House Approved Defense Policy Measure This Week
Mike Nartker
WC Monitor
5/23/2014
Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.) was successful in adding a small boost to cleanup funding in the House version of the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act before the full House approved the bill late this week. An amendment offered by Hastings to increase authorized defense environmental cleanup funding in the bill by $20 million was approved by a voice vote during floor debate. Hastings’ amendment offset the additional cleanup funding with an equal cut in authorized funding for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s Inertial Confinement Fusion Ignition and High-Yield Campaign.
During the floor debate, Hastings noted that cleanup funding for work at Hanford faces a cut of almost $100 million in the Obama Administration’s proposed budget for next year. “Even at a time of tight budget constraints, the federal government must meet existing legal obligations to cleanup its defense nuclear waste. Existing legal obligations of the federal government, like cleanup of its nuclear waste sites, must be met before funding optional activities, regardless of how valuable those other activities may be,” Hastings said. His amendment was met by opposition, though, from Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), whose district includes the National Ignition Facility. “Budgets right now are tight, and I know all members would welcome the chance to add more money to priorities they believe in, but it is a mistake to try to fund such priorities by shortchanging critical science that helps us in our national security mission, as well as meet our future energy needs,” Swalwell said.
Bill Includes Boost for Tech. Development
Only a small portion of the overall defense authorization bill relates to the Department of Energy’s cleanup efforts. For defense environmental cleanup activities, which cover most of DOE’s major cleanup sites, the bill would authorize a funding level of approximately $4.870 billion (not counting any proposed uranium enrichment D&D fund contribution), largely matching DOE’s FY 2015 budget request. On a site-by-site basis, the bill would authorize funding levels matching DOE’s request. However, the bill would also authorize approximately $19 million in technology development funds for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, up $6 million from the Department’ request. In addition, the bill includes language that would create a Manhattan Project National Park made up of facilities at Hanford, Oak Ridge and the Los Alamos National Laboratory.
White House Opposes Drop of D&D Fund Contribution
As originally drafted, the House bill would have also authorized $363 million in funding for a federal contribution to the Uranium Enrichment D&D Fund, $100 million less than what the Obama Administration had requested in its FY 2015 request. The bill did not include, however, language reauthorizing the fund itself, and the funding was removed by amendment before the bill was reported out of the House Armed Services Committee.
The uranium enrichment D&D fund is used to help cover cleanup costs at the Oak Ridge, Paducah and Portsmouth sites. In recent years, DOE has repeatedly proposed a reauthorization of the fund and both federal and industry contributions. Such proposals have been met with strong opposition, though, from the nuclear industry and some lawmakers, and have never moved forward. In a statement of Administration policy issued earlier this week, the White House criticized the removal of authorized funding for a new federal contribution. “This funding is critical to the Administration’s proposal to reauthorize the Fund to address the significant shortfall in resources allocated for cleanup of shutdown uranium enrichment plants that supported nuclear weapons production and commercial power generation,” the White House said.
