Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
6/20/2014
Both House and Senate appropriators plan to provide more than $100 million in extra funds to help reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant following incidents earlier this year, though the two chambers disagree on where the funds will come from. The Department of Energy is expected to need significant funding to restore operations at WIPP after the February radiation release and underground fire. While House appropriators are looking to give DOE the ability to transfer surplus pension funds, if available, to aid the WIPP recovery, Senate appropriators are instead looking to directly provide additional appropriated funding for that purpose.
The House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bill would give DOE authority to transfer up to $120 million from contractor pension plans—the Department would have the ability to transfer up to $90 million from the National Nuclear Security Administration’s “weapons activities” funding, and up to $30 million from the NNSA’s “defense nuclear nonproliferation” funding. “The Committee notes that the intent of contributing funds above requirements is to avoid future programmatic risk if changes in market conditions require large variations in future required payments. However, the actual needs today at WIPP outweigh the hypothetical future benefits of overpaying into plans,” states the report accompanying the House bill, which was released this week.
In contrast, the Senate version of the spending bill, reported out of subcommittee this week, would provide $102 million above DOE’s FY’15 budget request for WIPP recovery, with some members of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee having questioned the House’s approach.“I am concerned however, that the House proposal to find resources will not materialize because they anticipate funds from unspent pension payments,” Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M) said at a markup of the bill this week. “The labs in New Mexico tell me they’re concerned about taking pension funds to pay for WIPP recovery. I believe we’ve taken a much better approach than the House in terms of looking at unspent pension funds which we don’t know whether they’ll materialize or not.”
Subsequently, House appropriators clarified the WIPP transfer authority language at a full Appropriations Committee markup this week that cleared the bill. An amendment drafted by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) stated that planned pension fund payments could be used “if those payments would result in a funded status in excess of 100 percent.” It also makes clear that no funds already contributed to pension plans could be used. He said the language clarified the intent of a provision already in the bill. “This is just a clarification of existing policy and it does what is very important, to make sure the hard working men and women who work for our contractors have their concerns addressed and make sure their pensions are safe,” Fleischmann said. The amendment was agreed to by a voice vote.
Department Told Lawmakers It Needs About $130 Million
DOE has not yet publicly provided information on the estimated costs for getting WIPP back in operation, though some Department officials have informally told Congressional staff that about $130 million in additional funds could be needed next year. In its FY 2015 budget request, DOE is seeking approximately $220 million for WIPP. In addition to the transfer authority, the House also appropriated an additional $20 million for two new construction projects needed in the wake of the WIPP incident—a safety-significant ventilation system and a new exhaust shaft. It also increased funding at several other sites that process transuranic waste in an effort to deal with the impacts of the WIPP shutdown.
DOE Should ‘Seriously Consider’ Outside Independent Review
The House has also asked DOE to designate an official who would lead efforts to develop “a formal WIPP Recovery Plan that will return the facility to full operations,” according to the report accompanying the House spending bill. The recovery plan will need to be complete and provided to lawmakers before DOE uses the transfer authority and should subsequently provide a monthly update on progress. Additionally, “while the Committee does not require outside independent review, the Department should seriously consider this action in light of the importance of WIPP to other Department sites as well as the uniqueness of the event and the facility,” the House report states.
