David Bowen, the top state regulator assigned to the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site, has accepted a new job within the Washington Department of Ecology, the state agency said Tuesday.
Bowen, who has been with Ecology since 2016 and led the Nuclear Waste Program since December 2020, has been appointed director of the agency’s central region office, Washington Ecology Director Laura Watson announced in a press release.
A one time Kittitas County commissioner who has spent his life in central Washington, Bowen has worked in both public and private sector jobs involving planning, forestry, economic development and renewable energy, Ecology said in the press release.
Bowen was working at Ecology’s central region when tapped to replace Alex Smith, who left the nuclear waste job to take another managerial post in Washington state government.
Through his career, Bowen has “worked to preserve the environment and natural resources of the region, working side-by-side with farmers, ranchers, tribes and community members to build a vibrant future for our state,” Watson said in the press release.
Bowen starts the new job Feb. 16, an Ecology spokesperson said in a Wednesday email to Exchange Monitor. The state’s deputy nuclear waste program manager, Stephanie Schleif, will replace Bowen on an acting basis until a permanent manager is selected, the spokesperson said.
Bowen’s signature accomplishment at Ecology might be his role in the so-called holistic talks between the state, DOE and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in reaching a general agreement for future management of 56 million gallons of radioactive and hazardous tank waste left over from decades of plutonium production at Hanford.
Although a conceptual agreement was announced in May 2023, full details have yet to be disclosed publicly.
