More insights emerged yesterday as the impacts of the millions of dollars of sequestration funding cuts on the Department of Energy’s contractor workforce. DOE yesterday sent a set of letters to governors of several states, including Washington, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee and South Carolina, among others, outlining the anticipated funding cuts sequestration is set to generate for the remainder of the fiscal year at various DOE sites, as well as the likely number of contractor employees set to experience either furloughs or outright layoffs. The letters do not provide, though, contractor-by-contractor assessments at DOE sites. “While these reductions are unfortunate and will be damaging, the Department is doing everything within its power to protect our mission to the greatest extent possible,” Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman wrote in the letters.
At Hanford, funding for work overseen by the DOE Office of River Protection is set to be cut by approximately $92 million, which is expected to result in furloughs or layoffs of more than 2,800 contractor employees, according to DOE. In his letter to Washington state Governor Jay Inslee (D), Poneman noted, “While the Department remains committed to its clean-up effort at Hanford, this decreased funding and the resulting contractor employment actions may curtail our progress related to closing the aging—and in some cases leaking—single-shell tanks storing over 25 million gallons of liquid radioactive waste at the Hanford site.” Hanford tank farms contractor Washington River Protection Solutions expects to experience a funding cut of approximately $40 million for the remainder of FY 2013, according to a message sent to employees yesterday. “It is anticipated that exempt and non-exempt employees will need to take up to five weeks of paid or unpaid time to accommodate furloughs between March 4 and September 30. Also anticipated is the layoff of up to 125 bargaining unit employees,” WRPS President and Project Manager Mike Johnson said, adding, “Additional personnel actions may be necessary later in the fiscal year, if non-labor costs cannot be reduced as much as assumed.” The other main contractor at ORP, Bechtel National, is still awaiting formal guidance on sequestration from DOE, according to a message BNI Project Manager Frank Russo sent to employees yesterday. Among the actions BNI is taking in the meantime, though, is approving only “minimum essential hiring, travel and purchases and only certain overtime activities, Russo said, adding, “We are taking action now to minimize future impacts to our workforce.”
As announced earlier this week, funding for cleanup work at Hanford overseen by the Richland Operations Office is set to be cut by approximately $79 million. Of that, $29.8 million is set to be borne by CH2M Hill Plateau Remediation Co., spokeswoman Dee Millikin said yesterday, adding that she did not have information available as to the likely impacts. Washington Closure Hanford, responsible for the River Corridor Closure Project, is set to see a cut of approximately $27 million, but the contractor may be able to avoid significant impacts, according to a message sent to employees yesterday. “Cost-saving measures exercised early this fiscal year are minimizing the overall impact of the funding reduction. At this point we do not anticipate furloughs in the near term, and work scope deferrals should be manageable with minimum impact to our workers through at least March,” WCH President Carol Johnson said. Mission Support Alliance, the site services contractor at Hanford, said yesterday that it was still “running numbers” and did not have information available as to budget cuts and workforce impacts.
According to DOE, other anticipated site impacts include:
- Funding cuts of approximately $12 million to contractors at Idaho, which is set to result in furloughs or layoffs to more than 155 workers. Such impacts include a funding cut of approximately $7 million to “the contractor that operates the Idaho National Laboratory,” which is set to result in layoffs or furloughs of more than 80 workers;
- A funding cut of approximately $61 million for Los Alamos National Laboratory, which is expected to result in layoffs or furloughs for approximately 8,200 contractor employees;
- Funding cuts of approximately $32 million to contractors in Nevada, which is set to result in furloughs or layoffs for approximately 370 workers;
- Funding cuts of approximately $90 million to contractors in Tennessee, which is expected to result in furloughs or layoffs for approximately 1,400 employees. That includes a cut of $41 million for contractors at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which could result in furloughs of more than 1,000 contractor employees; and
- Funding cuts of approximately $107 million to contractors in South Carolina, which is set to result in layoffs or furloughs for more than 2,180 contractor workers. That includes an anticipated funding cut of $104 million for contractors at the Savannah River Site, which is expected to result in layoffs or furloughs of more than 2,100 contractor employees there.