Update: DOE Lab Reorganization and Data Availability Regulations

DOE WEAPONS LABORATORIES:

After many hours of hearings and much negotiation, the Senate was able to come to agreement Wednesday on legislation to reform the management of the Department of Energy weapons program. On a vote of 96 to 1, with only Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) objecting, the Senate approved the Domenici-Kyl-Murkowski amendment to establish a semi-autonomous Agency for Nuclear Stewardship within the Department of Energy. Before doing so, senators agreed to an amendment by Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) to ensure that the Secretary of Energy allows other DOE programs, other agencies, and appropriate entities to use the capabilities of the weapons laboratories. This amendment to H.R. 1555, the Intelligence Authorization bill, was adopted by voice vote. Another successful Bingaman amendment clarified security regulations as they affect workers’ ability to communicate with government officials and the role of DOE field offices in working with the new undersecretary for nuclear stewardship. The legislation specifies that the Secretary of Energy sets overall departmental policies and supervises the new undersecretary. Other DOE officials would have to work through the Secretary or his/her deputy when interacting with the new undersecretary.

The Agency for Nuclear Stewardship would control Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, the Nevada test site, Missouri and Texas production and assembly plants, Oak Ridge and Savannah River nuclear materials facilities, the naval reactor program, and the DOE nuclear nonproliferation programs.

Many in the House are wary of this semi-autonomous approach, some supporting a completely independent agency, others calling for the program to be controlled as it now is, with changes in the management organizations. The 98 votes for a semi-autonomous agency will be potent in the negotiations between the House and Senate and Department of Energy.

RESEARCH DATA AVAILABILITY UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT:

The Office of Management and Budget has not yet released its proposed revisions spelling out how the Freedom of Information Act can be used to access federally-sponsored research data.

The attempt made by Congressman James Walsh (R-New York) and David Price (D-North Carolina) to block this revision for one year failed by a vote of 25-33 in the full House Appropriations Committee mark up of the Treasury-Postal appropriations bill for FY 2000.

The House Committee on Government Reform held a hearing last week on H.R. 88, a bill sponsored by the late George Brown that would repeal this legislation. Among those testifying were Rep. Rush Holt (D-New Jersey); NIH Director Harold Varmus, National Academy of Sciences President Bruce Alberts; former Director of the Office of Management and Budget James Miller; and University of Cincinnati law professor James O’Reilly. The hearing presented views on both sides; whether it leads to more than that is unknown. A discussion of this issue is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27, by the Senate Science and Technology Caucus.