Letters to Secretary Wright criticize cuts to funds, request workforce numbers

House Democratic leaders of the Energy and Commerce committee demanded answers from Secretary of Energy Chris Wright on the effects of mass firing at DOE.

The letter, released April 14, was signed by full committee ranking member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), Energy subcommittee ranking member Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), and Oversight and Investigations subcommittee ranking member Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.). April 14 was also the deadline that federal officials had to present plans for another round of mass firings.

“Americans in every state and territory benefit from the jobs and lower energy costs that DOE investments create and are safeguarded by the critical role DOE plays ensuring our national security,” the representatives wrote in their letter to Wright. “Destroying programs and indiscriminately eliminating the workforce that is striving to provide reliable energy at lower costs would drive up home electricity prices even as the Trump Administration separately guts programs elsewhere in the government dedicated to assisting families with those costs.”

The Committee leaders demanded that Wright provide the following by April 24, or next Thursday:

• The current staffing levels in each DOE office identified in the agency’s organization chart.
• The number of probationary employees terminated since Jan. 20.
• The number of non-probationary employees involuntarily terminated since Jan. 20.
• All documentation assessing impact of recent and planned workforce reductions.
• A detailed description of whether, and how, DOE plans to mitigate the impact of reductions.

According to an article published Monday by the New York Times, a group of energy producers and trade groups also sent a letter to Wright, saying cuts would “critically undermine American energy and industrial strategy.” The groups also noted that the agency’s loan office, potentially among the cuts, has supported nuclear projects such as lithium mining in Nevada and new reactors in Savannah River. 

This is not the first letter sent to Wright. Late February, Nevada lawmakers that represent the DOE’s Nevada National Security Site demanded details on terminations of workers at DOE’s semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in a published letter. 

On Feb. 13, over 300 of NNSA’s 1,800 employees were fired, including all probationary employees, through President Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency. Around 24 hours later, acting administrator Teresa Robbins sent out a memo to affected employees that “effective immediately,” the “termination decision issued” on Feb. 13 “has been rescinded,” according to the memo viewed by the Monitor.

This month, a leaked administration memo said only 56% of the DOE workforce should be considered essential, while 8,500 DOE staff, including 500 NNSA employees, could be deemed non-essential.

Earlier in the year, the Trump administration released a Fork in the Road initiative, sent by the White House Office of Personnel Management. The Trump administration has prioritized shrinking the federal government payroll and is encouraging feds to leave on their own and avoid potential future layoffs. 

Media reports say that over 2,600 staffers from the Department of Energy opted to take the second round of resignation offers, a sequel to the Fork in the Road, from the Trump administration. The deadline for the second round was April 8. 

DOE did not immediately respond to a query by the Exchange Monitor on whether these numbers were accurate.