Funding for Piketon cleanup in jeopardy, Portman warns
The spending WASHINGTON — bill that Congress will vote on later this week includes $274 million to clean up an abandoned nuclear site in southeast Ohio, but an Ohio senator is concerned that the long-term prospects for cleaning up that plant might be in danger.
The former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, placed in cold shutdown in 2010, is being cleaned up and redeveloped for future use, but it’s slow going. According to Sen. Rob Portman’s office, the current cleanup efforts will be finished by 2044, though portions of the site can be turned over earlier than that.
Funding in recent years has been a combination of federal dollars and the sale of uranium.
Portman’s office said it received a surprise last week when the Trump administration said it planned to reduce the amount of uranium that the decommissioned nuclear site could sell.
That reduction — meant to protect the flagging price of uranium — could reduce the amount of money that can be used to clean up the site, according to Portman.
The timing, in particular, was worrisome to Portman, who said the administration announced the plan at around 3 p.m. on Friday — after congressional negotiators had already finalized their federal spending bill. Portman’s office contacted the clean-up contractor, who said austerity measures would be used to offset the reduction in money.
Portman, R-Ohio, also called Energy Secretary Rick Perry to complain, according to his office, saying the Energy Department should have told lawmakers about the plan to reduce the sale.
The Trump administration has not yet released its budget for the next fiscal year, which begins in October. Portman said he has urged Perry to request additional funds in his budget request.
The $274 million that Congress will vote on this week is for a $1 trillion spending bill paying for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. Congress has been paying for the government through short-term spending bills since October.
The former nuclear site, near Piketon, has struggled in recent years. Last year, then-Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz decided to discontinue a pilot project to enrich uranium at the former plant, shifting the resources instead to Oak Ridge, Tenn.
More than COLUMBUS — 1,000 students, teachers and school officials rallied outside the Statehouse on Tuesday to thank lawmakers for helping parents have a choice about where their children attend school.
There was much to celebrate. Gov. John Kasich and the Republican-controlled General Assembly is preparing to pass new state budget that increases per-pupil funding for charter schools and private schools. In addition, lawmakers are considering a bill to expand statewide a program offering taxfunded vouchers for private school tuition.
“I wanted the same opportunity of attending a school full of students like me (interested) in achieving our long-term goal of obtaining higher education,” said Victoria Langley, a sophomore at Cristo Rey Columbus High School, a Catholic college-prep academy.
Private-school tuition, she said, would not have been an option for her family without a school choice voucher to cover the cost.
Several lawmakers who spoke at the rally shot down criticism that school choice is an attack on traditional public schools. It’s about choice for parents and their children, they said.
“Some of our families feel they need another choice,” said Senate President Larry Obhoff, R-Medina.
House Education Chairman Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, said, “School choice is the civil rights issue of our day. This is the right for every parent and student to go to the school of their choice and make a decision in the best interest of their family and kids.”
About 120,000 students go to tax-funded, privately operated charter schools in Ohio and about 45,000 attend private schools through five state-paid voucher programs.
“We’re here to support parents as the primary educators of their children,” said Sister John Paul, principal of St. Michael, a Catholic school in Worthington.
“It’s important to us that parents have the freedom to choose what is best for their child and their education.”