The partial shutdown of the federal government is not affecting the U.S. Department of Energy’s cleanup program in Oak Ridge, a spokesperson said Friday.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides federal oversight of the work, and EPA is one of the federal departments and agencies affected by the partial government shutdown.
But on Friday, Ben Williams, spokesperson for the DOE Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management, said the shutdown is not affecting the office’s cleanup work at this time.
Unlike the EPA, the U.S. Department of Energy is not affected by the shutdown.
The partial shutdown of the federal government is also not currently affecting state oversight of the federal cleanup program in Oak Ridge, a state official said Thursday. While federal oversight of the cleanup work is provided by EPA, the state oversight is provided by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
The cleanup work includes projects at Oak Ridge sites that include East Tennessee Technology Park (the former K-25 site), Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex. The work includes, for example, demolishing old, unused buildings and removing unwanted hazardous materials. It is led by the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management.
The partial government shutdown is having an impact on some operations in Oak Ridge. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration building on South Illinois Avenue is closed due to the shutdown, and the National Park Service does not have staff or volunteers at its desk at the Children’s Museum of Oak Ridge and it is not offering its programs for the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Information International Associates, a business with corporate operations in Oak Ridge, said it has about a dozen employees affected by the shutdown. Those employees support the EPA in Washington, D.C., and Cincinnati, Ohio.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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