By Steve Tetreault
WASHINGTON — Members of Congress continue to work at cross-purposes on nuclear waste, advancing bills with differing visions of whether highly radioactive materials should be stored at Yucca Mountain.
The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee approved a U.S. Department of Energy bill last Wednesday that contains $35 million to resume licensing and other work for a nuclear repository at the Nevada site in fiscal 2013 that begins Oct. 1.
Of the total, $5 million would be made available to Nye County, whose leaders have consented to host the project even as most senior elected officials in the state have rejected it.
U.S. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., chairman of the energy and water subcommittee that wrote the bill, said Yucca Mountain remains “the law of the land” until Congress changes the 1982 law that led the Nevada site to be selected.
Frelinghuysen and other supporters of the Yucca site, which the government spent more than 20 years and $10 billion to study, have challenged President Barack Obama’s cancellation of the project.
After the termination of funds, Nye County received $3.8 million from the DOE in January, after county officials pointed out Congress had allocated more funds for oversight of Yucca Mountain. Nye County is entitled to 3 percent of the funds for nuclear waste disposal, under a formula agreed to by Congress. Previously, Nye County had negotiated five-year agreements for Payment Equal to Taxes for Yucca Mountain, which peaked at $11.25 million in the 2007-08 fiscal year, before dropping to $8.9 million the following year.
The latest Republican-led action renews the annual Capitol Hill tug of war over Yucca Mountain that in recent years has tilted in favor of Obama and U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the project’s leading opponent in Congress.
Each year, frustrated Yucca Mountain supporters have inserted funding for Yucca Mountain into the annual Department of Energy spending bill only to have the Senate refuse to go along.
This year is shaping up to be no different.
In the Senate, a 2013 Department of Energy bill proposed by majority Democrats contains “nothing for Yucca,” according to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the energy and water subcommittee.
Instead, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a measure last Thursday that takes an initial step, though what Feinstein described as a small step, to distance U.S. nuclear waste policy from the Yucca site.
The department would be given the authority to get started on a search for one or more volunteer states or tribes to host above-ground storage for used nuclear fuel.
Feinstein said the nuclear waste authority in the bill is a “very limited” pilot program. It directs DOE to initiate a new search for locations where nuclear fuel now stored in pools and in casks at 78 sites around the country could be consolidated at one or more complexes.
Both bills are based on one of the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, formed by the Obama administration after it terminated the Yucca program. The commission recommended designating a nuclear waste repository in which the local community gives its consent. Nye County formally gave that consent in a letter to DOE Secretary Steven Chu, which preceded the House bill.
Under the Senate bill, the Department of Energy would need to begin soliciting sites within 120 days and then report to Congress on its progress, which Feinstein said could be in six to eight months.
Feinstein said the modest step may be the only nuclear waste bill able to pass Congress this election year. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is drafting a broad bill to restructure the government’s management of radioactive waste but he has not said when it might be ready.
“While we work on comprehensive legislation, I feel it is imperative to begin to address the issue of spent nuclear fuel,” Feinstein said. “Whether you’re for Yucca Mountain or against Yucca Mountain, we can’t continue to have a nuclear power component in this country and duck the issue of where to put the used nuclear fuel,” U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said during the Senate committee meeting.
The Nye County leaders continue to lie. They claim that they all support this dump in our back yard but yet the voices Shoshone Tribe Leaders continue to be igrnored. The Shoshone Tribe wishes to be respected, why do our “Nye County” leaders ignore that.
To claim that there will be numerous jobs may be true, but they will not be for the blue collar workers. These jobs will go to poeple from other states or possibly other countries (outsourcing) who have science degrees. It will be these scientists and doctors who will maintain the dump ( which is what is in the initial plan) – not regular high school degreed people from Nye County.
The leaders of Nye County claim to want to help out the folks of Nevada – this is deviousnous at its best; unethical, downright dishonest. Most significantly, you are stampeding over the rights of the Indeginious People of Yucca Mountain. This is shameful – but then again, you do not know shame. You folks must want to desparetly see the 300 or more organizations who are against the site being built here. You really must like Martin Sheen.
Iceman,
You made two comments I would like to respond to:
First you claim that Nye County leaders ignore the Shoshone. So what, they ignore everybody ! You think you are being treated like a second class citizen because you are being ignored ? WRONG you are being treated just like everyone else. You get no sympathy from me.
Second, you are upset that folks with High School educations are not allowed to work with partially depleted highly enriched plutonium. It’s been many years since I attended High School but I can’t remember any classes that would prepare me for this. I did take wood shop and auto shop, but I think it takes more.
When will “We the People” understand that WE are the employers of the elected?
We need to terminate as in re-call or just not re-elect the persons who continue to ignore the wishes of the voters. Don’t just sit there; get out and vote in this next election and stop this madness.
YES….In the next election – everybody go to the polls and vote……Democratic!!! VBEG
Democratic? No thanks, I would rather have Yucca mountain and my freedoms intact.
Roger, I sincerely appreciate your response because it is a window into the soul of what’s wrong with many members of your party. No one has the right to trample over the rights of other people- much less falsely claim what is not theirs. If this act is what you call “freedom”, I’m ambarrassed for you and your party.
Yes, the Republicants have done such a good job so far. Please, continue to vote for those like our Assessor and our Treasurer. They are such shining examples of voting a straight ticket.
lsemma keeps on about the shoshone and yucca mountain, unfortunately she comes across with a very biased opinion and i hardly think she is a spokesperson for the tribe. Could the PVT come out with an article on what the shoshone think, want, or otherwise how the project would affect the tribe?
That’s an excellent idea Strykermt since you obviously do not care to do the research. Had you conducted the research to your dismay you will discover that the Shoshone are against the project for valid reasons. Why don’t you go find the letters that were presented in court and and post it for yourself.
Sorry PVT. If she doesn’t do it, would you? Thank you.
I don’t care to do the research, was rather hoping that you would provide links since it is the topic you consistantly bring up. BUt since you expect everyone to believe you just on your bitter word, I thought maybe the PVT could shed some insight.
Strykermt,
I was about to send you all the sites that abound -especially the one entitled “Sacredland.org but then realized you are the opitomy of complacency our country has been plagued with.
This is a topic that I did not bring up. It was brought up by our government and thankfully we were reminded of it today in this article.
Friction does create discomfort and serves to shake us out of our stupor – I honestly think that’s what you need.
Please, have the intellectual curiosity to look into something for yourself. Don’t rely on others to LEAD you to the information, those links may be one sided. Look into this yourself and be an informed citizen.
you may be correct that many jobs will be out sourced-only because our people don’t have the education to run such a project-however I have 2 family members that have been unemployed for 4 1/2 yrs that fit that catergory-so I know there are many unemployed that could go to work on this project-those w/that high level of a degree are in high demand as well as the 1st jobs that were cut in the down-turn because they are highly paid for their skills-
As far as the actual project-I’ve never had a strong opinion either way-I think it should be explored more & I say give it a try!
and once your 2 family members along with millions of laid off workers finally come to the realization that they will never have gainfull employment again, then maybe they will reach for their deer rifles and start hunting down the people who caused this financial crisis. Very soon our gov’t is going to turn on the people as every gov’t throughout history has when the country is in its death throes.
At what point does the country start coming apart from finally facing reality. Is “Occupy” the start of it? The powers-that-be will hold the system together until they have thoroughly cleaned out all of the middle class wealth.
THAT WHICH CANNOT BE PAID WILL NOT BE PAID
Rise up
and rise up again
until lambs become lions
This is the opposite of Not In My Backyard.
In this case they are saying, “PLEASE -Dump it in my backyard” as long as we get some GOVERNMENT money to spread around.
No values. Only greed.
It’s called rations of slavery.
You hit the nail on the head Mac. The reason our county commissioners are bucking the state and the majority of state residents boils down to money. They can’t stand the thought of not getting their grubby hands on the money, so they can expand the government. Why anybody in Nevada would risk the future well being of generations by allowing the state to be a nuclear dump is beyond me.
NO MORE YUCCA MOUNTAIN BS! I don’t want it. let it die already go dump it somewhere else. I don’t want my water and other things around me contaminated. Don’t care if they say its safe! Go dump it near their homes and see if they like it!