Brian Bradley
WC Monitor
9/25/2015
A proposed three-month federal continuing resolution released this week could head off hundreds of layoffs among workers on the cleanup project at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant site in Piketon, Ohio.
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday issued the federal funding plan to keep the federal government open when fiscal 2016 begins on Oct. 1. The proposal would authorize the Energy Department to advance ongoing defense cleanup, “particularly at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.” However, President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the legislation over Planned Parenthood defunding provisions.
“The continuing resolution is written to give DOE significant flexibility to potentially avoid layoffs,” Senate Appropriations spokesman Chris Gallegos said by email Tuesday. “The language gives the Secretary of Energy flexibility to fund the site to avoid disruptions of continuing projects, including the cleanup work.”
The additional flexibility would be granted for the duration of the CR or until the fiscal 2016 budget process is implemented, he said. The Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning (D&D) Fund would finance nuclear cleanup programs at Portsmouth, as well as Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Paducah, Ky., until the CR’s Dec. 11 expiration date. The pending legislation would also require Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to notify the Senate and House Appropriations committees no later than three days after he uses the vested transfer authority.
Gallegos said by email yesterday that Congress has “consulted” with DOE on the matter, and that the amendment features the same language as last year’s CR. “Funds made available … for ‘Department of Energy—Energy Programs—Uranium Enrichment Decontamination and Decommissioning Fund’ may be apportioned up to the rate for operations necessary to avoid disruption of continuing projects or activities funded in this appropriation,” the amendment states. Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) wrote a letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) requesting that language be inserted into the CR.
Efforts to support Portsmouth through a CR are not new. To help reduce the threat of layoffs, the Obama administration had sought an “anomaly” for the fiscal 2015 CR to provide a rate of operations of $664.7 million in uranium enrichment D&D funding, which covers cleanup work at the Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee facilities. Uranium enrichment D&D funding at fiscal 2014 levels amounted to a total of $598.5 million.
While Portsmouth cleanup contractor Fluor-BWXT said last month that a budget shortfall of up to $81 million in fiscal 2016 would force it this fall to lay off up to 36 percent of the roughly 1,400 employees working on D&D of the former uranium enrichment facility, Congress has yet to release its estimate of this shortfall as House and Senate appropriators have not yet reconciled differences in their respective numbers for fiscal 2016 Portsmouth cleanup.
Fluor said the budget deficit was caused by reduced DOE funding and the department’s increased restriction on the amount of uranium the company can sell to vendors. As several Ohio lawmakers noted last month, possible layoffs of over 700 workers had been averted in late 2014 via $48 million in additional project funding from Congress for this budget year. Obama requested approximately $167 million in funding for D&D work at the Portsmouth for fiscal 2016, a cut of approximately $49 million from current funding levels.
Congressional Delegation Reaction
Portman said in a statement yesterday that he plans to visit Piketon on Saturday, and that he worked with Cochran, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), to secure the funding. “I remain committed to keeping pressure on this Administration to avoid disruption at Piketon and will discuss those efforts this weekend,” Portman said.
In August, Portman, and Ohio Republican Reps. Brad Wenstrup, Bill Johnson, and Steve Stivers issued a letter calling on Moniz and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan to transfer sufficient funds to the D&D program to maintain current staffing levels. “The Ohio Delegation has called on the Department of Energy repeatedly to fulfill its obligation to this community,” Wenstrup, whose district includes Portsmouth, said yesterday in a statement to WC Monitor. “The upcoming Continuing Resolution shows Congress remains committed to the cleanup and it would give the Department of Energy the opportunity to do the right thing and avoid unnecessary layoffs at the Piketon site. If it passes, the only question is if the Department of Energy shares our commitment.”
On Wednesday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said after notices indicating the possibility of 325 to 500 layoffs reached Portsmouth last month, he urged appropriators to maintain D&D efforts at Portsmouth for fiscal 2016, either through an anomaly or $275 million in direct appropriations.
“It is good news for the Piketon community and workers at the plant that the Senate Appropriations Committee is doing right by workers at Piketon,” Brown said. “Continuing D&D operations at Piketon is vital to southeast Ohio’s economy and to local jobs. This flexibility will ensure that the plant can continue making progress on its cleanup efforts. I will continue to work with appropriators to ensure that Piketon is fully funded come December.”
DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, which oversees the Portsmouth cleanup, declined to comment on the matter, saying DOE does not comment on pending legislation.
