Letting the key Department of Energy headquarters position responsible for overseeing Hanford cleanup remain vacant since July 15 is unacceptable, said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., in a letter to President Obama this week. He also made his wishes clear in a separate letter to DOE on another key position that soon will be vacant, the federal project director for the Hanford vitrification plant. Ines Triay, the last DOE assistant secretary of environmental management, resigned from the position in July. It's the top position for DOE environmental cleanup with responsibility for an approximately $5 billion annual budget. David Huizenga was named to fill in as acting assistant secretary, but that expired after 210 days, the maximum time allowed by law. He's now serving as senior adviser for environmental management. "It's unacceptable that after nearly a year this administration has failed to even nominate a new leader for this program," Hastings said in the letter. "I request that an assistant secretary be nominated without further delay." No explanation has been given for the delay in nominating someone. Naming Huizenga a senior adviser does not provide the DOE environmental cleanup program with any level of certainty or sense of continuity, Hastings said. It also does not provide Huizenga with the authority and accountability needed to meet challenges in the DOE cleanup program, he said. "I believe that having an assistant secretary in place would help strengthen the environmental management program and put the federal government in a better position to meet its legal cleanup obligations," Hastings said.
In a letter to Huizenga, Hastings advised DOE headquarters to work closely with the DOE Hanford Office of River Protection manager to select a new federal project director. Dale Knutson has been on loan from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory since May 2010 to fill the position, but DOE does not plan to renew the contract when it expires at the end of the month. It plans to put a federal employee in the position. "I am hopeful that in determining the types of candidates to consider the department will seek to do everything possible to ensure continuity in this key position," he said. Hastings told Huizenga he is concerned that not having a federal project director in place as Bechtel National prepares a proposed new cost and schedule for the $12.2 billion vitrification plant would harm or delay the process. Hastings also reminded DOE that he inserted language into the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 saying DOE must notify Congress of any changes to the Office of River Protection responsibility or reporting structure. The law is clear that the Office of River Protection manager, now Scott Samuelson, is in charge of the vitrification plant and reports directly to the assistant secretary for environmental management, Hastings said. "Attempts to circumvent this law have resulted in confusion and uncertainty that are ultimately detrimental" to the vitrification plant project, he said. Shortly before Knutson was named project director, DOE changed the reporting structure for the position, giving the project director a direct line to officials at DOE headquarters, apparently catching Congress by surprise. The reporting structure was clarified three months ago to indicate that the manager of the Office of River Protection is responsible for the vit plant.
-- Annette Cary: 582-1533; acary@tricityherald.com; more Hanford news at hanfordnews.com
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