SENATE KICKS DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION TO SEPTEMBER
The Senate will recess for August before considering the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year (FY) 2025, kicking consideration of the $923.3 billion defense measure bill to September. The Senate version of the Act would increase the authorization by $25 billion. The defense policy bill is a must-pass bill because it directly affects the amount of money federal agencies can spend for environmental cleanup of defense sites and other nuclear activities. The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the defense authorization in June, the same month that the House passed its version of the Act, H.R. 8070, their measure headlining at $895 billion.
Click here to see the report on that bill. If the Senate fails to approve its own version of the defense authorization, it will initiate informal negotiations with the House to work on a final bill to send to the president. This has occurred in past years and may occur this year as well. Conference negotiations likely would not take place until December, not only because that is when various Pentagon policies expire, but also because it would be after this year’s general election in November. 
In related news, the Senate’s Energy and Water Appropriations Bill underwent its full committee earlier markup today. To see a recording of the broadcast, click here. ECA will continue to provide updates on the appropriations and defense authorization processes. For more information on those processes, visit our website.
US DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ANNOUNCES NEW $25 MILLION GOOD JOBS CHALLENGE NOTICE OF FUNDING OPPURTUNITY
WASHINGTON, DC – The Biden-Harris Administration, through the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA), today launches a new phase of funding for the Good Jobs Challenge. This funding opportunity builds on the success of the first round of the Good Jobs Challenge awards,
funded by the American Rescue Plan, and this round will invest $25 million into high-quality, locally-led workforce training programs that lead to good jobs. The Notice of Funding
Opportunity (NOFO) the Department is launching today will support sectoral partnerships that bring together diverse stakeholders including employers, labor unions, educational institutions, training organizations, community-based organizations, and others to develop high-quality training programs that lead directly to a good job. EDA anticipates making 5-8 awards ranging from $1 million to $8 million, which are anticipated to be announced in winter 2024. “The U.S. leads the world in innovation, but we must do more to ensure American workers benefit from our advances in technology,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “With the 2024 Good Jobs Challenge, we will work with employers, labor unions and training organizations all over the U.S. to help make sure that as technology impacts our workforce and world, we are training and placing workers in quality jobs across the industries that will
define the 21st century economy.” The FY 2024 Good Jobs Challenge NOFO is targeted at jobs that advance industries critical to U.S. economic competitiveness and the competitiveness of the applicant’s region, including jobs that do not require a four-year college degree. Applicants must implement training for jobs that advance key technology focus areas as established by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022, which include
advanced energy, biotechnology, robotics, and semiconductors. EDA will prioritize applicants that include worker voice through partnerships with labor unions or worker-serving organizations, support for workers at all levels of certification and degree status, and prioritize workers that are adversely impacted by changes in technology. The $25 million investment builds on the inaugural Good Jobs Challenge, which
was funded at a historic $500 million level through the American Rescue Plan. In August 2022, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced 32 winners of the inaugural Good Jobs Challenge that aimed to train and place 50,000 workers in good jobs. These awards are advancing job training in a wide range of sectors, including agriculture and food production, energy and resilience, healthcare, manufacturing, and information technology. As the Good Jobs Challenge concludes its second year of
implementation, it is delivering strong outcomes and looks to hit 10,000 job placements later this year. . . Read the full Press Release here. Read the Notice of Funding Opportunity here.
ECA SURVEY Should DOE Prioritize “Legacy” TRU Waste or Treat all TRU Waste Equally for Disposal at WIPP Under the New Permit with the State of NM?
ECA is conducting a survey to get your input that will help ECA and other organizations identify and provide input into the prioritization of the source of the TRU waste that is being disposed at WIPP from DOE generator sites. WIPP (DOE EM), as a requirement under DOE’s state permit, is developing a new “Waste Isolation Pilot (“WIPP”) Legacy TRU Waste Disposal Plan” (the “Plan”). ECA members around WIPP have asked ECA member communities and others around the country that are interested in TRU waste and WIPP issues, for their input through this survey on the Plan. The questions will focus on “Legacy TRU waste”
which ECA generally defines as TRU waste associated with Cold War and World War II periods. Others define it differently and if you do, please note it in the survey comments at the end of the questionnaire. ECA recognizes that some sites generate both Legacy TRU waste and non-legacy TRU waste. Communities around the country have recognized the importance of WIPP to cleaning up the DOE sites in their communities. Because
this plan could affect the prioritization of TRU waste shipments and the accessibility of WIPP to these communities (DOE calls these sites “generator sites”), ECA is asking for feedback from the citizens, local, state and Tribal governments and others on the issues. ECA will post the results of the survey on our web page after the survey results are recorded. Please try to complete the survey at your earliest convenience. This Survey will close on August 15.
For more on the survey, or if you have any questions, please contact Andres Ridge at ajr@energyca.org
September 16-18, 2024| Crystal Gateway Marriott | Arlington, VA Join us for the 10th Annual National Cleanup Workshop!
Hear from senior DOE leaders, local government officials, and industry leaders about DOE's cleanup priorities, the future of the workforce, and more.
Featured Speakers: - The Honorable Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of U.S. Department of Energy
- Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03), Chairman, House Appropriations Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee
- Candice Robertson, Senior Advisor, DOE-EM
- Jeff Avery, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, DOE-EM
- Greg Sosson, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Field Operations, DOE-EM
- Kristen Ellis, Associate Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Regulatory and Policy Affairs, DOE-EM
- Dae Chung, Associate Principal Deputy
Assistant Secretary for Corporate Services, DOE-EM
- James McConnell, Associate Principal Deputy Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration
- Brent Gerry, Mayor, City of West Richland, WA; Chair, ECA and
- Rebecca Casper, Mayor, City of Idaho Falls, Idaho, and Vice-Chair, ECA.
Hosted by ECA with the cooperation of the Energy Facility Contractors Group and DOE-EM, the workshop brings together more than 800 senior DOE executives, officials from DOE sites, industry leaders,
local elected officials, contractors and community stakeholders to discuss EM’s progress to address the environmental legacy of the Manhattan Project and Cold War-era U.S. nuclear weapons program.
Manchin-Barrasso energy permitting bill advances to full
Senate Bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up approvals for new energy
projects advanced to the full Senate Wednesday. The legislation, put forward by Sens. Joe
Manchin (I-W.Va.) and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), sailed
through committee in a 15-4 vote. Read the full story here. ‘They snuck
through’: Tribes condemn shipment of uranium material through their lands The Havasupai Tribe and the Navajo Nation were informed on Tuesday morning that Energy Fuels Resources Inc. had begun transporting uranium ore through Arizona. But the notice came not from the company but from the U.S. Forest Service, prompting tribal leaders to accuse the producer of going back on its word regarding shipments from the Pinyon Plain Mine near the Grand Canyon to a processing site in neighboring Utah. Read the full story here. After months of troubleshooting, SRS system gets a new component Workers at the Savannah River Site have recently completed the replacement of a piece of equipment that the
Department of Energy said in a July 31 press release is “essential for operations in the site’s H Canyon chemical separations capable facility.” The equipment in question, a general purpose evaporator (GPE), is used to help concentrate low-level radioactive wastes from various sources in the canyon, including sump material, leaks, lab waste, and rainwater. Read the full story here.
Gone Fission Nuclear Report: Consent-Based Siting for Spent Nuclear Fuel: A National Conversation July 29, 2024 | S4 E14 The Gone Fission Nuclear Report travels to the nation’s capital this week to join a national conversation on next steps for identifying a community to host interim spent fuel storage from America’s nuclear power plants. Our podcast sponsor, the Energy Communities Alliance, convened a meeting of elected officials, community leaders, economic
developers and Department of Energy officials to discuss what kind of incentives a community will need--and what kind of economic benefits can accrue--from volunteering to host an interim storage facility. This is an important topic as the U.S. finds itself on the brink of a nuclear renaissance that will increase the role of nuclear energy in meeting our national energy needs. Is your community interested in exploring safe spent fuel storage as an economic driver?
WEBINAR: Join DOE for a Discussion on Expanding the National Conversation on Spent Nuclear Fuel Aug. 29, 2024 | 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM ET Register now! 2024 National Cleanup Workshop September 16-18, 2024 | Crystal Gateway Marriott (Arlington, VA) Register now!
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