The head of the nuclear waste cleanup program at the Washington state Department of Ecology is leaving the position at the end of October to take another job with the state.
Ecology cleanup director Alex Smith is moving to a position with the Washington Department of Natural Resources as the deputy supervisor for aquatics, she said in a Wednesday email.
Smith, an attorney with a background in environmental law, was named to lead Ecology’s nuclear cleanup program in March 2016. Before taking her current post, Smith worked briefly as a senior lawyer for the Port of Seattle after serving as the director of environmental programs for the Port of Olympia from 2011 to 2015.
The state nuclear waste cleanup program’s mission is to ensure effective cleanup of the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site and as well as sound management of mixed hazardous and radioactive wastes to protect the state’s environment.
The program manager represents the state’s interests in the Tri-Party Agreement, which is a 30-year, multibillion-dollar compliance order signed by Ecology, the Environmental Protection Agency and DOE.
“I think she has been the best NWP director so far,” Hanford Challenge Executive Director Tom Carpenter said in an email. The advocacy group leader and outspoken DOE critic called Smith accessible, transparent and knowledgeable, and someone who advocated for remediation “by holding DOE’s feet to the fire.”
Applications for Smith’s replacement are due Oct. 5.
“Ecology is actively recruiting to fill my position, and they hope to identify a replacement before the end of October,” Smith said.
A notice about the opening was posted on Ecology’s Facebook page last week and the issue also surfaced this week during a meeting of the Hanford Advisory Board.
Most employees of the Washington Department of Ecology continue to work remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic and director Laura Watson recently said it would “maximize teleworking” through June 2021, agency spokesman Randy Bradbury said in an email. The spokesman added, however, environmental inspectors are doing work in the field, including at the Hanford Site.
Washington state employees at Ecology and elsewhere, however, are currently taking an unpaid furlough day per month as part of belt-tightening measures ordered this summer by Gov. Jay Inslee (D) because of the pandemic.
