Anne Marie White, the Trump administration’s nominee for assistant secretary of energy for environmental management, understands Congress is getting antsy over the slow progress on key projects within the Energy Department’s $6.5 billion nuclear cleanup program.
In 13 pages of questions and answers submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee before her confirmation hearing last week, White said her meetings with senators have driven home the sense of frustration.
“During the meetings with the Senators and their staff, it was clear there is broad frustration with [the Office of Environmental Management’s] lack of progress given its approximately $6 billion annual budget,” she wrote. “If confirmed, I will be accountable for meeting the commitments EM makes.”
It has been approaching a decade since EM has marked a major site remediation closure, White said. The Energy Department wrapped up cleanup of the Rocky Flats site in Colorado in 2005, Fernald site in Ohio in 2006, and the Mound Site in Ohio in 2010.
The Office of Environmental Management has to date completed remediation at 91 of its 107 assigned sites.
If confirmed, White said she would prefer to decontaminate and demolish old buildings and infrastructure, “rather than maintaining them.” White said she is willing to explore “accelerated cleanup” for certain sites where feasible.
“Accelerated cleanup could yield positive results, but may require a higher, up-front investment,” White said. She did not offer specifics on what sites might be candidates for this sort of speed-up effort, and acknowledged budget constraints can hinder cleanup timelines.
White got few live questions from senators during the Armed Services hearing on Thursday. A staffer declined to speculate Monday on when the panel might vote on the nomination.
White was passed out of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Jan. 30. But her nomination is still being held up by Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who wants White and the Energy Department to commit to end the agency’s uranium barter program.
