House appropriators offered a scathing rebuke of the troubled Waste Treatment Plant in the FY 2007 Energy and Water Appropriations bill last week, cutting funding for project by $90 million below the request and shifting oversight of the project from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "This thing is out of control," Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman David Hobson (R-Ohio) told reporters after a May 11 markup, describing Hanford as "awash in money." Overall, however, the bill provides aboost for the Dept. of Energy's cleanup program, providing $5.99 billion for the Office of Environmental Management, $160 million more than the request. According to Capitol Hill staff, most of the increased funds would go to restoring proposed cuts at other DOE cleanup sites, such as Savannah River, Oak Ridge and the Idaho National Laboratory.
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