Kenneth Fletcher
WC Monitor
6/19/2014
While both the House and Senate versions of the Fiscal Year 2015 Energy and Water Appropriations bills would boost funding overall for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management above DOE’s budget request, House appropriators are looking to provide less than what DOE is seeking for liquid waste cleanup at the Savannah River Site. The Senate bill, reported out of subcommittee this week, would provide a total of $5.942 billion for EM, $320 million above DOE’s budget request, while the House bill would boost cleanup funds by $6.7 million above the budget request. Both the House and Senate bills look to provide additional funds, though in different ways, to help reopen the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant following two incidents there earlier this year.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has not provided details about its spending bill, and the measure hit a snag late this week due to a disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over a controversial amendment that would scuttle new carbon emissions regulations on power plants. Senate Appropriations Committee leaders cancelled a planned June 19 full committee markup of the bill over the issue, raising questions about the path ahead for the bill. The problem, according to Congressional aides, is that an amendment drafted by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that would aim to thwart new Environmental Protection Agency regulations aimed at reducing carbon emissions from coal plants had garnered some support from Democrats and had a chance of passing. It’s unclear when the markup will be rescheduled.
The House bill would provide for cleanup at Savannah River about $45 million below DOE’s request for a funding level of $1.1 billion. The bill would reduces funding for site risk management and “does not provide the amount requested for radioactive liquid tank waste stabilization and disposition because the Department has not updated the performance baseline for the full scope of the Salt Waste Processing Facility project and cannot justify its timeline for conducting supporting startup and commissioning work,” according to the report accompanying the House measure. Reduced funding in DOE’s budget request for Savannah River tank waste cleanup has already caused the Department to delay high level waste tank closure schedules beyond regulatory milestones, leading to opposition from South Carolina.
House Looks to Boost Hanford, Idaho Funds
In the House bill, Hanford overall would receive $2.1 billion, or $2 million above DOE’s request. Richland cleanup operations would receive a total of $832 million, or $25 million above the budget request. It also gave DOE’s Richland office greater flexibility in combining budget control points “in recognition of the responsiveness of the Department to better account for its smaller construction activities.” At the Office of River Protection, tank farm activities funding would match the request for $522 million. Construction activities related to the Waste Treatment Plant are funded at $690 million, or $25 million below the request.
For cleanup work at the Idaho National Laboratory, the House bill would provide $380 million in cleanup funds, or $13 million above the DOE request. “The Committee is concerned about the impact that the closure of WIPP is having on DOE’s ability to meet its cleanup milestones. The recommendation includes an additional $10,000,000 to support work plan adjustments needed to meet 2018 milestones now that TRU waste shipments have been temporarily suspended,” the report states. An additional $3 million is included to accelerate shipments of mixed low level waste. Oak Ridge would receive about $213 million under the House bill, or about $6 million above the budget request, also to deal with plans for handling transuranic waste due to the WIPP shutdown.
At Los Alamos, the House bill would provide approximately $180 million for cleanup activities, approximately $24 million below DOE’s request. The House bill would fund engineering and design of the Los Alamos Hexavalent Chromium Pump and Treatment Facility, but not its construction because the project has not yet been approved by the state of New Mexico, according to the report accompanying the bill. At the Separations Process Research Unit, the report notes that $12.5 million is available from carryover funds and an additional $20.5 million is obligated but uncosted. “The Committee directs the Department to preserve the $33,000,000 until a plan has been determined for the site. If, at that time, the Department is found to have a liability, the Committee expects the Department to apply the $32,500,000 toward that outstanding obligation,” the report states.
