WASHINGTON — The annual tradition of legislative outrage over proposed reductions to nuclear cleanup spending continued in a blunt and unvarnished way here Tuesday, when Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) told Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette that the agency’s 2021 budget proposal “frankly sucks.”
Heinrich was one of several vocally dissatisified legislators as Brouillette appeared before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee to defend the agency’s request to slash spending at the Office of Environmental Management (EM) from the current $7.5 billion to $6.1 billion starting Oct. 1.
Heinrich was steamed that EM spending at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in his state would drop by about 40% on a year-over-year basis.
“Why is the cleanup number so abysmal in this budget?” Heinrich asked. His question was echoed by other committee members in one form or another.
Brouillette’s answer to each lawmaker was similar: The Energy Department has some carry-over funding left from previous budget years, allowing the agency to make do with a lower appropriation for 2021. At the same time, the DOE chief said, the agency is prioritizing urgent remediation across the old weapons complex to compensate for a budget increases sought by the National Nuclear Security Administration for current nuclear weapons programs.
Los Alamos legacy cleanup would receive $120 million under the latest DOE budget request. The 2020 appropriation is $220 million.
With the request budget, Brouillette told Heinrich, DOE EM could still meet legal cleanup milestones at the New Mexico property, as specified by a consent order between the state and federal governments.
“Some of the cuts that you’re referring to involve carry-over funds, unexpended funds from years past,” Brouillette said. “So those monies are not needed for us in ‘21, at this point in time.”
“I’m not sure that inspires confidence in me,” Heinrich said.
I’d like to see those letters…
After Heinrich spoke, Sen.Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) waved from the dais a pair of letters that, she said, came from “managers from the Hanford Site,” who claim the proposed cleanup budget for the former plutonium production complex in her state is $1.5 billion short of what crews there need to meet their obligations under the Tri-Party Agreement that governs remediation of the former plutonium-production site.
Cantwell did not identify the managers or their corporate affiliations in the open hearing.
Brouillette, who became energy secretary in December after more than two years as DOE deputy, said he wanted to know more.
“If it would be possible to get a copy of those letters,” Brouillette said, “I’d appreciate that.”
