As the Department of Energy works to prepare a reprogramming request to Congress to shift funds among cleanup sites in an effort to mitigate the impacts of sequestration, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) warned the Department yesterday against moving money away from Hanford. “Recognizing the legal cleanup commitments that have been made by the Department of Energy to the state of Washington in the Tri-Party Agreement and the Consent Decree as well as the concerns about existing funding levels by the Department and the State, I do not anticipate that overall reductions will be proposed for the Richland Operations Office (RL) or the Office of River Protection (ORP) in the reprogramming package,” Hastings wrote in a letter sent to DOE cleanup chief David Huizenga. Hastings went on to write, “You may be certain, however, that any effort by the Department to shift funds out of RL or ORP through reprogramming will be met with my strongest opposition.”
Overall, the budget for the DOE Office of Environmental Management has been reduced by more than $400 million as a result of sequestration. The cut has led DOE to warn of layoffs and furloughs for thousands of contractor workers across the complex, as well as delays in completing a variety of cleanup projects. DOE so far has provided few details about its reprogramming plans, such as where it will look to move funds and how much it will seek to move, though Huizenga did say last week that the request would amount to “several million dollars.” In his letter yesterday, Hastings called on DOE to move forward quickly with a “complete and transparent” reprogramming request. “Cleanup progress as well as job impacts at EM sites across the country will likely be impacted by this package since workforce impacts of the sequester do not take reprogramming into account,” Hastings wrote, adding, “The sooner the Department makes its reprogramming package available, the sooner workers will have some degree of certainty with regards to their employment status and work scope can be planned.”