Washington, D.C. – In a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing this morning, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) urged U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to fully fund Piketon’s decontamination and decommissioning efforts and allow for continuation of the work at the American Centrifuge Plant, a project important to our nation’s national security.

Excerpts can be found below and video can be found here.

“…I want to talk to you about another energy and national security issue, and that is having a domestic source of enriched uranium…I am very concerned about the fact that we seem to be pulling the plug on our ability to have that enrichment capability. I am also concerned about the cleanup at the Piketon site. I was very concerned when WARN notices were given to about 500 employees at the Piketon plant…

“When I was at Piketon about 10 days ago, I had the chance to speak with employees there. They are frustrated, they are angry, understandably, and so am I.

“For three years now we have been requesting two things from the Administration. Two very simple things. One, tell us how much you need to complete the funding consistent with the commitments that you all have made. And second, give us a plan, a long-term plan, for the funding of the cleanup. Unfortunately, the Department of Energy (DOE) has done neither. In 2008, then-candidate Obama made specific commitments to support the plant and clean up the site quickly. He talked about the fact that when it goes long you increase the costs and it has undue environmental risks. I totally agree with him. In 2009, DOE made a secretarial commitment to the community to accelerate the cleanup and complete the work by 2024...

“The DOE press release at the time said the agency was accelerating the cleanup, among other things, in an effort to jump-start the local economy and create jobs. The community is now being told that the cleanup will not be completed until 2044, at the earliest…

“The federal government has a responsibility and a commitment to clean up this site. It’s got to be cleaned up so that the site can be redeveloped. It’s got to be cleaned up for the safety of the community as the President said in his comments. And of course it has to be cleaned up to be sure we keep the commitment to the workforce and local economy, which is already troubled...

“…we are talking about extending the cleanup even further, and more and more layoffs if you all don’t put into your budget the funding you committed to…it’s not too much to ask.”

 Portman recently met with Piketon workers to discuss a path forward. He also recently announced that through his work with leadership in Congress, he was able to secure funding in the Fiscal Year 2016 Continuing Resolution that allows the Administration flexibility to avoid disruption of the clean-up activities at Piketon.

Portman worked with Senate Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Chairman of Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), Speaker John Boehner, and the Ohio delegation to secure funding in the Continuing Resolution. Text of Portman’s letter to Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) regarding Piketon can be found here.

Portman has repeatedly called on the Administration to protect the Ohio workers at Piketon. He recently joined a bicameral group of lawmakers in urging the Administration to save Piketon jobs. Text of the letter can be found here.

 

###