A compromise budget passed by Congress this week would fund the U.S. Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management at almost $7.5 billion.
President Donald Trump is expected today to sign the fiscal 2020 domestic priorities and international assistance minibus, which encompasses appropriations bills for a long list of federal agencies. The House approved the bill Tuesday and the Senate on Thursday, alongside a separate package for national security operations.
The $7.5 billion for Energy Department nuclear cleanup operations is equal to the amount in the energy and water development bill that was approved in September by the Senate Appropriation Committee but never got a floor vote. It is well above the $7.2 billion in last year’s appropriation: an amount roughly level with what the full House passed in June in its own DOE-funding bill.
The top line adds $1 billion to the $6.5 billion the Trump administration proposed for nuclear cleanup for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The Energy Department, like other agencies, has kept its doors open under two congressional continuing resolutions that maintain spending largely within 2019 levels. The latest stopgap bill expires today.
The compromise bill would appropriate almost $6.3 billion for defense environmental cleanup, which comprises the largest chunk of funding for the Environmental Management office. The deal exceeds the $6 billion endorsed by the House, the $6.2 billion in the Senate bill, and the $5.5 billion sought by the White House.
That $6.3 billion, though, is well above the $5.5 billion limit on defense environmental spending limit set in the final 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) passed by Congress.
The NDAA, also expected to be signed Friday, requires the Energy Department to regularly report to the House and Senate on costs associated with meeting various court-ordered environmental remediation deadlines within the weapons complex.
Non-defense environmental cleanup spending in the final appropriations bill is $319 million, up from the $318 million recommended by Senate appropriators, $310 million enacted in fiscal 2019, the $308 million passed by the House, and the $248 million in the administration request.
The bill would appropriate $881 million for the Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund. That falls from the $907 million sought by the Senate Appropriations Committee, but exceeds the almost $874 million in the House bill, the $841 million enacted in fiscal 2019, and the $715 million in the White House request.
The fund was established by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 to help finance cleanup of former gaseous diffusion plants in Paducah, Ky., Piketon, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tenn.
The DOE Office of Environmental Management oversees remediation of 16 Manhattan Project and Cold War weapons complex properties. While a number of sites will benefit from the hefty spending in the final bill, it appears the Hanford Site in Washington state is the biggest single beneficiary.
Hanford Would Receive $2.5B in Energy and Water Appropriations Compromise
The two offices at the Hanford Site would enjoy higher funding the compromise appropriations bill.
The spending package would fund Hanford’s Richland Operations Office at $912 million, up from the $865 million enacted in fiscal 2019, the $846 million approved by the House of Representatives, the $900 million proposed by the Senate Appropriations Committee, and the $629 million requested by the Donald Trump administration.
Hanford’s Office of River Protection would receive the $1.61 billion proposed by the Senate committee for fiscal 2020, which is more than the $1.57 billion enacted in fiscal 2019, the $1.56 billion passed by the House for 2020, and the $1.39 billion sought by the White House.
The Richland Operations Office oversees work by environmental remediation contractors, as well as site infrastructure needs. The ORP oversees the retrieval, treatment, and disposal of 56 million gallons of chemical and radioactive waste stored in underground tanks at Hanford.
As a result, the two offices that oversee the most complex cleanup among the 16 sites run by the Office of Environmental Management will receive a total of more than $2.5 billion, compared to the roughly $2 billion proposed by the administration for the current fiscal year.
Construction of the Direct Feed Low-Activity Waste system at the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) would be funded at $776 million, which is the level called for by the Senate Appropriations panel and a significant jump from the $655 million enacted in fiscal 2019. The administration wanted reduce the line item to $640 million, an amount endorsed by the House bill.
Bechtel is required by the end of 2023 to begin converting Hanford’s low-activity waste into a glass form safe for disposal. Low-activity waste accounts for the bulk of the $816 million in total WTP construction spending in fiscal 2020, up from $786 million enacted in 2019 and $690 million requested by DOE.
“The passage of the FY20 spending bills is important to avoid a government shutdown or another Continuing Resolution, which would be detrimental to our military and national security, as well as the cleanup efforts at the Hanford Site,” Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), whose congressional district covers Hanford, said in a press release Wednesday.
The Savannah River Site in South Carolina would receive almost $1.46 billion under the compromise Environmental Management office budget in 2020. That is roughly equal with the figure sought by the administration, and higher than the roughly $1.39 billion enacted in 2019, as well as the $1.43 billion approved by the House. The Senate Appropriations Committee endorsed an SRS appropriation of nearly $1.47 billion.
The bill appropriates $820 million for liquid tank waste stabilization and disposition at SRS, up from the $696 million enacted in fiscal 2019 and the $798 million in the request.
Environmental remediation at the Oak Ridge Site in Tennessee would receive $450 million, the amount sought by the Senate Appropriations Committee in fiscal 2020, compared to the $410 million enacted in 2019 and the $293 million requested by the White House. The House of Representatives endorsed $429 million.
The Portsmouth Site in Ohio would receive $418 million for cleanup, basically equal to the amount endorsed by House and Senate appropriators and up from the $408 million enacted in 2019 and the $356 million sought by the White House.
The Paducah Site in Kentucky gets a significant plus-up, funded at $240 million for fiscal 2020. That’s not only more than the $206 million appropriation in 2019 but also more than the $207 million called for by both the House and Senate.
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico receives a $397 million appropriation, basically equal with the fiscal 2019 enacted level and the amounts sought by the House and Senate. The administration requested $392 million for the transuranic waste disposal site.
The West Valley Demonstration Project in New York state will continue to be funded at the fiscal 2019 enacted level of $75 million, which was agreed upon across the board.
The West Valley funding was praised in a joint press release from New York Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. “I will continue to push my colleagues in Congress to invest in the cleanup effort, and keep funding at this appropriate level in the coming years, to protect Cattaraugus County residents and all New Yorkers, and eventually end this public health and environmental hazard,” Schumer said.
