The acting head of the Department of Energy’s cleanup branch, William (Ike) White, as well as an Xcel Energy New Mexico manager, will speak Wednesday at the clean power information day at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.
White, who heads the $8-billion-plus DOE Office of Environmental Management, will be one of the headliners, according to the online agenda for the Cleanup to Clean Energy program session for the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, N.M.
James Lackey, Xcel Energy’s manager of community & economic development in New Mexico, is like other speakers expected to make brief remarks and then answer questions.
Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy is an electricity and natural gas supplier with operations in eight states, including Texas and New Mexico, according to its website. The company policy seeks to deliver electricity with 100% net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
Xcel Energy does not have any specific development plans for the DOE’s WIPP site, a spokesperson said by email Tuesday evening.
In February, DOE issued a request for information on potential development of carbon-free electricity projects or 200 megawatts or more on surface land at WIPP, the agency’s disposal site for defense-related transuranic waste.
DOE said in the announcement there are roughly 9,000 acres of contiguous land at WIPP suitable for non-emitting electricity from sources such as solar, wind or nuclear power.
Responses to the request for information were due last week.
Other DOE speakers will include Carlsbad Field Office manager Mark Bollinger; Candice Robertson, a special adviser working with the carbon-free power program; Robert Seifert, a DOE infrastructure manager; along with two other Carlsbad-based supervisors, Joshua Adkins and Greg Sahd.
The program will start at 8 a.m. Mountain Time in Carlsbad and should finish up by 10:30 a.m.
