Press Releases
Congressmen Press Department of Energy on ACP Funding
Washington,
January 8, 2016
After passing legislation to fully fund the American Centrifuge Project in December, Congressmen representing Southern Ohio are now pressing the Department of Energy to spend the appropriated funds to keep the project on track. Congressman Brad Wenstrup, joined by Bill Johnson and Senator Rob Portman, is calling for immediate answers surrounding the Department’s failure to take the necessary steps to retain the nation’s only domestically owned source of enriched uranium. “The Department of Energy’s utter failure to guarantee crucial national security resources is appalling.” Wenstrup said. “Their disregard for Congress’s clear direction to preserve this technology is beyond disappointing; it is the clearest sign of a federal bureaucracy taking power into their own hands, regardless of the expressed will of the people. Southern Ohio demands answers, and accountability.” The full page letter, addressed to Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz, emphasized the critical nature of the uranium enrichment technology as well as the need to prevent any employment disruption among the skilled labor. The letter closed by saying “We urge the Department [of Energy] in the strongest terms to utilize funding provided by Congress to maintain ACP operations and employment levels at the Piketon site, and retain American leadership in these critical nuclear technologies. We believe it is imperative for our national security that the Department of Energy keep its commitment to the American Centrifuge Project in Piketon.” ### |