Tim Walsh, a combat veteran and Colorado real estate developer, was confirmed by the full U.S. Senate Tuesday to head the Department of Energy’s $8-billion Office of Environmental Management.
Walsh was confirmed 51-to-47 by the Senate Tuesday as part of a bloc of dozens of nominees from President Donald Trump who have been awaiting a floor vote.
Walsh was first nominated by President Trump in March to be assistant secretary for Environmental Management. He was reported out of the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee in July.
The Walsh nomination had been put on hold last month by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) last month pending confirmation that the multiple-billion-dollar Waste Treatment Plant at the Hanford Site in Washington state would go forward.
Walsh, who will presumably be sworn in within days, becomes the first Senate-confirmed head of the DOE nuclear cleanup office since Anne Marie White was confirmed in March 2018 during the first Trump administration.
Environmental Management is currently led by acting head Joel Bradburne who was put in place after another acting leader, Roger Jarrell, was forced out by Secretary of Energy Chris Wright in September.
More coverage to follow.