William (Bill) Badger, director of nuclear and environmental business development at Department of Energy contractor Amentum, drowned in Richland, Wash., after the car he was driving went into a local marina, according to the coroner in Benton County, Wash.
The fatal accident was first reported Wednesday by the Tri-City Herald newspaper, which said the accident occurred at the Columbia Point Marina.
All signs point toward an accident, William Leach, the Benton County coroner, told Exchange Monitor by phone Wednesday evening. It appears sometime before midnight Wednesday, Badger drove his rental car off a boat launch, not far from the hotel where he was staying, Leach said.
Leach said the boat launch is a couple of hundred feet from the exit to the parking lot from the Marriott where Badger was staying. Hotel staff told the coroner’s office Bader had not stayed there before, and probably was not familiar with the area. A local fisherman dialed 9-1-1 shortly after midnight local time on Wednesday and reported seeing what appeared to be car headlights underwater, Leach said.
Emergency services divers had removed the victim from the water when a representative of the coroner’s office arrived at the scene just before 2 a.m., Leach said.
Badger, age 55, lived in Colorado and has worked for Amentum and predecessor AECOM since June 2018, according to his LinkedIn profile. He also spent more than 17 years with CH2M, which is now part of Jacobs. Badger was once a public affairs officer at DOE’s Rocky Flats nuclear site near Denver.
Amentum is lead partner in two major contractors doing work at DOE’s Hanford Site at Richland, Wash., Central Plateau Cleanup and Washington River Protection Solutions.
