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New U.S. Energy Secretary to Visit Tri-Cities this Week. He'll Be Busy by Annette Cary Tri-City Herald, December 2, 2025

Energy secretary to visit Snake River dam, Richland lab and Hanford site

Richland, Wash. -- President Trump's energy secretary plans his first official visit to the Hanford nuclear site, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Ice Harbor Dam since he was confirmed 10 months ago.

On Thursday, Energy Secretary Chris Wright will visit Ice Harbor Dam on the lower Snake River east of Pasco.

It is one of four Snake River dams that have been considered for breaching in Eastern Washington.

In June, Trump signed a memo intended to save the lower Snake River hydropower dams, reversing Biden administration actions that helped support efforts to remove the hydroelectric dams.

Trump revoked the Biden administration's 2023 "Restoring Healthy and Abundant Salmon, Steelhead and Other Native Fish Populations in the Columbia River Basin" memo, which Trump's administration said placed concerns about climate change above the nation's interests in reliable energy.

While the Biden memo did not call for tearing out the dams, supporters of the dams called it a roadmap to that end.

Trump's memo called for a withdrawal from actions that grew out of Biden's memo, including an agreement between the federal government, the states of Washington and Oregon, and Northwest tribes signed in February 2024.

His memo led to the return to federal court to litigate protection for endangered salmon in the Columbia and Snake river hydropower system.

Energy secretary's PNNL visit

Wright will visit Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland on Thursday afternoon as part of his ongoing tour of the nation's 17 national laboratories.

He will meet with scientists, lab leaders and tour research facilities on the PNNL campus.

A highlight of his PNNL visit is expected to be an announcement related to the Genesis Mission, a Trump initiative announced last week.

PNNL is expected to be a key player in the initiative's work to speed American science and innovation breakthroughs with the help of artificial intelligence.

By harnessing AI and advanced computing, the productivity and impact of American science and engineering could be doubled within a decade, according to DOE's announcement of the initiative.

PNNL has deep expertise in the design and application of AI, new advanced computing models and fundamental science, all of which will be needed in the Genesis Mission.

Energy secretary's Hanford site visit

On Friday, Wright will visit the 580-square-mile Hanford nuclear site adjacent to the Tri-Cities.

The nation is spending about $3 billion a year on environmental cleanup of the site used from World War II through the Cold War to produce nearly two-thirds of the plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.

The Hanford site has recently begun to turn radioactive waste, some stored for 80 years in leak-prone, underground tanks, into a stable glass form for disposal. It was the first use of the Hanford vitrification plant to treat radioactive waste for disposal since construction of the plant began in 2002.

Related Sites:
New U.S. Energy Secretary Gives His Take on Removing 4 Eastern WA Dams by Annette Cary, Tri-City Herald, 5/13/25