Nominee Grilled on EM Issues at Senate Hearing
Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
6/19/2015
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) plans to block a Senate vote on the nomination of Monica Regulbuto to be the next Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management Assistant Secretary, he said at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing to consider her nomination. Wyden cited both Hanford safety culture concerns and a failure to clean up liquid waste at the Hanford site as reasons for the hold. Wyden said he would support Regalbuto in a vote to report her nomination out of the committee, but not for the full Senate. “It is time for the culture of hostility against the whistleblowers at Hanford to end,” Wyden said in a statement. “Until I see corrective action–concrete action–from the Department of Energy to address both the whistleblower issue and the treatment of radioactive waste, I am going to be objecting to the Senate proceeding to the nomination of Dr. Regalbulto. This is not a judgment of her qualifications, as she is highly qualified to serve in that role, but rather an insistence that needed changes at Hanford cannot be put off any longer.”
This would be the second time Regulbuto is subjected to a Senate hold. She was first nominated in the spring of 2014, and had originally been seen as an uncontroversial choice to head up DOE’s cleanup program. However, last year she was subjected to a hold by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) over concerns with the Department’s transfers of uranium to help fund cleanup and other activities. In December, Barrasso lifted his hold on Regalbuto after receiving sought-after information from DOE on its uranium transfer policy. However, the Senate ultimately chose not to vote on her nomination before the end of the 113th Congress. The Obama Administration nominated her to the post for a second time in February. The permanent EM-1 position has been vacant since July 2011, when Ines Triay stepped down as Assistant Energy Secretary for Environmental Management.
Regalbuto responded to Wyden’s concerns regarding Hanford whistleblowers at this week’s hearing. “I recognize that there has been not the best culture with respect to whistleblowers. I will assure you that the Department of Energy and I, personally, take very serious this issue,” she said. “We must have a culture at all of our sites, if we are to achieve our mission of cleaning up the environment, and that is that every worker, either in the federal or contractor side, should be able to freely come and express any disagreement, issues and concerns.”
With regard to Hanford tank waste, Regalbuto emphasized that addressing the leaking tanks is “one of the top priorities” in EM, noting progress in working on technical issues at the Waste Treatment Plant. “I, in the past year, have been looking at coming into the, you know, technical issue resolution for the High-Level Waste Facility and the Pretreatment Facility,” she said. “In addition to that, the Secretary certainly is moving in the path of immobilizing as soon as possible, as much inventory as possible at the site. And we are looking at a path of initiating activities of the low-activity waste as soon as possible.”
Sen. Cantwell Also Concerned About Hanford Issues
While she supports Regalbuto’s nomination, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) also questioned Regalbuto about issues at Hanford, including concerns relating to vapors at the tank farms and the schedule for remediation of the 324 building. “On the 324 Building, it’s one of the most significant cleanup projects left at Hanford, due to its high level of radioactivity and proximity to the Columbia River and I’ve been assured many times that this material is not seeped into the groundwater and that we’ll be able to get this cleanup done in time,” Cantwell said. “Can you give me some specificity about the remediation on that contamination in the timeframe in which that will happen?”
Regalbuto responded that design work should be complete by the end of this fiscal year 2016. “By the end of fiscal year ’16, we plan to finish the mockup, develop the design of what needs to be done in order to excavate and remove the soil that is beneath the building. My understanding is that the plume has not moved and is not expected to move in a quick manner,” she said. “But the building right now is stable. When we start excavation and removal of the contaminants that is when we put the workers at risk, so the mockup will serve the purpose of us to make sure that when we conduct these operations we will actually do this in a safe manner.”
Sen. Barasso Again Questions DOE Uranium Transfer Policy
This week Barrasso again pressed Regalbuto about the Department’s uranium transfer program. “The Department of Energy has repeatedly violated its own written policy and violated federal law when managing the public stockpile of excess uranium. As a result, the Department of Energy has failed to obtain a fair return on this uranium for American taxpayers,” he said. “The Department’s mismanagement of this stockpile has also contributed to volatility in the uranium market and has led to job losses in states like my state of Wyoming.” He noted that he has sponsored legislation that aims to require DOE to take into account more public input in determining its uranium transfer policy.
He asked Regalbuto whether she would support the legislation. “I understand that the Secretary is always take it very seriously, not having a negative impact on the domestic uranium market. And it’s really a very difficult balancing act to try to manage that uranium market and no negative impact with the mission and needs at other parts of the Department,” she said. “We certainly look at what needs to be done every year and we certainly agree with you that transparency is critical in these transactions. In the most recent determination, I understand there was a period of public comment. In fact, I believe there were two periods of public comment.”
