Federal lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington, passed a proposal to fund many U.S. Department of Energy projects out of committee on Wednesday, and the bill has bad news and good news for the thousands of Tri-City workers at the Hanford site and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

Findings by the U.S. Government Accountability Office warns that the U.S. Department of Energy may struggle to maintain safe operations at its cleanup sites around the country after losing hundreds of staff members and struggle to fill those roles. 

Officials with the U.S. Department of Energy and Bechtel National, the firm that designed the Waste Treatment Plant, lauded the accomplishment, saying it reflects momentum in the cleanup effort and progress toward the next chapter for the Hanford site. 

One of the leaders of the citizen-led group that advises the U.S. Department of Energy on the Hanford site cleanup recently warned it is on the cusp of being unable to function due to federal authorities’ delay in confirming its membership.

The Trump administration’s proposed cuts to Hanford cleanup funding is drawing backlash from Washington officials, unions and watchdog groups, despite DOE assurances that critical work will continue uninterrupted.

A new jobs website aggregates job postings from every prime Hanford site contractor and other energy-adjacent employers such as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Energy Northwest and Framatome.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy recently awarded a $1.4 million grant to WSU to develop a Reactor Ready Training Program to address workforce gaps in the nuclear industry.

More than a decade after a Hanford-focused trade school closed, Atomic Technical Institute is helping to fill a gap in training for environmental and nuclear safety jobs, creating a new pathway for workers to enter and advance in a field critical to the region’s workforce.

Only months after Congress funded cleanup at the Hanford site at its highest level ever, the White House is proposing to cut next year’s funding by about $400 million.

Each year, Hanford becomes less a question of science and safety and more a recurring budget battle. But the mission is neither optional nor temporary: It is a legal and moral obligation. If there were ever a time to move beyond stop-and-go funding and commit to finishing the job, it is now.