U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.), a longtime supporter of cleaning up the U.S. Energy Department’s Hanford Site in Washington state, said Monday he would not run for re-election in 2020.
“So, I will not seek re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives, nor election to any other office, but instead I will close the public service chapter of my life” after 30 years, the 62-year-old Walden said in a video announcement.
Walden has since 1999 represented Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, covering the eastern portion of the state – south of the Hanford Site. He is the ranking Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee after losing his chairmanship following the November 2018 midterm elections.
Walden’s announcement prompted another GOP member of the panel, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), to reconsider his previously announced retirement from Congress. There was chatter this week that Shimkus could be up for the top GOP spot on the committee should he stay.
“I have heard from fellow House members in Washington, as well as from constituents in my district and supporters throughout Illinois, who believe I can make a real difference if I get the opportunity to be a committee leader,” Shimkus said in Thursday statement. Shimkus, a vocal supporter of the stalled Yucca Mountain radioactive repository in Nevada, said he is “weighing the pros and cons” and expects to make a decision shortly after discussing things with his family this weekend.
Shimkus has served in Congress since 1996 and had announced his retirement in August. In 2016, Walden beat out Shimkus to become Energy and Commerce chairman.
Walden said he decided to leave Congress although he feels confident in his ability to win another term. “I’m also optimistic that a path exists for Republicans to recapture a majority in the House, and that I could return for two more years as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.”
Walden said the time has come “pursue new challenges and opportunities.” He did not specify what that might be, although The Hill newspaper first reported Walden, who once owned radio stations, might be interested in succeeding National Association Of Broadcasters President and CEO Gordon Smith, a former U.S. senator from Oregon.
Before being elected to Congress, Walden spent a decade in the Oregon legislature, serving in its House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995 and in the state Senate from 1995 to 1997.
Walden has pushed for faster remediation of the Hanford Site in order to reduce the threat the contaminated site poses to the Columbia River, also a major water source for Oregon.
“Walden has been a great supporter of the Hanford Cleanup,” said Pamela Brown-Larsen, executive director of Hanford Communities, a coalition of seven localities surrounding the site.
A frequent visitor to the Hanford Site, Walden often appeared at congressional hearings to urge DOE to expedite treatment of the 56 million gallons of radioactive waste stored in underground tanks at the former plutonium production complex.
House Energy and Commerce has oversight authority over agencies including the Energy Department, its semiautonomous National Nuclear Security Administration, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Most recently, Walden for one of the Republican lawmakers to spur the Government Accountability Office to prepare a report on making DOE nuclear cleanup more risk-based.
