WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has dismissed a democratic commissioner for the federal agency that supervises nuclear security because he continues to do more control over independent regulatory authorities.
Christopher Hanson, a former chairman of the American nuclear regulatory committee, said in a statement on Monday that Trump has terminated his position as an NRC commissioner for no reason, “in contrast to existing legislation and long -term precedent with regard to the removal of independent agencies.”
The resignation of Hanson comes as Trump tries to eliminate the authority from the independent security agency, which has regulated the American nuclear industry for five decades. Trump signed executive orders in May that were intended to be the interior production of nuclear energy in the next 25 years, say a goal experts say that the United States is very unlikely. To speed up the development of nuclear energy, the orders grant the American Energy Secretary Authority to approve some advanced reactor designs and projects.
Spokesperson Anna Kelly of the White House told reporters that “all organizations are more effective when leaders rowing in the same direction” and that the Republican president has the right to remove employees within the executive power who exercises his executive authority.
Trump fired two of the three democratic commissioners at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, an independent federal agency that is responsible for maintaining the federal laws that prohibit discrimination in the workplace. Two national board members of the working relationships were dismissed in a similar step. Willie Phillips, a democratic member and former chairman of the Independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, resigned in April and told reporters that the White House asked him.
Trump also signed an executive order to give the White House direct control over independent federal supervisors such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission.
New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top democrat in the Huis Energy and Commerce Committee, called Hanson's illegale and another attempt by Trump to undermine independent agencies and consolidate power in the White House.
“Congress has explicitly established the NRC as an independent agency, isolated from the whims of a president, knowing that this was the only way to guarantee the health, safety and well -being of the American people,” Pallone said in a statement.
Senate Democrats also said that Trump exceeded his authority. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, Patty Murray and Martin Heinrich said in a joint statement that “Trump's lawlessness” the ability of the committee to ensure that nuclear power plants and nuclear materials are safe and free of political interference.
Hanson was appointed by Trump in 2020 as the committee. He was appointed chairman by President Joe Biden in January 2021 and served in that role to inauguration of Trump as a president. Trump selected David Wright, a Republican member of the committee, to serve as chairman. Hanson continued to serve as a commissioner at the NRC. His term of office would end in 2029.
The Wright period will be on 30 June. The White House did not say whether it will be reappointed.
Edwin Lyman, director of the safety of nuclear energy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, called Hanson a devoted official and a strong supporter of the NRC's Public Health and Safety Mission. Defeating Hanson is Trump's “newest shameful move to undermine independence and integrity” of the agency that protects the American home country against nuclear power plants, Lyman said in a statement.
The NRC confirmed that Hanson's service ended on Friday and brought the panel to two Democrats and two Republicans. In the past, the committee has functioned less than the required five supervisory directors and will continue to do so, according to the statement.
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McDermott reported from Providence, RI
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