### ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP

#### 

#### RESPONSIBLE PROGRAM MANAGER

Assistant Secretary

Environmental Management

**DESCRIPTION OF PROBLEM**

One of the Department's most ambitious and far-ranging missions is
dealing with the environmental legacy of the Cold War. As a result of
this era, the Department continues to address significant long-term
environmental restoration and waste management challenges at its
facilities. Even though these issues resulted from activities conducted
in a different atmosphere and under less stringent standards than today,
the Department is committed to complying with current Federal and state
laws and agreements. The Department manages some of the most technically
challenging and complex work of any environmental program in the world.
Due to the complexity and size of the challenge, constant management
attention must be given to a process of continually evaluating and
addressing the impacts of past operational practices, as well as
characterizing and minimizing possible impacts of present and future
activities.

**PRIOR YEAR ACCOMPLISHMENTS**

In FY 2001, the Office of Environmental Management (EM) was in disarray,
with little in the way of risk reduction actually occurring. The
Secretary of Energy directed that a review of the EM program be
undertaken. A programmatic review of the EM program and its management
systems, with the goal of quickly and markedly improving program
performance, resulted in *A Review of the Environmental Management
Program* in February 2002 (Top-to-Bottom Review report). The results of
the review made it clear that there was a systemic problem with the way
EM conducted its activities. The EM program's major emphasis had been on
managing risk rather than actually reducing risk to workers, the public
and the environment.

The Top-to-Bottom Review report recommendations were endorsed by the EM
program and aggressive steps were taken to implement an accelerated
cleanup strategy, with an emphasis on risk reduction and continuous
improvement in safety. As a result of the aggressive steps taken over
the past few years, the EM program, refined and fortified with new
management reforms (a revised budget structure, human capital
revitalization, improved acquisition strategy and stricter configuration
control), has been transformed from a program focused on managing risk
to a core mission-focused program that is accelerating risk reduction
and site closure in combination with improved safety performance.

+--------------------------------+--------+---------+-------+-------+
| #######                        | **Pro  |         |       |       |
|                                | jected |         |       |       |
|                                | Comp   |         |       |       |
|                                | letion |         |       |       |
|                                | Date** |         |       |       |
+--------------------------------+--------+---------+-------+-------+
| #######                        | **Prev | **      | **R   | **R   |
|                                | iously | Current | espon | espon |
| #####                          | Re     | P       | sible | sible |
| ## PLANNED CRITICAL MILESTONES | ported | lanned/ | Off   | In    |
|                                | Date** | Actual  | ice** | divid |
|                                |        | Date**  |       | ual** |
+--------------------------------+--------+---------+-------+-------+
| Implement resource-loaded      | 0      | FY 2008 | EM    | James |
| project baselines.             | 9/2005 |         |       | A.    |
|                                |        |         |       | Ri    |
|                                |        |         |       | spoli |
+--------------------------------+--------+---------+-------+-------+

**PROGRESS STATUS**

EM continues to make progress in cleaning up contaminated sites. In FY
2006, four sites achieved cleanup completion: the Rocky Flats Site in
Colorado, the Salmon Site in Mississippi, Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory -- Main site, and the Kansas City Plant in Missouri. In
addition, the Columbus and Fernald sites in Ohio are expected to be
completed by the end of the calendar year. The Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory in California, the Ashtabula and Miamisburg sites in
Ohio, and the Sandia National Laboratory in California, are all expected
to complete cleanup activities in FY 2007. Long-term activities within
the EM program include treating radioactive liquid waste into a stable
form; safely storing nuclear materials; disposing transuranic and
low-level waste; and decontaminating and decommissioning excess
facilities and remediating the surrounding environment.

While cleanup progress continues to be made, there have been some
setbacks. Several assumptions made as part of the accelerated cleanup
initiative have not materialized; new work scope from emerging cleanup
requirements have now been identified; and execution of some key
projects has not been adequate. In addition, at EM target funding
levels, the Department believes that there are major uncertainties
regarding its ability to comply with current requirements in its
environmental cleanup agreements and with other requirements. The target
levels were developed based on the now outdated accelerated site closure
strategy and assumptions. The Department is currently updating these
assumptions to reflect known changes in the regulatory and statutory
requirements, incorporate changes based on actual program performance
and to incorporate technological and acquisition strategies to meet the
Department's long-term environmental commitments. In addition, EM
continues to implement robust project management principles including
the refinement and validation of resource-loaded project baselines and
senior leadership monitoring of cost and schedule performance.

**PROPOSED CLOSURE DATE**

Completion is expected to extend to the out-years with the completion
date to be reassessed in FY 2008.