The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has made no decision yet on a Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board proposal to allow members to serve beyond their term expiration dates in order to keep the panel near full strength.
The Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters is reviewing the Savannah River Site (SRS) Citizen Advisory Board recommendations passed in June, a spokesperson for the office said by email Tuesday.
In June, the panel voted to amend its member appointment process to allow current members whose terms have expired to stay on temporarily until replacements are approved in circumstances when board membership drops below 75%.
“We value the input of our communities as a key component to our decision making,” the DOE spokesperson said in an email to Weapons Complex Monitor. “This engagement includes continually striving for a rotation of diverse representation and viewpoints on EM advisory boards.”
The SRS Citizens Advisory Board has fallen to seven out of a potential 25 members after delays in approval of new members that spanned the latter stages of the Donald Trump administration and the first six months of the Joe Biden administration, advisory board members said during the session.
The DOE last month declined to approve a slate of new members to the panel in part because of an insufficient number of female members, officials said during the meeting, adding the proposed names were sent to the agency during the Trump administration before the November 2020 elections.
