Bill opening Test Site to nuclear waste clears early hurdle

WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee overwhelmingly voted Wednesday to advance legislation that would require Nevada to become the steward for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

The bill passed 25-0 as lawmakers opposed to the legislation exited before the vote was taken.

The bill would allow for the Department of Energy to assume on-site responsibility for high-level nuclear waste piling up at 72 commercial power plants across the country. By 2003, the waste would then be shipped to the Nevada Test Site for temporary storage while the Energy Department determines whether Yucca Mountain is a viable permanent repository. If Yucca is accepted, it would begin accepting waste no earlier than 2010.

Some of the legislation's key components were changed Tuesday by Republicans and Democrats in an apparent effort to move the bill quickly to the House floor for a vote. The House Commerce Committee is expected to vote on the bill soon.

"Today's event is good news for Americans," Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, D-Va., and chairman of the House Commerce Committee, said. "The bill will fix the problem by creating one solitary and safe storage site for our nation's high-level nuclear waste."

But the legislation faces an uphill battle before it becomes law. There does not appear to be enough Senate votes to override a veto threatened by President Clinton.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, and chairman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Power, described the bill as an important piece of legislation. And Barton said he hopes the Clinton administration will "look long and hard before they issue another veto threat."

But Department of Energy Secretary Bill Richardson sent Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a letter Wednesday informing her that he will advise the president to veto the legislation.

Six proposed changes to the original bill were adopted Wednesday, although some are expected to be altered before the full House finally votes on a final version.

The changes include:

Members of Nevada's congressional delegation expressed anger about Wednesday's vote, saying that politics took precedent over science.

"The policy of this Congress should be to put science above politics," Rep. Jim Gibbons, D-Nev., said. "The (bill) is a politically motivated nuclear leviathan, and its supporters continue to turn a blind eye toward the real problems of safety, the environment and the costs that will heavily burden every American taxpayer."

"We learned today that the House proponents of this bill can dress it up in a whole new outfit, but it still doesn't pass the veto test," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "It seems that the supporters of this bill ... are the only people left in Washington besides the million-dollar nuclear utilities that still think interim storage is a good idea."

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., described efforts by pro-dump lawmakers to make Nevada the nation's nuclear dumping ground a "futile ritual here in Congress."

"This legislation is not only an assault on the health and well being of hundreds of thousands of Nevadans, but on approximately 50 million other Americans who live less than a mile from recommended nuclear waste transportation routes," Bryan said.

Berkley described the vote as "disappointing, disgusting, but not unexpected."

"This is proof that the nuclear power industry will spend as much as they can and twist as many arms as they can to dump this garbage in Nevada," she said.

archive