O’Leary’s Contributions Remembered At Hanford

Departing Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary will be remembered at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation for creating a dialogue between the Energy Department and stakeholders here, acting Deputy Hanford Manager Lloyd Piper said Thursday.

O’Leary, who always said she intended to serve only four years in the job, submitted her resignation this week to President Clinton. She has been harshly criticized by Republicans for her travel expenses, including 16 foreign trips that cost taxpayers $4.2 million. The trips included trade missions in 1994 and 1995 to India, Pakistan, China and South Africa.

“She was very instrumental in the Hanford Summits … that started a regional dialogue that focused on progress,” Piper said. “Also, the openness she insisted upon was essential for us to develop a better understanding with regional stakeholders and regulators.”

Environmental activist Gerald Pollet, executive director of the Seattlebased Heart of America Northwest, said he was disappointed O’Leary was “being chased out of office.”

“She’s been a good secretary,” Pollet said.

“In fact, she’s been the best secretary of energy - period - and opened up the Department of Energy and Hanford to public accountability for the first time.”

Prospects to replace O’Leary are believed to include Rep. Bill Richardson, D-N.M.; retiring Sen. Bennett Johnston, D-La.; EPA director Carol Browner, and Tim Wirth, undersecretary of state for global affairs.

But Piper said the list of possibilities includes more than those four.