During a March 2014 tour, Sue Cange, center, gives Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, right, an update on the then-almost completed demolition of the K-25 Building, which was once used to enrich uranium in west Oak Ridge. (File photo)
The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday that Sue Cange will serve as the new manager for DOE’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, Congressman Chuck Fleischmann said.
“Sue has a strong background in environmental management and has done a great job as acting manager,” said Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican. “I look forward to continuing to work with her on nuclear cleanup in Oak Ridge.”
Fleischmann is chair of the Nuclear Cleanup Caucus, a group of lawmakers who have U.S. Department of Energy cleanup sites in their districts. Fleischmann’s district includes Oak Ridge.
Fleischmann succeeded Representative Doc Hastings, a Washington Republican who has retired.
Cange was named acting manager after the former manager, Mark Whitney, accepted a new job as a principal deputy assistant secretary for DOE’s Office of Environmental Management, or EM, in Washington, D.C., in May 2014.
Cange has served as the deputy manager since March 2011.
“Sue has a long and proven record of leadership,” said Whitney, who is now EM’s acting assistant secretary. “I’ve seen firsthand Sue’s ability to develop and accomplish ambitious cleanup strategies and foster results-driven relationships with a variety of stakeholders on complex issues.”
A DOE press release said the Oak Ridge Office of EM is responsible for environmental cleanup at the East Tennessee Technology Park, Y-12 National Security Complex, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and across the 33,500-acre Oak Ridge Reservation.
“Specifically, Cange will oversee environmental cleanup and stewardship, decontamination and decommissioning activities, waste processing and management, surveillance and maintenance programs, historic preservation efforts, and procurement and contract functions,” the DOE press release said.
Cange brings more than 30 years of experience to the position. She has served in leadership positions within DOE’s EM, Asset Utilization, and Nuclear Energy programs.
“In her time with EM, she was instrumental in developing a comprehensive strategic approach to cleaning up the Oak Ridge Reservation, as well as meeting other important milestones, such as helping forge a consensus historic preservation agreement that commemorates the history of the former K-25 site,” the release said.
Before she arrived in Oak Ridge, Sue worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response. There, she helped develop much of the policy and guidance used to govern today’s environmental cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, the release said.
“I am extremely honored to have been selected to serve as manager of the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management,” Cange said. “Our program has a long history of success, and I look forward to working with our talented workforce as we safely execute our cleanup mission on the Oak Ridge Reservation. We have important and challenging work ahead of us. We must complete cleanup of ETTP, and seamlessly transition to address cleanup challenges at Y-12 and ORNL. I look forward to strengthening our important relationships with our stakeholders, environmental regulators, and the greater Oak Ridge community as we progress towards our ultimate goal of a remediated and reindustrialized site.”
Cange has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental engineering from Vanderbilt University.
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