REP. HASTINGS CALLS ON WHITE HOUSE TO NOMINATE NEW EM-1

After being vacant in a full-time capacity for almost a year, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) is calling on the Obama Administration to officially nominate a new Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management. In an April 30 letter to the White House, Hastings criticized the lack of progress on a nomination as “unacceptable,” adding, “To date, no explanation has been provided to account for the delay in nominating an individual to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management. I believe that having an Assistant Secretary in place would help strengthen to Environmental Management program and put the federal government in a better position to meet its legal cleanup obligations.”

 

The Assistant EM Secretary position has been vacant in a full-time capacity since Ines Triay stepped down from the position last July. Senior National Nuclear Security Administration official David Huizenga was named to replace her in an acting capacity, but that designation was lifted in February after the maximum period of 210 days expired, and since then Huizenga has headed the DOE cleanup program as a “Senior Advisor for Environmental Management.” In his letter, though, Hastings said he is concerned that the current management arrangement “does not provide the Environmental Management program with any level of certainty or sense of continuity” and that it “fails to provide Mr. Huizenga with the authority and accountability needed to meet the extraordinary challenges of the Department’s cleanup program.”

While Hastings did not explicitly call in his letter for Huizenga to be nominated as Assistant EM Secretary, a spokesperson for the Congressman said yesterday that Hastings has been pleased with Huizenga’s performance to date. Hastings “has always refrained from telling the Administration who to nominate,” the spokesperson said, adding that the letter is “about making sure there is a head of the EM program rather than dictating who it should be.” The Hastings spokeswoman also said, “It’s about making sure whoever heads the program has the tools they need, including the title and the authority that goes along with the title.”