The Bush administration is considering overhauling an Energy Department agency that sets health, safety and environmental standards, a prospect that upsets some Democratic lawmakers.
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration is considering overhauling an Energy Department agency that sets health, safety and environmental standards, a prospect that upsets some Democratic lawmakers.
Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said in an interview Monday that agency officials are considering merging the Office of Environment, Safety and Health into other DOE agencies.
The Office of Environment, Safety and Health is in charge of establishing health and safety rules for the roughly 130,000 people who work for the department and its contractors. The office also oversees health studies and medical screening programs and environmental impact statements related to agency activities.
Sell said the office has had varying levels of success over the years and that the proposed change would strengthen the agency and make it more efficient. He denied that the change would weaken health and safety standards.
"The safety of our employees and the safety of our facilities is something of paramount importance," Sell said.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the change could lessen the emphasis placed on those issues within the Energy Department.
"The functions that the office is set up to do could be given less priority if there's not an assistant secretary with responsibility for those functions," Bingaman said.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed that the change could have negative consequences.
"It is deeply concerning that the Department of Energy appears to be demoting its environment, safety and health programs by dividing the functions across as many as three or four other offices," Reid said.
Source: Associated Press
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