Congressional delegation sends letter on PNNL National Lab to Trump

A Washington congressional delegation recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump, outlining the national benefits of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and pledging to work with the Trump administration to advance policies to support the lab.

The delegation emphasized in the letter the lab’s contributions to solving challenges in the science, energy, national security and environmental fields, as well as PNNL’s role in the state of Washington and the
Pacific Northwest region.

The letter highlighted some of the lab’s accomplishments and capabilities, including improvements to the electric grid, nuclear nonproliferation work, nuclear detection capability and the Marine Sciences Laboratory. The Marine Sciences Laboratory is the Department of Energy’s only marine research lab and has made significant contributions to ocean energy development, research on marine resources and protecting coastal environments from security threats.

“We look forward to working with you and the Department of Energy to advance policies that will continue to support the lab’s integral scientific innovation and technology development activities, as well as the many other vital contributions PNNL has made to the frontiers of science and engineering in service to our country and the world,” the letter said.

The bipartisan letter was sent to President Trump by U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA), as well as U.S. Reps. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), Adam Smith (D-WA), Rick Larsen (D-WA), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Dave Reichert (R-WA), Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), Denny Heck (D-WA), Derek Kilmer (D-WA) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA).