The Department of Energy is weighing deep program cuts and approximately 56 percent of its staff is considered “essential,” according to an internal document viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News.
The document prepared by DOE officials last month says roughly 9,000 positions are essential, meaning they are excluded from large-scale reductions in force. The plan doesn’t say that all nonessential positions would be eliminated, but signals workers in those positions would not be protected from staffing cuts. The nonessential positions stretch across the department, including in the National Nuclear Security Administration overseeing the nation’s nuclear weapons, according to the document.
In the Office of Under Secretary for Science and Innovation, which houses the department’s renewable, fossil, science and electricity offices, about 45 percent of positions are designated as essential, DOE said. There are approximately 16,000 current DOE employees, including staff on administrative leave, the memo says. When vacant positions are included, the number is approximately 17,500.
It’s unclear if the plan is backed by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, whether the numbers are in flux, or how much the numbers mirror what was in place before Trump took office.
One person familiar with DOE’s operations who was granted anonymity said the document has been viewed by Office of Personnel Management officials. A Trump order in February requested all agencies to develop reorganization plans by March 13.
The plan also designates certain offices as essential, including the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security and Emergency Response; Office of Environmental Management; Office of Environmental, Health, Safety and Security; Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence; NNSA; and power authorities such as the Bonneville Power Administration.
Offices listed as essential overall also could have some positions that are subject to cuts. The NNSA, for example, has more than 500 positions that are not essential under the plan.
The memo doesn’t list employee names and refers to branches of DOE, rather than classifying positions office by office.
DOE said it may turn to job cuts to meet administration objectives and is weighing using performance reviews to reduce the workforce. It plans to continue a hiring freeze, according to the document.
The plan emerges as multiple lists are circulating at the agency and on Capitol Hill suggesting that renewable, carbon capture, grid and efficiency programs are potentially on DOE’s chopping block.
Another document circulating within DOE that was viewed by POLITICO’s E&E News states that roughly $9 billion could be rescoped or terminated from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which oversees several large projects, including a plan to build seven hydrogen hubs around the country.
That document recommends calling for the president’s budget request to shut the office down, although it also suggests continuing funding for some programs, including $3 billion for hydrogen hubs and $3.5 billion for advanced reactors.
At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado on Thursday, Wright told reporters the agency is “midstream” in its process of examining staffing levels, adding it would be “downright irresponsible” not to look at the issue.
“Every part of the government we have to look at, how can we make government services as good as they are today or better, but at lower cost,” Wright said. “Like I did in my business, we have to look carefully at the business of where we are today, and how can we deliver services at least as good as we are today, at lower cost?”
DOE in a statement said it is engaging in a “department-wide review of its organizational structures to ensure operations are best positioned to accomplish the DOE mission and align with the Trump administration’s priorities. The American people provided President Trump with a mandate to govern and to unleash affordable, abundant, and secure American energy. No final decisions have been made and multiple plans are still being considered.”
The circulating memos have prompted pushback on Capitol Hill from Democrats in both chambers.
“Arbitrary staffing cuts across the Department of Energy would recklessly jeopardize its ability to fulfill its mission to ensure America’s security and prosperity by addressing our energy, environmental, and nuclear security challenges. Gutting the Department will raise energy costs for American families and businesses, slow innovation, and put our national and global security at risk,” said Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, in a statement Friday.
Reporters Garrett Downs and Kelsey Brugger contributed.
