Tri-City Local Business Association: Local businesses support the Hanford cleanup mission and community interests

Members of the Tri-Cities Local Business Association (TCLBA) are local businesses and labor organizations that support the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Hanford cleanup mission, providing high-value scientific, engineering, technical, and skilled labor services.

Many of our members have leveraged their Hanford experience to grow and diversify, and now serve clients nationally and internationally. With expanded capabilities and market reach, they have magnified their contributions to our vibrant local economy with good-paying jobs.

The importance of local business support for the Hanford cleanup mission cannot be overstated. In recent years, Washington businesses have provided services to Hanford contractors valued at approximately $100 million annually, and much of that value was delivered by local small businesses. DOE sets ambitious annual targets for small business subcontracting by its prime contractors, and the contractors regularly meet or exceed those targets. This is a win-win situation that benefits the cleanup mission and our local economy.

For 2021, DOE and the contractors have further challenged themselves to increase their subcontracting of “meaningful” work to small businesses, something TCLBA and others have advocated for several years. This is a work in progress that we anticipate will result in more growth opportunities for local businesses.

Several of TCLBA’s member companies employ former contractor employees from Hanford and other DOE sites. These are senior professionals with a broad base of experience that is valuable for a range of work — for example, the advanced reactor project being initiated by Energy Northwest and X-Energy in the Tri Cities. Just as our members are an asset to the site mission, Hanford is an asset for us.

The local business community benefits from the evolving Hanford workforce, and provides an array of value to the workforce population that is senior and considering retirement, and to the future workforce many of whom are early in their careers, or yet to graduate. TCLBA supports and participates in local career-connected learning initiatives, including the new workforce portal. Our members provide internships, apprenticeships and entry-level opportunities for early career employees.

All of this is good for business and good for our community. Just look around and see how our community is growing by leaps and bounds. TCLBA’s community strategy is to increase our involvement and impact on collaborative efforts already underway. The Tri-Cities is a dynamic region for renewable and other carbon-free energy production, and we support local efforts to develop clean energy production and storage technologies and to advance energy conservation and grid modernization.

We are active participants in TRIDEC’s Mid-Columbia Energy Initiative, and we support Washington State’s Clean Energy Transformation Act. The Advanced Reactor Demonstration Project, sited at Energy Northwest, will be another win-win for the community and the Northwest with clean base-load energy. TCLBA is eager to help members offer their expertise for design, fabrication, construction and operation.

The Tri-Cities’ economy is prosperous and growing from the region’s foundation in energy, agriculture and environmental cleanup. Community-wide collaboration has been a key contributing force for growth, through strong relationships between businesses, government and local leaders.

TCLBA is proud to participate in progress-focused activities that benefit local businesses and advance the future of our community.

This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 12:06 AM with the headline "Tri-City Local Business Association: Local businesses support the Hanford cleanup mission and community interests."