The work of the Energy Department’s nuclear cleanup branch should not be changed significantly by its shift into the Office of the Undersecretary for Science, industry sources said this week.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced the new home of DOE’s Office of Environmental Management on Dec. 15 as part of a larger DOE reorganization.
Moving the $6.5 billion EM office from the Office of Management and Performance to the Office of Science “actually makes a little more sense” in terms of organizational fit, one industry source said Tuesday.
“It’s truly an environmental restoration mission that doesn’t fit under” the Office of the Undersecretary of Energy, which now oversees Management and Performance, or DOE’s semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees active nuclear-weapon sites, the source said.
The National Nuclear Security Administration was not changed in the organization chart DOE published last week.
Placing EM under the Office of Science also provides nuclear cleanup with “the right leadership,” the source said. That industry representative, and a second industry source who spoke to Weapons Complex Monitor on Wednesday, like having environmental management report to new Undersecretary for Science Paul Dabbar.
In addition to working as a managing director on energy investments for J.P. Morgan, Dabbar served as a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. He has also been a member of DOE’s Environmental Management Advisory Board for several years during a tenure that didn’t end until Nov. 2 of this year.
Dabbar “understands nuclear stuff,” the first source said, pointing to his nuclear Navy background. In addition, he already has a working knowledge of the Environmental Management office, the second source said.
“I think he would be heavily involved” in environmental management issues given his background, the second source said. Dabbar will probably take an active role, and EM will benefit from having a higher-level manager who understands its role, the source added.
The Office of Management and Performance will be moved under the Office of the Undersecretary of Energy, headed by Mark Wesley Menezes. Menezes, a former executive with Berkshire Hathaway Energy, works with energy policy and emerging energy technologies at DOE. Menezes will be “responsible for driving transformative energy policy,” according to the DOE website.
A third industry source said Wednesday he expects EM will largely be “staying the course” as long as Jim Owendoff remains acting assistant secretary for environmental management. Owendoff, a longtime DOE manager, took the EM-1 job on an interim basis in June, and the source said the Trump administration is not likely to nominate someone for the post in the next couple months.
