Hearing of the House Interior Subcommittee of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee - Examining the Department of Energy's Excess Uranium Management Plan

Hearing

Good morning and welcome to today's hearing of the
Subcommittee on Interior of the Oversight and Government Reform
Committee.

Our purpose today is to examine the Department of Energy's
management of the U.S. excess uranium inventories. This is
uranium, of varying grades, owned by the Federal Government that
has been declared surplus to the national security needs of the
United States. This uranium has significant value. Selling it
generates revenue for the Federal Government and displaces
uranium produced by private industry in the marketplace.

The Department of Energy's management of this uranium has
prompted questions by the domestic uranium industry as well as
the Government Accountability Office, a non-partisan agency that
investigates how the Federal Government spends taxpayer dollars.

The GAO found that the Department of Energy failed to
consistently value uranium that transferred to third parties in
exchange for other services. The GAO found that other transfers
violated the miscellaneous receipts statute which requires
government officials who receive money on the government's
behalf to deposit those funds with the Treasury, except where
otherwise provided by law.

By not depositing an amount equal to the value of the
uranium into the Treasury, DOE has inappropriately circumvented
the power of the purse granted to Congress under the
Constitution.

Further, the GAO found that the Department of Energy's
studies to assess the market impact of proposed uranium
transfers is required by the USEC Privatization Act of 1996
failed to show quality assurance guidance to provide detail
about the data, methodology and assumptions made in studies and
also had other shortcomings.

This raised questions about the validity of the conclusion
that the proposed transfers would have no adverse material
impact on domestic uranium industries. The domestic uranium
industry plays an important role in ensuring America is not
completely dependent on foreign sources of energy, particularly
in the area of uranium where we actually import about 90 percent
of the uranium that we use here, completely unnecessary to do
so.

While I note that the DOE is in the process of revising its
procedures to determine the market impact of proposed transfers
of excess uranium, it is important to discuss previous problems
to ensure they are not repeated.

Today, we will hear from the GAO to discuss their reports.
We will also hear from the Department of Energy to learn more
about their management of excess uranium and their response to
the GAO. Finally, we will hear from a representative of the
domestic uranium industry to discuss how these transfers have
affected the industry.

A representative of the Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, the DOE
contractor for cleanup at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant
in Piketon, Ohio, was invited to the hearing to discuss the
importance of the cleanup that some of the transfers have funded
but was unable to attend.

I look forward to hearing the panel discuss ways the excess
uranium management can be improved to eliminate legal concerns
and ensure the best value for the taxpayer while not disrupting
the domestic uranium industry and continue to meet DOE's
obligation to clean up its legacy sites.

With that, I would like to thank the witnesses in advance
for your testimony.

I now recognize Mrs. Lawrence, the Ranking Member of the
Subcommittee on the Interior, for her opening statement.

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