President Bush has nominated James A. Rispoli, who heads the Dept. of Energy's engineering and construction management office, to lead the department's massive environmental cleanup program. Rispoli's nomination to be DOE's assistant secretary for environmental management, announced May 17, now goes before the Senate.
Rispoli has a background in the engineering industry. Before coming to DOE, he was a Dames & Moore vice president and managing principal for the firm's Pacific Ocean area operations.

If confirmed to the post, Rispoli would be in charge of one of the largest environmental programs in the federal government, the task of cleaning up the collection of more than 100 sites that had been involved in producing nuclear weapons. This year, Congress has appropriated $6.8 billion for the DOE cleanup program.

According to the White House announcement, Rispoli is a Navy and Air Force veteran and has a bachelor's degree from Manhattan College as well as master's degrees from the University of New Hampshire and Central Michigan University.

If the Senate approves Rispoli, he would succeed Jessie Roberson, who resigned last July as assistant secretary. On DOE's organization chart, Rispoli's current engineering and construction position isn't part of the environmental management unit.