Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) injected a bit of drama into an otherwise routine confirmation hearing Thursday by saying he would not support the nomination of Anne Marie White to be assistant secretary of energy for environmental management until the Energy Department agrees to discontinue its “uranium barter” program.

Barrasso made his comments during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee confirmation hearing on two recent Trump administration nominations to DOE leadership slots. In addition to White’s nomination to head the department’s $6.5 annual nuclear weapons cleanup program, the committee considered the nomination of Melissa F. Burnison as assistant secretary of energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs.

The panel did not take any action Thursday on the nominations. No vote on the nominees was scheduled as of Thursday evening on the committee website.

Barrasso is a longtime opponent of the DOE program for occasional trading or bartering of DOE-owned uranium for goods or services.

The Energy Department uses uranium barter annually to help fund cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio. In lieu of cash, contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth gets some amount of uranium it can barter for funds to pay for its work. In May 2017, DOE cut the amount of excess government uranium bartered annually for the project from 1,600 metric tons to 1,200 metric tons.

Portsmouth is one of 16 active Office of Environmental Management cleanup sites, suggesting Barrasso’s reasoning for singling out White.

The Wyoming Republican said his opposition to the uranium barter practice long predates White’s nomination to the “EM-1” post. The practice hurts uranium demand and drives down prices for Wyoming and other uranium-producing states, according to the lawmaker.

“The uranium industry is facing extraordinarily tough times,” which are made worse by this “unfair trade practice,” Barrasso said.

A DOE guidance document posted online says the department has the authority to enter into such transactions under the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Barrasso, though, said the Government Accountability Office has repeatedly found these barters to be illegal.

“I am unable to support a confirmation at this time,” Barrasso said, adding that White has yet to deliver a “firm commitment” to halt the practice. White did not respond to his comments, and Barrasso left the hearing shortly after making the statement.

It was also unclear if Barrasso is taking any formal action to put the nomination on hold. His office could not immediately be reached for further comment.

Committee Chairwoman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said as the hearing was winding down that she hoped the nominations would move quickly. The Barrasso statement reflects the frustration lawmakers feel about state-specific issues that linger for years, Murkowski added.

Cantwell Quizzes White on Hanford Issues

The ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), used her time to pepper White with questions about how to resolve issues at the Hanford Site in her home state. The lawmaker cited the breach of an underground PUREX Plant waste tunnel last year and lingering concerns about chemical vapors associated with radioactive waste held in underground tanks.

In response to a question from Cantwell, White said she supports the Tri-Party Agreement that governs environmental remediation at Hanford, a former plutonium production complex that is DOE’s largest and most expensive cleanup project. The Energy Department, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Washington state are parties to the agreement.

White told Cantwell she would be willing to work with unions and contractors to improve safety at Hanford. Separating defense waste from other commercial waste to speed up remediation at the site is an option worth exploring, the nominee said.

White stressed it was vital to build trust with the workforce at Hanford and other sites: “Maintaining and further building trust with the workforce that we rely on to clean up our nation’s legacy environmental challenges will be a focus throughout my tenure.”

Murkowski said as head of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, it will be White’s job to ensure that work at the 16 remediation sites is done safety, cost-effectively, and on time.

The Government Accountability Office has found a litany of problems at EM, Murkowski noted. It will be up to the EM-1 “to correct some of the office’s long-standing deficiencies,” according to the lawmaker.

White said she would strive to make timely decisions that have a sound technical basis and would give serious attention to “milestones” for completion of cleanup projects.

“I began my career performing physical cleanup work. My strategy was to learn the environmental cleanup business in the most basic way, which has been instrumental in understanding the challenges and opportunities facing the Department today and into the future,” White said in her statement.

White, an energy industry consultant, founded Bastet Technical Services LLC, and has worked for decades within the nuclear sector, with a focus on project and program management. Her experience includes providing consulting for DOE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) urged the nominee to use her background to break down some of the “silos” between DOE and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Energy Department has significant experience in decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and more nuclear plants under NRC regulation are moving toward decommissioning, lawmakers noted.

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) stressed to both White and Burnison the importance of local and tribal groups being heard on nuclear waste and environmental cleanup issues. Cortez Masto also questioned Burnison about her work as head of federal affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute. Burnison noted that the industry group favors NRC license consideration for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository – a project vehemently opposed by Cortez Masto and many other elected officials from Nevada.

Until now, White’s nomination has moved quickly since her appointment was formally sent to the Senate on Jan. 3. If confirmed, she would succeed James Owendoff, a DOE veteran who in June was promoted to acting EM-1. Owendoff replaced Sue Cange as interim head of the program. The office has not had a permanent chief since Monica Regalbuto stepped down as Trump took office.