On June 21, 2018, the White House Office of Management and Budget issued a plan which proposes to consolidate some governmental agencies to reduce duplication and redundancy and to approve efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the Executive Branch. The plan, which faces bipartisan opposition in the House, would combine, among other agencies, the Interior and Agriculture Departments’ site cleanup efforts of over 80,000 abandoned mines, and place jurisdiction for their cleanup under the EPA’s Superfund authority. Of those 80,000 abandoned mines, it is estimated that approximately five percent of those could require a superfund level cleanup according to the White House plan.

The plan also proposes to combine the four Energy Department Offices of Nuclear Energy, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Fossil Energy and Electricity and the Advanced Projects Research Agency-Energy, into one new Office of Energy Innovation.

Similar consolidations were proposed under the Obama administration; however, they were also met with bipartisan opposition as Congress began to dig into the details of how to consolidate and arrange new agency responsibilities under the plan.

For more information, please contact Phillip Hoover.