A proposal by the White House to reduce spending at the Hanford site next year has raised objections from Washington legislators on both sides of the aisle.
The administration proposed spending $2.083 billion for cleanup activities at the former Cold War site in 2015, which is $67 million less than the amount approved for this year. In a hearing Wednesday, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., grilled Office of Management and Budget Director Sylvia Mathews Burwell about cuts in funding for environmental management and Hanford's Richland operations as the DOE confronts unmet cleanup milestones in its legal settlement with the state. According to a transcript on Murray's website, Burwell responded, "In regard to the cuts that are occurring, a number of those programs are for pieces of work that have been completed. Having said that, the administration is committed to making the progress we need in Hanford and the other areas that are funded there to do the cleanup we need to do."
In statements reported by the Spokesman-Review newspaper in Spokane, Republican Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers and Doc Hastings also expressed their concern about a potential cut in spending levels. In a release, Hastings said, “Any way you slice it, cleanup would undoubtedly be impacted by a cut of this magnitude to the Richland Operations Office. Today is just the beginning of the process and in the weeks and months ahead, I will work to secure appropriate funding for the Richland Operations Office and the Office of River Protection."