The Senate Armed Services Committee had yet to schedule a hearing to consider the nomination of Anne Marie White to be assistant secretary of energy for environmental management as of close of business Friday.
Sources have said the panel could conduct its nomination hearing as early as March 1. White cleared the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Jan. 30, but Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has placed a hold on the nomination.
Barrasso wants Energy Department assurance it will curtail its “uranium barter” program, under which it for several years has traded excess government uranium to contractor Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth to help fund cleanup at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio. The Wyoming Republican says the practice hurts the already anemic uranium production business in his state.
White, a nuclear energy consultant, founded Bastet Technical Services LLC and has worked for decades in the cleanup sector, including within the DOE cleanup complex. The Trump administration nominated her in January to head the $6.5 billion annual cleanup program at the Office of Environmental Management.
Within the past couple weeks, White is said to have started holding one-on-one meetings with senators, which is a common practice for nominees. Barrasso’s office did not respond to recent inquiries on whether he has had a recent sit-down meeting with White.
