Chris Schneidmiller
WCM Monitor
9/4/2015
Local officials in Ohio and their congressional representatives are campaigning to persuade the Department of Energy to provide the funding needed to prevent hundreds of layoffs at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant cleanup site.
Fluor-BWXT said last week that a budget shortfall of up to $81 million in fiscal 2016 would force it to lay off this fall 325-500 of the roughly 1,400 employees working on the decontamination and decommissioning of the former uranium enrichment facility. Another 70 subcontractor workers are also expected to lose their jobs. Fluor said the budget deficit was caused by reduced DOE funding and the department’s increased restriction on the amount of uranium the company can sell to vendors.
Several Ohio lawmakers noted last week that the possible layoffs of over 700 workers had been averted in late 2014 via $48 million in additional project funding from Congress for this budget year.
“We really do not understand why we are going through this again,” Herman Potter, president of the United Steelworkers Local 689, said during a conference call Wednesday with other union and county officials from southern Ohio. “Forcing us to rely on that [uranium] barter agreement has actually put us in a terrible situation … every six months or so, and frankly it gets into the situation where we cannot plan to do meaningful work.”
Potter said he had scheduled meetings in Washington, D.C., on Thursday with Department of Energy officials and possibly congressional appropriators to get answers regarding the D&D project’s ongoing funding issues. He said a caravan to Washington to raise awareness of the situation was also being planned, while officials from Scioto and Pike counties said a letter writing campaign to Congress is under way and that a promotional video on the economic importance of the project was available for distribution.
“We just need to burn up the phones in Washington and hopefully we can go to Washington. They need to see our faces, I believe that’s really important for us to do at this time,” said Scioto County Commissioner Bryan Davis.
The layoffs would cost the local community up to $35 million in direct annual wages, according to Potter. “This community can’t withstand losing that number of jobs and that much revenue,” he said.
Reduced staffing presents several operational hazards as well, union officials said. Potter suggested that shortages of personnel in certain areas of the cleanup project due to layoffs could increase the chances of accidents. The loss of anywhere from three to 25 of the 45 site security guards represented by the Security, Police and Fire Professionals of America could also stretch thin those who remain, said David Bowe, president of the union’s Local 66.
Potter said while in Washington he would request DOE participation in a town hall scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Pike County Government Center. DOE has said little about the situation beyond a statement issued as news of the layoffs broke: “The decontamination and decommissioning project contractor is currently working to evaluate its workforce needs to continue the safe and effective cleanup at the site within the projected funding profile. As part of this process, DOE expects the contractor will make adjustments in the current workforce to ensure safe, efficient execution of priority work activities and programmatic requirements. The Department of Energy is committed to the safe and successful cleanup of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Site."
Late last week, four Republican members of Congress from Ohio — Sen. Rob Portman and Reps. Brad Wenstrup, Bill Johnson, and Steve Stivers – issued a letter calling on Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan to transfer sufficient funds to the D&D program to maintain current staffing levels. DOE has said only that it is reviewing the letter. Greg Brooks, a spokesman for Wenstrup, said there had been no response as of Wednesday, “and our continuing efforts to prevent layoffs will in part be dependent on what their responses say.”
Fluor-BWXT spokesman Jeff Wagner said the company’s Washington office is working with Ohio lawmakers and DOE in hopes of curbing the number of layoffs. “All groups are well aware of the situation especially since it’s similar to financial conditions going into FY13 and FY14,” Wagner stated by email.
Wagner said Fluor-BWXT is meanwhile preparing a plan to identify where the personnel reductions will have to be made. Close to 20 workers to date have indicated interest in a voluntary separation package, which are available through Sept. 10, he said.
