Ty Blackford, the president and project manager of the Department of Energy’s Amentum-led cleanup contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory, told an advisory board Wednesday that he is leaving.
At a meeting of the Idaho Cleanup Project’s Citizens Advisory Board, Blackford said this would be his last time meeting with the panel. “I will be leaving next Thursday and heading back to my home, to the Tri-Cities, Washington.”
In an email Wednesday, a spokesperson for the site prime said Blackford was leaving “to pursue new opportunities with Amentum.”
At the meeting, Blackford said his deputy, Dan Coyne “who is sitting here next to me and many of you know,” will be taking over as president and project monitor of the Idaho Environmental Coalition. “So I appreciate the last three years” and it has been “wonderful to keep you updated on what we have been doing.”
“I just look forward to the opportunity,” Coyne said. “This is home for me,” where his children and grandchildren live. No further details were added at the meeting. Contractor spokespeople did not initially respond to requests for additional information. A DOE spokesperson had no information about the move.
Also as part of the leadership shuffle at Idaho, the site spokesperson said, Bill Kirby will become the chief operating officer. Kirby is now senior director for liquid waste and fuels.
Dallas-based Jacobs previously led the Idaho Environmental Coalition but recently spun off its DOE and other major government contracting operations to Virginia-based Amentum Holdings, which is now publicly traded.
Before coming to Idaho, Blackford was in charge of a Jacobs subsidiary in charge of Central Plateau Cleanup at Hanford.
According to his online bio, on the contractor’s website, Blackford has more than 30 years leading large environmental or nuclear operations. In addition to international work experience, Blackford has worked at DOE sites such Hanford in Washington state, Oak Ridge in Tennessee and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
As for Coyne, he is currently listed as senior director of waste and decommissioning at the Idaho cleanup site. According to his bio, Coyne has held supervisory posts at Idaho, the Paducah Site in Kentucky, the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York and cleanup at the Rocky Flats plant in Colorado.
