The House Appropriations Committee indicated Monday it plans to fund the Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management at $7.46 million for fiscal 2021.
The nuclear cleanup funding is roughly equal to the amount appropriated for fiscal 2020, which ends Sept. 30, and an increase of $1.4 billion from the request submitted in February by the Donald Trump administration.
The panel announced the proposed funding as part of its nearly $50 billion appropriations package for Energy and Water Development programs.
The Environmental Management office funding pays for remediation at 16 Cold War and Manhattan Project sites.
If Congress passes the appropriation as is, defense environmental cleanup funding would be set at $6.3 billion, $66 million above the line item for the current fiscal year and $1.3 billion above the $5 billion White House request.
Non-defense cleanup would receive $315 million, $39 million above the $276 million request and $4 million less than the current $319 million level. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (UED&D) Fund would be set at $821.6 million for the year, an increase of $15 million above the $806.2 million request, but below the $881 million 2020 budget.
The Trump administration initially proposed $6.5 billion for Environmental Management in fiscal 2020, before the final figure was increased almost $1 billion by congressional appropriators.
The bill released Monday afternoon does not include specific funding levels for each of the Environmental Management properties. But it would provide nearly $2.7 billion for projects at certain locations. For example: The Hanford Site in Washington state would get $941 million for infrastructure improvements, tank farm infrastucture, and other work; the Savannah River Site in South Carolina would get $711 million for work including utility system upgrades and the H Canyon Basin Dewatering Project; and the Idaho Site would receive $240 million, with over half directed to expedited cleanup, decontamination, decommissioning, and groundwater activities.
The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), which provides recommendations on public health and safety issues at Department of Energy defense nuclear facilities, would receive $31 million under the House panel’s bill, level with the fiscal 2020 funding, but $2.2 million above the administration request.
A markup of the House Appropriations bill is scheduled today at 3 p.m. before the energy and water subcommittee.
