INEEL considers laying off over 100

Between 100 and 200 Bechtel BWXT Idaho workers could lose their jobs this summer, and another wave of layoffs may come in the fall, the company said.

Associated Press The Spokesman Review

Managers have been meeting with employees for the past two weeks and should decide on the exact number of cuts later this month. The layoffs will probably take effect later this month or in early July.

In April, the Department of Energy announced it would divide the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory into two contracts — the Idaho Cleanup Project and the Idaho National Laboratory, dedicated to research.

"We’re in the process of identifying excess positions," said Rick Dale, spokesman for BBWI, which runs INEEL for the Department of Energy. "We are tailoring our work force to make sure we have people with the right skills to do the right job."

There have been rumblings about possible layoffs at the INEEL for months. The Energy Department’s decision in December to give BBWI authority to cut as many as 500 jobs without specific approval exacerbated that talk.

Members of Idaho’s congressional delegation reacted angrily to the news that more INEEL workers would lose their jobs.

In a written statement, Idaho Sen. Larry Craig said he’d asked the Energy Department a month ago to revoke BBWI’s authority to indiscriminately cut jobs since the department was going to restructure its operations in Idaho and re-bid the management contracts.

Craig said Energy Department officials on Thursday assured his office that additional justification was needed before the proposed layoffs were implemented, but Friday he learned that BBWI was going ahead with the cuts.

"I have been patient with the Department of Energy’s effort to restructure and make changes at the INEEL, but there are limits," Craig said in a prepared statement.

This is the latest in a string of layoffs at the INEEL over the last few years. Employment at the site has dropped from about 7,000 when BBWI took over in 1999 to about 5,200 today.

Workers who are laid off will be eligible for benefits through the Workers Transition Fund. The fund, totaling $2.5 million, is designated by the federal government for displaced INEEL workers.

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