Oak Ridge Today

Asbestos removal in final stage at Federal Building

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Joe L Evins Federal Fuilding

A four-month project to remove asbestos-containing insulation from the Joe L. Evins Federal Building in Oak Ridge is wrapping up, and federal employees and contractors could move back in next month.

Work crews are wrapping up a four-month project to clean up and remove asbestos-containing insulation from the Joe L. Evins Federal Building in Oak Ridge, and displaced federal workers and contractors could move back into the building next month, a spokeswoman said Friday.

“We have reached the final stage of the project and expect to have the building available to tenants in May,” said Saudia Muwwakkil, regional public affairs officer for the U.S. General Services Administration, which owns the building.

There have been about 350 workers in the five-story building, which is home to the U.S. Department of Energy Oak Ridge Office as well as a district office for U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann. The workers include roughly 200 federal employees and close to 150 contractors. [Read more…]

Rep. Fleischmann’s staff members visit ORNL

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Rep. Fleischmann Staff Visit ORNL

Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thom Mason, center, presents a lab overview in the renovated EVEREST Visualization Theater to congressional staff members Alek Vey, second from left, and Tyler Threadgill, second from right. Also pictured are deputy lab director Jeff Smith, left, and U.S. Department of Energy official Johnny Moore. (Photo courtesy of ORNL)

 

U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann’s new legislative director, Alek Vey, and his new communications director, Tyler Threadgill, visited Oak Ridge National Laboratory Thursday.

They were joined by Helen Hardin, Fleischmann’s senior policy adviser.

While at the lab, Vey and Threadgill met with lab leadership and toured the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility and newly renovated EVEREST Visualization Theater, Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, High Flux Isotope Reactor, Spallation Neutron Source, Graphite Reactor, and the Building Technologies Research and Integration Center Building Equipment Lab, a statement said.

Fleischmann, Hastings support cleanup work, national park

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Fleischmann and Hastings

Congressmen Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn., and Doc Hastings, R-Wash., talk to the media before a Friday tour of the three local U.S. Department of Energy sites.

During a brief press conference this morning, Congressmen Chuck Fleischmann and Doc Hastings said they are advocating for more money for cleanup work at U.S. Department of Energy sites and a Manhattan Project National Historical Park that could include Oak Ridge and Hanford.

The Manhattan Project was a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II.

“There’s so much history that was involved in what we did,” said Hastings, a Washington Republican and chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources.

[Read more…]

U.S. Rep. Fleischmann opposes gay marriage

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The day after President Barack Obama announced his support for gay marriage, U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann announced his opposition.

“I could not disagree more with the president’s support for gay marriage,” said Fleischmann, a Tennessee Republican whose district includes Oak Ridge. “Marriage is the union of one man and one woman, period. This principle has been the bedrock of our Judeo-Christian family values, and stable families remain the key to a healthy society.”

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