With the Joe Biden administration yet to nominate a permanent assistant secretary for the Office of Environmental Management, William (Ike) White is nearing the two-year mark at the helm of the $7-billion-plus nuclear cleanup branch.
White, a career federal employee, has been the top boss at the Environmental Management (EM) since mid-June 2019, initially given the title of senior adviser for the office by DOE’s then-undersecretary for science Paul Dabbar.
When the Biden administration took over from President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, White was kept in the top job at EM and given the title of acting assistant secretary for the office. He has about a year to go before he can catch David Huizenga, who was detailed to the top spot in EM for about three years before returning to DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration in 2014.
White has now served longer than the last Senate-approved boss of Environmental Management, Anne Marie White (no relation). The latter resigned under pressure from Dabbar, who sources said was unhappy with Anne White’s handling of complaints about radioactive contamination around a public school near the Portsmouth Site in Ohio. The Trump administration appointee was only 15 months into her tenure at EM.
The DOE under the Biden administration has said Ike White will visit the community around the Portsmouth Site to discuss the Zahn’s Corner Middle School and the recently-commenced demolition of the X-326 Process Building.
The Biden administration has already nominated its choices for administrator and No. 2 person at the National Nuclear Security Administration, who recently testified before a Senate panel, but at press time has not put forward a name for EM.
