[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 54 (Thursday, April 26, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E661]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            JESSIE ROBERSON--A GOOD CHOICE FOR A CRUCIAL JOB

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 26, 2001

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, one of the most difficult and 
most important jobs in the Federal Government is overseeing the cleanup 
of the vast complex of Department of Energy sites where plutonium and 
other nuclear weapons components were produced or processed.
  Coloradans have a big stake in this because our State is home to a 
number of these sites, notably the Rocky flats site in the district I 
represent.
  So, I rise to applaud the reported decision of President Bush to 
nominate Ms. Jessie Roberson, to the important position of Assistant 
Secretary of Energy for Environmental Management. I think it is an 
excellent choice.
  I had the opportunity to work with Jessie when she headed the Rocky 
flats project in Colorado. I took an immediate liking to her--not just 
because of her professionalism and no-nonsense style, but also because 
she seemed to me to enjoy working hard, while maintaining a sense of 
good humor.
  Her tenure at Rocky flats was highly successful. She led agency 
efforts to keep the commitment, first made by Energy Secretary Federico 
Pena, to give a high priority to finishing full cleanup and closure of 
rocky flats on a much earlier timetable than had previously been 
proposed.
  I know I speak for all of my colleagues in the Colorado delegation in 
wishing her the very best as she undertakes important new 
responsibilities at the Department of Energy.
  A recent editorial by the Denver Post put it right by calling Jessie 
Roberson a ``top flight'' pick. For the information of our colleagues, 
I submit that editorial for the Record:

                 [From the Denver Post, April 3, 2001]

                       Roberson a Top-Flight Pick

       U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abrahams is getting some top-
     flight help in cleaning up the nation's Cold War legacy: 
     Jessie Roberson, who headed the Department of Energy's Rocky 
     Flats closure project in Colorado, is being nominated to 
     manage DOE's entire environmental cleanup program nationwide.
       Roberson will be the second Rocky Flats veteran to move 
     into a key DOE post. Earlier, the White House announced it 
     will nominate Robert Card for undersecretary of energy. Card 
     previously headed Kaiser-Hill, the contractor doing the 
     cleanup at Rocky Flats, the mothballed nuclear bomb trigger 
     factory north of Golden.
       The Rocky Flats crew led by Roberson and Card accomplished, 
     in just three years of teamwork, more progress toward cleanup 
     and closure than the facility had logged in the previous 
     decade.
       It's understandable that Abrahams would look toward the 
     people who brought DOE past success to move the entire 
     department toward its future goals.
       Roberson is an excellent choice. She is a nuclear engineer 
     who in 1996 was named the national Black Engineer of the Year 
     for Professional Achievement in Government. That same year, 
     she took the reins at Rocky Flats, where her personable but 
     no-nonsense style got the flagging project on track.
       In 1999, the Democratic Clinton administration tapped 
     Roberson for the Defense Nuclear Facilities Board, which 
     provides independent oversight at DOE nuclear sites on all 
     issues affecting health and safety.
       Now the Republican Bush Administration also has recognized 
     the value of her 17 years of nuclear safety experience.
       As assistant energy secretary for environmental management, 
     Roberson will oversee the cleanup of all the country's Cold 
     War atomic sites. Among them: Hanford, the toxic and 
     radioactive nightmare in eastern Washington. Savannah River, 
     the South Carolina reactor and processing plant that must be 
     modernized. And Rocky Flats, the one place DOE has scored 
     read progress toward cleanup.
       With Abrahams at the top and Card in the No. 2 slot, 
     Roberson will round out DOE's civilian management team.
       The department's environmental management job, in fact, is 
     one of the toughest positions in the federal government 
     today. There likely isn't a better person around to tackle 
     the task, however, that Jessie Roberson.

     

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