'This Is A Federal Responsibility?': Maria Cantwell Questions Trump Nom On Hanford Nuclear Clean Up

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During a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) asked Lanny Erdos, President Trump's nominee to be the Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement about the Hanford Site nuclear cleanup site in Washington.

Transcript

00:00Thanks. Senator Cantwell. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I congratulate all the

00:09nominees. Thank you, Mr. Walsh. My line is a little more detailed on this

00:15question about commitments to the Hanford cleanup mission, and that's one of the

00:20key responsibilities you'll have. This means over the next 15 years removing

00:2650—treating—removing and treating 56 million gallons of nuclear waste. So

00:32partly something that I would call an ongoing thing that people, you know,

00:36certainly the state of Washington has a consent decree with the DOE because we

00:41want to see a clean top, not because we want it to continue. And so the notion

00:45that somebody would suggest that somehow we want this to continue. We have a

00:50mission and we want to move on, and so we are happy to move on from that, but we

00:55also can't do it on the cheap. And oftentimes people look at the budget

00:59and they're like, oh, let's do it on the cheap. Or, you know, when we had cleanup

01:02all around the United States, people came together and said, oh, let's always get

01:07that budget. But as Colorado and South Carolina and other places that were easy

01:14to clean up got done, then everybody all of a sudden said, well, maybe we can do

01:17this on the cheap in the Northwest. So you can't. You got to get it done right, and we

01:23want to make sure that already leaking storage tanks get the priority that they

01:29deserve. So the major understanding here is the tri-party agreement and consent

01:34decree milestones that basically say these are the milestones that need to be met

01:39in cleaning up a 586 square mile of Cold War era nuclear contaminants. That's

01:47literally just what it takes. You have to make these investments and continue. So do you

01:52commit to upholding the tri-party agreement and the consent decree

01:56milestones that are part of this process? Yeah, thank you for that question,

02:01Senator Cantwell. And, you know, before I really look forward to getting out to

02:06Hanford, meeting you out there, and digging into this. It's a critically

02:11important mission. The the people of Washington State and indeed all Americans

02:16deserve to live in a safe, clean environment. I know this has been gone an

02:21ongoing process. Well, this is a federal responsibility, right? It is. So it's the

02:24federal government's responsibility. We just are a little more of a watchdog just

02:28because we're there. Yes. And we have to be. And I I'm a man of action. I understand

02:33the consent agreement. I understand the tri-party agreement. It is it has outlined

02:41the framework of the cleanup and responsibilities and has it's a living

02:46document that's been modified a few times over the last 20 years. And you have my

02:50commitment that we're going to work together and that it's going to be a

02:54priority in the Office of Environmental Management. What what nuclear waste

03:01understanding and technical expertise would you bring to the situation? Well, I can

03:06tell you that I'm a quick learner of an engineering background. I'm a sort of an

03:13engineering geek. And like anything I've accomplished in my life, whether it was

03:18building a complex semiconductor plant, you rely on the experts. And I think what

03:23Washington, you know, Hanford site needs is really leadership and a good solid plan

03:30that's well executed. And that's what I intend to bring. Thank you. Thank you for

03:35that. Ms. Robertson, could you talk about the budget cuts to EERE?

03:44Thank you senator for the question. I am not in the department, so it's very

03:51difficult to me to talk specifically about decisions that have been made in the

03:55department at this time. What do you think? I mean we have projects that are

04:05already, you know, underway. And you're talking about significant cuts to things

04:11like the 500, the Battery 500 Consortium. Do you believe in those kinds of

04:16activities? I am not familiar with the Battery 500 Consortium. Okay, so you're

04:23trying to get a job with this level of oversight on energy efficiency and

04:29renewable, and this is probably one of the labs in the nation's biggest effort on

04:34storage, bringing grid scale storage, so. Is this a PNNL? Yes, yes. Okay, I'm sorry, I

04:43didn't know that was what it was referred to. I am well aware of their activities in

04:47both grid, they released a big report this week, in both grids and battery

04:53innovation. You know, I, my perspective on the budget as an outsider and a civilian... I'm

05:00just asking you about this, I, this idea that we should be investing in trying to

05:04test bed to get to a higher level of battery technology, I mean battery mass,

05:10you know, grid scale storage, whether you support that concept. I, I support battery

05:15technology and innovation is, is a, is a very important function of the Department

05:22of Energy, absolutely. And funding things like that at the National Lab? Funding at

05:27the National Labs, I, again, not being in the building, not understanding all of the

05:32demands on the budget, it's, it's very difficult for me to speak about a specific

05:37program when I'm not in a position to evaluate all of the demands on the

05:42Department. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

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