Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
4/11/2014
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) warned this week that the Department of Energy’s proposed Fiscal Year 2015 budget for Hanford could put milestones at risk of being missed. Hanford came in for one of the largest cuts in the DOE Office of Environmental Management’s FY 2015 budget request—for work overseen by the Richland Operations Office, the Department is seeking approximately $848 million, about $93 million below current funding levels. During an April 9 Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, Murray told Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz that she is “really concerned” about the proposed funding cut and that it could “hamper” the progress being made to cleanup Hanford. “It really is unacceptable for DOE to kick the can down the road on this, nor is it acceptable to me and the Tri-Cities community to put near-term Tri- Party Agreement milestones at risk. The Washington State Department of Ecology and others have told me that there are at least four, possibly more, Tri-Party Agreement milestones that will be placed at- risk due to the budget proposal,” Murray said.
The milestones potentially at risk, according to Murray’s office, include deadlines for groundwater treatment, the 200 West Pump and Treat facility, and the Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility. While stressing the importance of the TPA milestones, Moniz declined to comment directly as to whether DOE’s FY 2015 request would put any at risk of being missed, saying he would need to get back to Murray and the subcommittee. “The issue is, how do we best fit all of this into the available resources? And that’s something, you know, I would love to be able to brainstorm on,” Moniz said. “ I will have to look in detail at the specific milestones,” he said, adding, “We’ll get back promptly.”
DOE did not respond to requests for additional comment late this week. In its request, though, the Department said that its sought-after funding for the Office of Environmental Management “positions the EM program to meet enforceable agreement milestones due FY 2015.” In addition, White House Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell said last month at a Senate Budget Committee hearing that the Obama Administration believes its FY 2015 request would be sufficient to meet legal commitments.
