Dave Einan, a remedial project manager at the Environmental Protection Agency’s Hanford Project Office, has been selected as the agency manager for the Department of Energy site in Washington state.
The position, open since Dennis Faulk retired last summer after serving as EPA manager since 2009, was advertised as a Seattle or Hanford-area position, with the location to be decided after the candidate was selected. Einan will remain at the Hanford Project Office in Richland near Hanford, he said.
“He brings extraordinary depth, experience and expertise to the position,” the EPA said in a statement Friday. “We are confident that Dave will ensure that EPA fulfills its obligations under the Tri-Party Agreement, as well as manage and support our hard-working Hanford team.”
The Environmental Protection Agency has regulatory authority over Hanford. It is one of the three agencies, along with DOE and the Washington state Department of Ecology, that sets Hanford cleanup milestones under the legally binding Tri-Party Agreement. The Hanford office also is responsible for oversight of DOE’s Idaho Site environmental cleanup project and some nongovernment Superfund sites in the Northwest.
Einan, an environmental engineer, has worked at the EPA Hanford Project Office since 1989. Through the years he has been assigned to the start of the cleanup of Hanford’s 300 Area; the 1100 Area in north Richland that has been transferred to the Port of Benton; and the Environmental Restoration Disposal Facility in central Hanford.
The Hanford Advisory Board was adamant that the EPA should keep its Hanford manager based in Richland. In a November letter to the agency, the board said the manager needs to remain close to the site for prompt investigations and responses to incidents. The manager also can better understand and respond to public and stakeholder environmental concerns by being based near Hanford, the board said.
