|
PORTMAN ANNOUNCES
Energy Secretary Rick Perry Will Visit
Piketon Plant on July 31
WASHINGTON, D.C.
-U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) released the following statement announcing that Secretary of Energy Rick Perry will visit the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant and former American Centrifuge Project facility in Piketon on July 31st:
"I'm excited to announce that Secretary Perry has accepted my invitation to visit the cleanup site of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant to get a firsthand look at the cleanup work and to see the importance of the work to the local economy. Secretary Perry made a personal commitment to me that he will use his executive experience to better manage the work at Piketon to ensure the site can be cleaned up faster and reindustrialized for a new purpose that will benefit the Piketon economy.
"I'm also pleased to show Secretary Perry the factory where the American Centrifuge Project was located. Secretary Perry understands the importance of having a domestic enrichment capability and I'm excited to showcase the potential the site still has for future enrichment activity."
NOTE
: Earlier this year, Portman invited Secretary of Energy Rick Perry to come to Piketon to see firsthand the decontamination and decommissioning operations. During his confirmation hearing, Secretary Perry committed to Portman that he would visit the Portsmouth site. Portman has worked every year to secure the funding necessary to keep the cleanup project on track and to protect jobs. Previously, Portman grilled former Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz for his department's failure to use funding provided by Congress and therefore causing layoffs in Piketon. Portman repeatedly called on the Obama Administration to uphold their promises to the Piketon community to provide adequate funding to avoid layoffs.
###
|
