SECRETARY-DESIGNATE FEDERICO PEÑA
CONFIRMATION TESTIMONY
BEFORE
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY & NATURAL RESOURCES
UNITED STATES SENATE
January 30, 1997
Mr. Chairman, Senator Bumpers, Members of the Committee. It is an
honor to come before you
today as President Clinton's nominee for Secretary of Energy. I want to
express my great
appreciation to the President for his confidence in me for this position.
I also pledge to you and the
members of this Committee that I will work closely and cooperatively with
you in addressing the
challenging issues that lie before us.
Mr. Chairman, as Secretary of Transportation I had the challenge of
shaping a unified mission for
ten quasi-independent agencies, while reducing our workforce by 10,000
people. I believe over
the last four years I have proven myself to be an effective manager of
this complex, multi
missioned Department. If I am honored by your confirmation, I look
forward to bringing my
management experience to DOE.
I would now like to focus on my four key priorities for the Department to
address some of our
Nation's most important needs:
(1)Enhancing our energy security and developing and deploying clean
energy;
(2)Ensuring a safe and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile and reducing
the global nuclear
danger;
(3)Cleaning up former nuclear weapons sites and finding a more effective
and timely path
forward for disposing of nuclear waste; and
(4)Leveraging science and technology to advance fundamental knowledge and
our country's
economic competitiveness with a stronger partnership with the private
sector.
These four needs present unparalleled opportunities and daunting
challenges that will greatly affect
the future of our Nation and indeed the world.
Energy
Each day, Americans depend on the benefits of energy, usually without
considering the role it
plays in our quality of life. But there have been three major oil
disruptions in the past 23 years,
each causing domestic and international turmoil. By 2010, U.S. oil
imports will grow to 60
percent of domestic consumption, and the Persian Gulf nations will
provide more than 70 percent
of the world's oil exports, surpassing their peak of 67 percent of global
oil imports in the embargo
year of 1974. This is unacceptable.
I believe we must have a credible energy strategy that meets our
commitment to be responsible
stewards of the environment and provides for our energy security. We
need a strategy that:
€increases domestic energy production through smarter regulation and
technological
advances to improve production economics and reduce environmental impacts
of both oil
and natural gas development;
€expands utilization of natural gas;
€diversifies our oil supply options in areas such as the Western
Hemisphere, Central Asia
and the Caspian Sea;
€reduces U.S. dependence on foreign oil by making us more efficient
in our use of all
energy;
€develops clean, renewable energy supplies, alternative
transportation fuels, and clean coal
technology;
€maintains our Strategic Petroleum Reserve at levels that respect
our international
responsibilities in order to blunt the impact of a future oil
shortage;
€maintains the safety of domestic and foreign nuclear power
reactors;
€addresses the challenge of global climate change; and
€enhances the competitiveness of the electric utility industry and
other sectors of the energy
industry.
I believe that we will not reverse our slide toward energy insecurity
without a set of strategies that
address both energy production and consumption and that are coupled with
specific targets and
timetables to measure performance.
National Security
For almost fifty years, our national security has relied on the deterrent
provided by nuclear
weapons. These weapons -- designed, built, and tested by the Department
of Energy and its
predecessor agencies -- helped win World War II and the Cold War, and
they remain a key
component of our national security. However, with the end of the Cold
War, we must reduce the
dangers of nuclear weapons worldwide. That is why President Clinton
signed the Comprehensive
Test Ban Treaty last year. As the President noted at the time, a
comprehensive ban on nuclear
testing "has been the longest sought and hardest fought arms control
treaty in history." With that
treaty the Department has a vitally important national security
responsibility -- to maintain the safety
and reliability of the nation's nuclear deterrent without testing. I
cannot imagine a more serious
national security responsibility. I will ensure that we have the
necessary capabilities and resources
to meet this challenge. At the same time, we must make substantial
progress in:
€ensuring the timely development of a new tritium source through our
dual-track production
strategy;
€disposing of excess nuclear weapons materials, particularly by
pursuing our dual-track
plutonium disposition strategy; and
€safely dismantling excess warheads pursuant to arms control
treaties.
I will actively guide DOE's other major national security responsibility:
nuclear nonproliferation.
We cannot allow nuclear weapons materials to fall into the hands of
terrorists or rogue states who
could use them in unthinkable ways. DOE's unique expertise in designing,
manufacturing and
protecting the U.S. arsenal allows it to play a lead role in controlling
the materials and technology
needed to build bombs. Already the Department has a number of successful
efforts underway to
control specialized materials and technology internationally, and I am
committed to demonstrating
concrete successes and achieving even greater progress.
Environmental Quality
Our third challenge is environmental cleanup and nuclear waste disposal.
Mr. Chairman and
Members, I understand the significant responsibility and challenge that
the Secretary of Energy has
in cleaning up the former nuclear weapons sites. My experience with
Rocky Flats, which
produced plutonium triggers for our nuclear arsenal, makes me sensitive
to the concerns of
millions of Americans who want prompt, safe, and efficient cleanup of
their communities. The
Department now is achieving "on the ground" results under a program that
is far more cost
effective than it was four years ago. This is being accomplished by
working cooperatively with the
states, local officials, and citizens and through improved contracting,
technology, development and
risk management. I am committed to having the Department complete
remedial actions at many
sites over the next decade.
The disposal of commercial nuclear spent fuel and defense high-level
waste is an equally daunting
problem. This effort requires that we answer with confidence the
fundamental scientific question
on the viability of Yucca Mountain for nuclear waste disposal. The
Government is on the verge of
answering this most basic question. I will work to further improve the
scientific underpinning of
our radioactive waste program. I will make every effort to ensure we are
in a position to determine
the viability of Yucca Mountain as a disposal site in 1998. I will, of
course, work cooperatively
with this Committee within the confines of the President's stated policy
on nuclear waste disposal.
Science and Technology
My next priority is to ensure that the United States maintains its
leadership in science and
technology. The Department's National Laboratories are the "crown
jewels" of U.S. scientific
leadership, conducting breakthrough research in, among other things, high
energy physics, cancer
genetics, global climate change, superconducting materials, accelerator
technologies and
supercomputing. The laboratories provide unique research opportunities
to more than 15,000
scientists working in hundreds of U.S. companies, universities and
federal laboratories. From
stockpile stewardship and clean energy to environmental cleanup and
nuclear waste disposal, all of
DOE's key programs depend on the laboratories' path-breaking science and
technology.
Over the last few years our laboratories have made great strides in
operating more efficiently. But I
believe we can do even better. I will continue to respond to the solid
advice offered by the Galvin
Commission, including reducing unnecessary regulation by DOE. In turn, I
believe each
laboratory should have world class status in their core competencies and
form closer partnerships
with the private sector.
Management
I will make the DOE work more productively and efficiently for the
American people. Secretary
O'Leary, after developing a new Strategic Plan, led an ambitious set of
initiatives to reengineer
processes, privatize major functions, overhaul the Department's
contracting practices and
accomplish the hard job of downsizing through its Strategic Alignment
Initiative. The result is a
Department that works smarter and cheaper. I will continue this effort
to make the Department a
leader in management efficiency and excellence.
I also believe we must ensure the health and safety of our workers and
the public and continue to
protect the environment. In recent years, much progress has been made in
identifying and
controlling the many hazards across the DOE complex. Continued progress
in managing the risks
associated with the Department's once and future missions will require
that everyone who works
for the Department -- managers and workers, federal staff, contractors
and
subcontractors -- be engaged in safety management. Protection of
environment, safety and health
is an attitude, a core value, a way of doing business. I recognize, and
I am committed to
providing, the leadership necessary to make excellence in safety
management a living reality at
DOE.
I believe we must continue progress in the Department's Openness
Initiative. Secretary O'Leary
made great progress in declassifying information, enhancing public
participation in the
Department's decisionmaking, while maintaining protection of information
and facilities that are
truly sensitive. These actions have earned the Department greater public
trust which is so
necessary for success in all of its missions. I will maintain this
commitment to openness.
Mr. Chairman, I will conclude by reaffirming my commitment to work with
you and your
colleagues in the Congress on a cooperative, straightforward, honest and
open basis. The work of
this Department is vital. I am enthusiastic about meeting the challenges
and seizing the
opportunities before us on behalf of the American people.
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