The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday, Jan. 30, on the nomination of Anne Marie White to be assistant secretary of energy for environmental management.
The panel has scheduled a 10 a.m. business meeting to consider four Trump administration nominations, including White and Melissa F. Burnison as assistant secretary of energy for congressional and intergovernmental affairs, according to an announcement posted Monday on the committee’s website.
If they get the thumbs-up in committee, both nominees would then have to wait on floor votes from the full Senate.
If confirmed, White would take over leadership of Energy Department’s Office of Environmental Management, which receives about $6.5 billion annually for cleanup of the agency’s defense nuclear complex.
White and Burnison both testified Thursday during a confirmation hearing before the committee. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said during the session he could not support White’s nomination until DOE agrees to discontinue its “uranium barter” program.
Whether Barrasso’s stance is a serious threat to the White nomination remains unclear. A committee staffer Monday had not heard of any formal “hold” being placed on the nomination. An email to Barrasso’s office was not immediately answered.
White, an energy industry consultant, founded Bastet Technical Services LLC, and has worked for decades within the nuclear cleanup sector, with a focus on project and program management. She has worked as a consultant at several sites within the DOE EM complex.
Burnison heads federal government affairs for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry lobbying group. She has also worked as a congressional staffer and at the Department of Energy.
During the Jan. 30 business meeting, the committee is also scheduled to consider two Interior Department nominees.
