Today, the Office of Environmental Management awarded a financial assistance grant to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Office of Environmental Management
September 23, 2021
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Today, the Office of Environmental Management awarded a financial assistance grant to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) for oversight and monitoring of the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Decontamination and Decommissioning Project in Portsmouth, Ohio. With this award DOE is increasing the size of the grant by $3.5 million to incorporate new air monitoring strategies that will support OEPA’s and Ohio Department of Health’s efforts in providing co-located monitoring and independent verification of DOE’s open air demolition activities for total of $7.5 million.
The grant, originally awarded in 2016 assists the State of Ohio in recovering costs from activities that support a framework for successful cooperation between DOE, Ohio EPA and Ohio Department of Health in addressing environmental impacts associated with past and present activities at the site. The grant also assists the activities of the Ohio Department of Health and local response agencies.
The objectives of Ohio EPA’s oversight and monitoring under this grant include, but are not limited to, coordinating the activities within various Divisions of Ohio EPA, Ohio Department of Health, the Ohio Emergency Management Agency, and local response agencies. Ohio EPA is responsible for enforcing state/federal laws and regulations related to solid and hazardous waste management, water and air quality, and protection of human health and the environment.
This financial assistance grant will be administrated over a five budget year period beginning October 1, 2021 and ending September 30, 2026. This grant continues support previously provided under a previous DOE grant awarded in 2016 that is expiring on September 30, 2021.
The DOE Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office oversees environmental cleanup at the Portsmouth Site, which produced enriched uranium for national security and later commercial energy purposes until operations ceased in 2001. The comprehensive ongoing cleanup commenced in 1989.
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