The Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management would continue to enjoy a hefty budget under the “minibus” appropriation package for fiscal 2019 passed by the Senate on Monday evening.
Voting senators approved the proposal 86-5.
The Senate bill, which covers funding for energy and water development programs, among others, would provide $7.2 billion in total funding for DOE nuclear cleanup operations. That is $300 million higher than the $6.9 billion the House offered in passing its own minibus on June 8, meaning the two bills will have to be harmonized by a conference committee.
There was no schedule at deadline Monday for Weapons Complex Morning Briefing for the conference process to begin on the minibus.
[Click here to view the ExchangeMonitor’s Environmental Management budget tracker, comparing the White House’s request with Congress’ proposals and the current budget.]
The Environmental Management office is funded at $7 billion for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. It manages environmental remediation at 16 World War II and Cold War-era nuclear weapons facilities around the country.
The Senate package provides $1.573 billion for the Hanford Site Office of River Protection at the Hanford Site in Washington state, while the Richland Operations Office would get $838.17 million. The Office of River Protection oversees management of 56 million gallons of radioactive waste at the former plutonium production complex, while the Richland Operations Office heads the remainder of cleanup projects at the site. The House bill would set Hanford ORP and Richland spending levels at $1.48 billion and $863 million, respectively, covering both defense and non-defense environmental cleanup.
The House version would spend $433 million on the Idaho National Laboratory, 24 percent more than the $349 million in the Senate version. The Savannah River Site in South Carolina would be funded at $1.4 billion by the Senate, incrementally more than the $1.38 billion in the House bill. Both the House and Senate packages would set funding for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico at $397 million.