 appropriation or the amount requested by the Donald Trump White House.
More than a month ago, the Trump administration sought $8.1 billion for the Environmental Management (EM) office for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, down from the $8.4 billion appropriated in fiscal 2025.
The $7.7 billion the subcommittee wants for EM breaks down like this:
Defense Environmental Cleanup, the largest tranche of money in EM would be set at $6.5-billion. Non-Defense Environmental Cleanup, used for remediation not directly linked to national defense, would be $338 million. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund would receive $844 million. UED&D helps pay for environmental work at former gaseous diffusion plant sites at Paducah, Ky., Piketon, Ohio and Oak Ridge Tenn.
Overall, the subcommittee would provide nearly $49 billion for all of DOE, or about $1.4 billion below the fiscal 2025 enacted level, the subcommittee said. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) would get $25.3 billion, which is $1.18 billion above the fiscal 2025 enacted level.