After postponing action earlier in the day, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Tuesday afternoon voted to support the nomination of Anne Marie White to become assistant secretary of energy for environmental management. The voice vote clears the way for White’s eventual consideration by the full Senate.
The business meeting had been delayed several hours due to lack of a quorum at 10 a.m.
One potential obstacle to White’s confirmation is Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who during a hearing earlier this month said he had put a hold on the nomination. “Sen. Barrasso still has a hold on Ms. White. He was a recorded no vote on her nomination today during the business meeting,” a spokesperson for the senator said by email.
Barrasso has threatened to hold up White’s nomination until the Energy Department addresses its use of uranium barter to fund certain programs – such as cleanup of the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The lawmaker says DOE bartering further injures the ailing uranium industry in Wyoming by depressing already-low uranium prices in the marketplace.
In addition to White, the committee also advanced the nomination of Melissa F. Burnison as assistant secretary of energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs.
There is no word yet on when either nomination might make it to the full Senate for a vote.
White, an energy industry consultant who founded Bastet Technical Services LLC, has worked for decades within the nuclear sector and as a consultant on projects at certain waste sites within the DOE complex. If confirmed, she would take over management of the roughly $6.5 billion annual cleanup of Cold War-era nuclear sites, which encompasses 16 active remediation projects.
