RICHLAND CLEANUP BUDGET PUTS FOUR MILESTONES AT RISK, SEN. MURRAY SAYS

The Department of Energy’s $93 million cut to cleanup programs at the Richland Operations Office in the Fiscal Year 2015 budget request puts at least four cleanup milestones at risk, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said yesterday. Murray noted that Richland received the largest cut out of the EM budget. “Several high-risk projects close to the city of Richland, the Columbia River and the Energy Northwest facility remain to be completed. The budget could hamper this progress, and it really is unacceptable for DOE to kick the can down the road on this,” she said at a Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee hearing. “The Washington State Department of Ecology and others have told me that there are at least four, and possibly more, Tri-Party Agreement milestones placed at risk due to the budget proposal.” Those milestones include groundwater treatment, the 200 West Pump and Treat facility, and the Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility.