Jennifer Drey

Jennifer Drey has written for the Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business off and on since 2002. During her career in journalism, she has also written for various publications in New York and Maryland, covering business, finance and community government. Jennifer is passionate about public health and children’s nutrition and enjoys volunteering with related organizations. She is a former Tri-Citian, now living in Savannah, Georgia.

Turbulent trade: State’s exports remain steady

June 12, 2019

Jennifer Drey

Washington’s agricultural exports heldsteady in 2018, demonstrating both strength and missed opportunity, as someindustries suffered under new trade policies while others made gains during theyear.Exports of Washington-produced agricultural goods totaled $6.7billion in 2018, the same amount exported in 2017. The flat growth followed aroughly 10 percent increase in exports of...

Looking for laborers: Guest worker program seeks funds

June 12, 2019

Jennifer Drey

With a growing number of Washington farm owners turning to theH-2A guest worker program to meet their labor needs, the cost of administeringand providing oversight of the program now exceeds the federal funding providedfor it.It’s a scenario that pushed the state Employment SecurityDepartment to turn to the Legislature this year...

Small businesses tap into government work

May 16, 2019

Jennifer Drey

The U.S. Department of Energy’s prime contractors awarded nearly$785 million in subcontracts in fiscal 2018, a figure representing more than 30percent of Hanford’s roughly $2.4 billion budget that year, according to arecent Department of Energy report.While most of the prime contractors have aggressive small businesssubcontracting goals written into their contracts,...

DOE explores methods to treat waste that could cut expenses

May 16, 2019

Jennifer Drey

Cleanup of the nuclear waste-contaminated Hanford site willcost another $323.2 billion to $677 billion and continue until at least 2078,according to the latest projections released by the U.S. Department of Energy.That’s why the Department of Energy is exploring newapproaches that could reduce both the timeline and costs associated with thecleanup...