While it has taken initial steps, the U.S. Department of Energy is not collecting the information it needs to attack its $377 billion in environmental liability, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Wednesday.
Liabilities at the Energy Department, including those of the Office of Environmental Management and the semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, are examined in the GAO’s 2019 update on high-risk government operations.
The overall DOE liability increased by $110 billion, to $494 billion, in fiscal 2018, mostly due to the rising cost for cleanup of the Hanford Site in Washington state.
The congressional auditor touched on some criticisms it has made in prior reports on DOE’s nuclear cleanup office. In general, Environmental Management does not collect or maintain reliable cost and schedule data for its projects, according to the report.
“Therefore, it lacks the information needed to evaluate overall project and program performance, and assess whether it has sufficient staff—or the staff with the right skills—to carry out the cleanup mission,” the GAO said.
In April 2018, the GAO reported that Environmental Management lacks adequate controls to monitor engineering and construction problems at Hanford’s $17 billion Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant.
The office has made some effort. Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management Anne Marie White acknowledged in September 2018 more work needs to be done to curb the growing liabilities as she committed to develop a complex-wide strategic plan, along with specific plans for each of the sites.
Environmental Management has made a couple stabs at prioritizing remediation priorities, but neither became reality. In August 2017, it commenced a 45-day review on work that could be done quickly. The action stalled without any report released. Then, in August 2018, it asked sites to identify obstacles to remediation. Senior leaders at EM are still drafting corrective actions, the GAO said.
The bottom line is “DOE’s environmental liabilities are increasing faster than DOE’s spending on cleanup efforts,” and the department lacks a comprehensive effort to identify and attack the root cause, the GAO said.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.) said in a news release the report is evidence that the Energy Department and other agencies identified in the GAO report need continued oversight.
