By Mark Waite

Nye County will receive $3.8 million in Payment Equal to Taxes from the U.S. Department of Energy, a lucrative source of county revenue that had all but disappeared when President Obama announced he would zero out funding for Yucca Mountain in January 2010.

A letter from Peter Lyons, DOE assistant secretary for nuclear energy, said the payment is according to an agreement with Nye County in which DOE agrees to pay the county 3 percent of total funds appropriated for nuclear waste disposal up to $300 million, an agreement which doesn’t expire until June 30, 2013. The DOE also made reference to Section 116 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which sets up the formula for payments.

Congress included funding for nuclear waste in a series of continuing resolutions that ended April 15, 2011. No funds were appropriated for nuclear waste activities after that.

Nye County Commissioner Gary Hollis, who was reappointed the commission liaison on nuclear waste Tuesday, thanked Darrell Lacy, the director of the Nye County Nuclear Waste Project Office, county geoscientists Levi Kryder and consultant Cash Jaszczak for writing up the paperwork. He also thanked the county’s federal lobbyist, the Washington, D.C. law firm of Akerman Senterfitt, which receives $12,500 per month for its work on behalf of the county.

“I know there were a lot of questions about Akerman Senterfitt and what they do for the county, well here’s one, $3.8 million and change we’re getting back. I can’t say enough about Darrell Lacy and his staff working with me. It took over a year to get this done but it came out in our favor,” Hollis said.

Nye County Commission Chairman Lorinda Wichman said Hollis deserved part of the credit. Commissioner Butch Borasky said Hollis was very persistent on the issue, and he also credited Akerman Senterfitt.

“They’re the ones who can go to the legislators and lobby them and get them to listen. It’s a lot harder for us to do it from here in Nye County,” Borasky said. “That money we pay them every month is well worth it when they can deal with items like this.”

Nye County District Attorney Brian Kunzi said he hasn’t received the agreement, but the DOE has already signed it.

The PETT program has been a cash cow for Nye County, unrestricted funds intended to account for the land value of Yucca Mountain if it were taxed, written into the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

Nye County and the DOE agreed to a five-year settlement in 1999 that allowed PETT payments to increase from $8 million to $10 million over three years. After that, a five-year agreement was approved that increased payments from $10.25 million in fiscal year 2003-04 to $11.25 million, the peak, by FY 2007-08. After that, PETT payments dropped to $8.9 million in 2008-09.

Congressional appropriations for the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management peaked in fiscal year 2004 at $576.6 million. The appropriations dropped to $445 million by FY 2007 and $386 million in 2008.

A letter signed by Hollis on Feb. 28, 2011, asked U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu to make a PETT payment to Nye County, after the DOE agreed to pay the 10 counties surrounding Yucca Mountain nuclear waste oversight funds in a continuing resolution to fund Congress through April 2011.

The most recent agreement over PETT was approved in March 2009. It provided the county the 3 percent of funds appropriated for nuclear waste disposal up to $300 million, and 2.5 percent of the appropriations above that.