Bush administration holds up money to save uranium plant jobs

by Katherine Rizzo
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration said yesterday it has put on hold money promised to save jobs at a soon-to-be-closed uranium plant in Ohio.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham wants to review all the final-days actions of the previous administration, including orders Friday releasing the first installment of funds for the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon, Ohio, said spokesman Joe Davis.

"We will be working to ensure that the Piketon money is obligated properly," he said. "We're trying to work with Congress fast as we can to iron it out."

The General Accounting Office contends the Clinton administration illegally obligated $630 million to keep the Piketon plant in standby condition and build a demonstration project there for another type of enrichment technology.

"We're working expeditiously to iron out the technical side of this funding with Congress," Davis said. "President Bush has made a commitment to the Piketon work force and Governor Taft and will be honoring it."

During the presidential campaign, Bush promised to "aggressively explore how the work force and facilities at the Piketon site can continue to serve our national interest" once production ends in June.

Clinton's energy secretary, Bill Richardson, came up with a plan to pay for the centrifuge technology demonstration project and plant mothballing by declaring the moves related to the privatization of what used to be government-run uranium enrichment operations. There was $725 million left over in a special fund after privatization.

The GAO, however, said the privatization law was specific in declaring what were considered valid expenses for that fund, and the plan to help Piketon didn't qualify.

Richardson's plan had been enthusiastically embraced by Gov. Bob Taft, a Republican, Ohio's two senators, both Republicans, and Rep. Ted Strickland, the Democrat whose district includes the plant.

With the layoff of production workers now only months away, lawmakers said they understood why Abraham wanted answers to the questions raised by GAO, but they hoped the review wouldn't take too long.

"A prudent review of this program by the new secretary makes sense to me," Strickland said. "I hope whatever suspension time they have here for a review is of relatively short duration.

"I think time is of an essence here."

Scott Milburn, press secretary to Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, said "Obviously, a review of this type of work is to be expected."

"Senator Voinovich understands the need for a new administration to review last-minute moves like this," Milburn said. "He wants to see the administration do as much as it can in a realistic way and whatever the law allows."