Response swift to Piketon plant layoff warning

PIKETON – Figuring out an effective community response to the news that a federal funding shortfall could cost 325 to 500 jobs at the former Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon will be the focus of a Wednesday town hall meeting in Waverly.

The United Steel Workers Local 689 on Friday announced plans for the 6 p.m. Wednesday gathering at the Pike County Government Center, 230 Waverly Plaza, just two days after Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification notices were sent out to those involved with decontamination and decommissioning work at the former Cold War-era enrichment facility.

The notices, required by law when there is a potential for layoffs of at least 500 employees or 33 percent of the total workforce of a large employer, indicate layoffs could begin as early as late October if the funding situation remains unchanged.

The situation arose from an anticipated federal funding gap for the work of anywhere between $55 million and $80 million, according to lead site contractor Fluor-BWXT, between what would be needed to continue work in 2016 at existing levels and what would actually be available.

The shortfall would come from a combination of reductions in federal budget appropriations and a reduction in the amount of uranium inventory from the site permitted by the Department of Energy to be sold on the open market to help fund the project.

A similar situation existed during the last quarter of 2014 when hundreds of layoffs appeared imminent until a last-minute congressional action in mid-December made up enough of the funding gap to stave off job reductions.

Reaction to the latest news from Ohio’s congressional delegation, which has actively lobbied for support of continued project funding, was swift. On Thursday, Sen. Rob Portman joined Reps. Brad Wenstrup, Steve Stivers and Bill Johnson in sending a letter to Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Office of Management and Budget Director Shaun Donovan accusing the DOE of undermining efforts of Congress to keep the cleanup work at the site on track.

“We had hoped that by partnering with you and the Administration on a sustained levelized program, the uncertainty experienced by the Piketon community these last few years would not be repeated,” the letter states. “However, the continued budget cuts and the recent Secretarial Determination reducing uranium tranfers for clean-up services at Piketon makes the partnership increasingly difficult.”

The letter also speaks to the frustration experienced by both the Piketon community and the entire four-county area from which the majority of the plant’s workforce comes and calls on Moniz and Donovan to use a budget transfer authority granted by Congress to bring funding to a point that preserves jobs at the site.

“Cleaning up the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant is an economic and environmental necessity,” said Wenstrup, whose district includes, among other areas, Pike and the southern half of Ross County. “Unfortunately, the Department of Energy has once again put jobs at risk and jeopardized the project by announcing plans to lay off Ohio workers, despite having the tools and ability to sustain full funding.”

Sen. Sherrod Brown, meanwhile, called Thursday on the leadership of the Senate Appropriations Committee and members of the Obama administration to restore full funding, sending a letter to Donovan and Moniz, as well as one to Appropriations Committee chair Thad Cochran and ranking member Barbara Mikulski.

In the letters, he calls for either allocation of $275 million through congressional appropriations or for approval of a budget anomaly from the Office of Management and Budget that would permit funding about the amount appropriated to keep work on track.

The Pike County Chamber of Commerce is making a form letter available addressed to Sen. Mitch McConnell that its members can sign and return for mailing. In the letter, it says the annual budget wrangling has kept the community “in a constant state of unrest” and that such a large-scale layoff would “delay the cleanup and cripple the economy.”

The letter also calls on the federal government to keep its promise to a community that supported U.S. nuclear efforts for more than 60 years.

During Wednesday’s town hall, plans for a coordinated community response will be discussed. One of the initial ideas floated after the news broke was the possibility of a caravan traveling to Washington D.C. to make the area’s case.