The Department of Energy under the Joe Biden administration has decided, for now at least, to undo an organizational change made by the prior administration which had the Office of Environmental Management stovepiped below DOE’s undersecretary for science.
The new organizational chart has the Office of Environmental Management (EM) reporting directly to the office of the secretary of energy. Under the Donald Trump administration, the cleanup office was reporting to the then-Undersecretary for Science, Paul Dabbar.
It is possible that EM’s place in the DOE universe could be reviewed once a secretary of energy is in place, Energy Communities Alliance Executive Director Seth Kirshenberg said by phone Thursday. Biden’s energy nominee, former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, has been passed out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee but still must be confirmed by the full Senate, which had scheduled no vote at deadline Friday.
Meanwhile, EM released a new organizational chart on Monday, on which William (Ike) White is labelled as acting assistant secretary for environmental management.
White will be the acting assistant secretary for environmental management for 300 days, which because this is the start of a new administration, is 90 days longer than the normal 210-day period.
As recently as Jan. 20, White was still listed as a senior adviser for DOE environmental management (EM).
The retooled org tree also lists John Jones as acting senior site liaison coordinator for field sites, a post that has been vacant since at least Jan. 4, according to previous charts.
A LinkedIn search shows Jones has worked for DOE as a director with the cleanup project at the Energy Technology Engineering Center at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California since 2011. Jones reports to Nicole Nelson-Jean, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations.
