SENATE RECONFIRMS DAVID WRIGHT AS NRC CHAIR; SENATE COMMITTEE TO REVIEW NOMINATION OF EM ASSISTANT SECRETARY WEDNESDAY

Yesterday (July 29) the Senate reconfirmed Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chair David Wright to serve another term on the commission, by a 50-39 vote. Wright's reconfirmation is one in a nominations that the Senate hopes to cover before it joins the House in recess at the end of this week. 

Among those confirmations is that of nominee Assistant Secretary of Energy for the Office of Environmental Management, Timothy J Walsh. The Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources will meet tomorrow, on Wednesday, July 30, at 9:30am, to consider multiple pending nominations, including that of nominee Assistant Secretary. 

ECA had submitted a letter of support to the Senate Committee to voice support for Mr. Walsh's confirmation:

"ECA supports the nomination of Mr. Walsh, who would be the first political appointee in over six years to lead the EM program. ECA believes that EM should be led by a political appointee to enable the difficult decision-making that the program requires to evolve and best serve the U.S. taxpayers and the host communities. Congress and President set up the EM program to have a political leader to ensure that the leader of the program would go through the Senate confirmation process and be directly accountable to the President, the Secretary, and Congress. ... Mr. Walsh seems to have the executive experience necessary for this role, and a track record of cooperating and communicating with businesses and local governments who are the current and future hosts of our nation’s nuclear facilities. Communication and partnership with these entities is critical to the success of the EM mission, and ECA believes Mr. Walsh understands that creating relationships with local government leaders and industry to enable the advancement of that EM mission will assist to move the EM program for the short and long-term."

To read the full letter of support, click here.