Federal shutdown does not affect state oversight of Oak Ridge cleanup program

Posted at 11:16 am January 18, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The partial shutdown of the federal government does not affect state oversight of the federal cleanup program in Oak Ridge, a state official said Thursday.

At this time, the federal shutdown has no impact on the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, said Kim Schofinski, TDEC deputy communications director. That means state oversight of the Oak Ridge cleanup program is not currently affected. The Oak Ridge sites include East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex.

The cleanup work—which includes, for example, demolishing old, unused buildings and removing unwanted hazardous materials—is led by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management. DOE is not one of the federal departments affected by the partial government shutdown.

While TDEC provides the state oversight of Oak Ridge cleanup work, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides the federal oversight. EPA is one of the federal agencies affected by the partial shutdown of the federal government. It wasn’t immediately clear Friday morning if the lack of a spending bill for the EPA has affected its work in Oak Ridge.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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