FY14 Omnibus Would Boost EM Funding
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
1/17/2014
In a move that could have significant implications for how the Department of Energy plans and funds future cleanup activities, lawmakers are directing DOE to bring in an outside group of experts to determine the relative risks of the Department’s remaining work across the complex. Under the Fiscal Year 2014 omnibus spending bill unveiled this week, DOE would be required to “retain a respected outside group, such as the National Academy of Sciences, to rank and rate the relative risks to public health and safety of the Department of Energy’s remaining environmental cleanup liabilities,” according to an explanatory statement accompanying the bill. “Additionally, the group should undertake an analysis of how effectively the Department of Energy identifies, programs, and executes its plans to address those risks, as well as how effectively the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board identifies and elevates the nature and consequences of potential threats to public health and safety at the defense environmental cleanup sites,” the statement says, adding that DOE would be required to submit a report to lawmakers on the group’s findings within one year. The omnibus was approved by the House this week and was expected to be approved by the Senate before the end of this week.
The omnibus provision would help implement a recommendation the DOE Inspector General’s Office made in 2011, when it said the Department should retain an outside group like the NAS to look at how DOE can repriortize its cleanup efforts on a “national, complex-wide risk basis” given the tough budgetary climate the DOE Office of Environmental Management and other federal programs are set to face for the foreseeable future. “This would result in a form of environmental remediation triage,” the IG said. “Looking at the program holistically, fund only high risk activities that threaten health and safety or further environmental degradation. Consistent with this philosophy, where appropriate and consistent with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidance and long term Department land-use planning policies, reduce costs by remediating to ‘brownfield’ rather than ‘greenfield’ standards.”
Currently EM’s budget planning is largely guided by the more than 30 individual Federal Facilities Agreements reached with federal and state regulators at various cleanup sites, each of which contain numerous milestones. “Modifying these agreements would be a very costly and time-consuming process and would, understandably, be extremely unpopular with a variety of constituencies. However, the current strategy may not be sustainable if the Department’s remediation budget suffers major reductions,” the IG said in its 2011 report.
EM Would Receive Approx. $5.8 Billion
Overall, the omnibus bill would provide approximately $5.8 billion for EM, an increase of approximately $200 million from the Department’s FY 2014 budget request; and an increase of approximately $111 million from FY 2013 enacted funding levels. For defense environmental cleanup activities, which covers most of EM’s major sites, the bill would provide a total of $5 billion, an increase of $150 million from DOE’s budget request. The omnibus would not implement a Departmental proposal to reauthorize federal payments into the uranium enrichment D&D fund, for which DOE had sought $463 million. Non-defense environmental cleanup activities would be funded at a total of approximately $232 million, an increase of $20 million from DOE’s request; while work covered by the uranium enrichment D&D fund would receive a total of approximately $599 million, an increase of $44 million from the Department’s request.
Most Sites Would See Increases from Request
On a site-by-site basis, the omnibus would provide most major cleanup sites with additional funding above what DOE had sought in its budget request. At Hanford, the omnibus would provide $941 million for the Richland Operations Office, an increase of approximately $19 million from the request; and would match DOE’s request of $1.21 billion for the Office of River Protection. Within the ORP funding, the bill would provide $690 million for the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant, matching the request. “The Department is directed to request approval from the Committees on Appropriations of the House of Representatives and the Senate prior to restarting any construction activities on the [WTP] Pretreatment Facility. The Department is further directed to ensure that new project scope supporting direct feed and commissioning and startup ac-tivities are separately identified in the budget request and executed in accordance with DOE 0 413.3B, consistent with project management best practices,” the explanatory statement accompanying the bill says.
At the Savannah River Site, the omnibus would provide a total of $1.134 billion, an increase of $46 million from DOE’s request. The SRS funding provided by the bill includes $565.5 million for tank waste cleanup activities, a increase of $13 million from the request; and $125 million for the Salt Waste Processing Facility, an increase of $33 million from the request. At Oak Ridge, the omnibus would provide $215 million in defense environmental cleanup funds, an increase of $17 million; and approximately $196 million in uranium enrichment D&D funding, an increase of $19 million. Cleanup activities at DOE’s Idaho site would receive $387 million under the omnibus, an increase of $22 million from the request.
Lawmakers at Cleanup Sites Pleased With Bill
Lawmakers that represent various cleanup sites praised the omnibus measure this week. “I fought hard to secure significant funding for cleanup work at Hanford and am pleased that this bill will roll back many of the devastating cuts from sequestration and support the incredible workforce we have in the Tri-Cities,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) in a release. “There’s more work to be done to keep the Hanford cleanup project moving forward, but the funding secured in this bill is a critical ‘win’ for Hanford and our entire state.” Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) said in a written response to WC Monitor, “I’m encouraged that these hard-won funds will help ensure cleanup moves forward both at the Richland Operations Office and the Office of River Protection. Now attention can be focused on the budget for Fiscal Year 2015.” He added, “I look forward to receiving more information about the path forward for WTP and I’m hopeful that information is provided before the funding bill for next year is developed.”
In a separate written response to WC Monitor, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann said, “In what are very difficult budgetary times, I am pleased to see this bill provide stability to the Oak Ridge workforce and contractors who do tremendous work on complex nuclear cleanup projects. Working with Senator [Lamar] Alexander and the House committee staff, we were able to create a bill that will actually save money by allowing for the more efficient completion of the East Tennessee Technology Park and begin the long term work of mercury cleanup up at the Y-12 National Security Complex.”
