In The News

On Thursday, U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), as well as Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02), urged Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Shaun Donovan to fully fund decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) operations at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon.


In a letter to Donovan, the lawmakers expressed concern over volatility in the global uranium market and urged the Administration to fully fund cleanup in their Fiscal Year 2016 budget.


“As a delegation, we have repeatedly urged the Department of Energy to present a comprehensive management plan that fulfills the Secretarial commitment to the community,” the lawmakers wrote. “This plan should not rely upon the vagaries of the global uranium market. Clean-up and restoration work is critically important to southern Ohio, and merits your immediate attention to ensure financial stability, fulfill the federal obligation to the community, and sustain productivity at the site.”


The letter was also signed my Reps. Steve Chabot (R-OH-01), Tim Ryan (D-OH-13), Bob Latta (R-OH-05), Jim Renacci (R-OH-16), Bill Johnson (R-OH-06), Steve Stivers (R-OH-15), Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07), Dave Joyce (R-OH-14) , Mike Turner (R-OH-10), Pat Tiberi (R-OH-12), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09).


That project has been funded by two sources - sale of enriched uranium on the open market and appropriations from the DOE. In the last couple of years, the uranium market has bottomed out, causing a huge shortfall.


The letter went on to say, “As you know, in recent years, D&D cleanup operations at the site have been supplemented by the sale of excess uranium. Volatility in the global uranium market has resulted in projected financial shortfalls at the site which threatened progress on the cleanup and led to the issuance of WARN notices to hundreds of workers. Thankfully, Congress and the Department of Energy were able to avert this crisis in FY 15. However, this experience makes it clear that robust funding for D&D operations at the site are more necessary now than ever before.”


That project has been funded by two sources — sale of enriched uranium on the open market and appropriations from the DOE.


In mid-December the president signed the 2015 Omnibus Bill providing funding for the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year. The bill provided the PORTS D&D Project with $78 million of supplemental appropriations to support project operations. That brought a letter from project manager Dennis Carr of Fluor-B&W calling off possible projected layoffs.


The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management is the federal agency responsible for cleanup of former DOE gaseous diffusion plants. In 2009, Secretary Chu made a commitment to the Piketon, OH, community to accelerate cleanup and complete the work by 2024. The project currently employees 1,900 individuals and is critical to the economy of Pike, Ross, Scioto, and Jackson counties.


“We must hold the Obama Administration accountable to the funding promises they’ve made to cleanup Piketon,” Wenstrup said. “This Administration has undercut the project time and time again, and their incomplete budget requests have caused continued uncertainty for southern Ohio. I will continue to lead the fight for full funding, and am encouraged by the bipartisan support displayed with this funding request.”

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