Congress has a busy week ahead of
them.
National Defense Authorization
Act
The Senate NDAA bill text was released this morning. The House, meanwhile, released its committee report on the NDAA, which
includes estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
Energy and Water Appropriations
PILT attack or PILT increase?
The House Approritations Committee released a report on the energy and water bill which would require DOE to revisit the Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program, funds from which communities impacted by DOE operations use to support school districts, critical
infrastructure projects, and local emergency services. The report calls upon DOE to "terminate all existing PILT agreements and enter into new PILT agreements that
are consistent across all eligible sites and are in compliance with the requirement that payments are not made in excess of the taxes that would have been payable for such property in the condition in which it was originally
acquired."
Many communities believe this will result in an increase in PILT payments to the community. Some readers may remember how last year DOE
initially cut PILT payments to one community.
Re-start of Yucca Language
To restart the adjudication of the Yucca Mountain license application, the Committee provides the requested
levels of $90,000,000 within Nuclear Waste Disposal, $30,000,000 within Defense Nuclear Waste Disposal, and $30,000,000 within the NRC.
Environmental Management
Priority
Review
EM is undertaking a 45-day, full program review. Jim Owendoff, Acting EM-1, has said the
review will "help focus the Department's cleanup efforts by emphasizing more timely decisions on some of our more complex cleanup challenges." This leaves ECA wondering what changes are in store, and what are the main areas of focus of the review, due
mid-August.
ECA members are encouraged to send comments to ECA this week to ensure that
your priorities are included in the review. ECA will compile comments on contracting, waste disposition, cleanup activities and funding, local government involvement in decision-making processes, and other
issues.
Leadership Changes in EM
ECA is hearing that the large shake-up once promised in EM leadership is now a
small shake-up. With Owendoff as the new acting EM-1, other rumored changes may not be occurring immediately--at least not until a new EM political appointee is named. ECA will keep you posted on actual moves once they are
announced.
OCRWM Start Date--Win an ECA Hat! ECA staff is taking bets on the date for when the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) will be officially stood up. If you want to participate, send your guess to [email protected]! The person with the closest guess will win an ECA hat. Second place wins an ECA
umbrella.
National Nuclear Security Administration
ECA continues to hear reports that a new NNSA Administrator nomination is imminent. The White House has yet to officially announce. an name. Administrator Klotz is well respected and has build momentum within the organization; we hope the next Administrator can continue to move NNSA
forward.
Contracting
One of the biggest contracts in the complex -
Los Alamos M&O is planned to be released tomorrow on Fed Bix Ops. The Los Alamos cleanup contract announcement is
overdue (from the estimates), but still expected soon.
A comprehensive list of recent contract awards and new contracts out for bid
can be found in ECA's June
Bulletin.
Nominations
What ever happened to DOE's nominees? The answer:
they're stalled in the Senate. Reports say that the nomination of Dan Brouillette to be Deputy Secretary of Energy is currently being held up by Senator Heller (R-NV). Over what? Yucca Mountain, of course. ECA will continue to provide updates as additional DOE nominations are made or
approved. NATIONAL CLEANUP WORKSHOP If you want to hear the latest news on the cleanup of the environmental legacies of the Manhattan Project and Cold War from decision makers at DOE and on the Hill, the 2017 National
Cleanup Workshop is a must attend.
This is the only meeting organized by local governments, contractors, DOE leadership, and other stakeholders. Last year saw over 500 attendees. This year we expect even more! Visit www.cleanupworkshop.com for more information on how to
register. |
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| July 2017 | | 20 | EM Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah |
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| July
2017 | | 24-25 | EM Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah River Site |
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| July
2017 | | 26 | EM Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern New Mexico |
|
| August
2017 | | 8-9 | Intermountain Energy Summitt |
|
| August
2017 | | 16-17 | INVITATION ONLY ECA Peer Exchange: Implementation of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park Richland, WA |
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| September 2017 | | 5-7 | Radwaste Summitt 2017 Summerlin, NV |
|
| September 2017 | | 12-14 | 2017 National Cleanup
Workshop Alexandria,
VA |
|
| September 2017 | | 13 | House Nuclear Cleanup Caucus
Event Washington,
DC
|
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Find the most recent ECA Bulletin here |
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