Texas Congressman wants to revive nuclear waste issue

Just when Nevada's congressional delegation thought a nuclear waste storage bill was dead on arrival, a Texas congressman is talking of reviving the measure.

Rep. Joe Barton said he has hopes a bill will surface that would resolve issues between the government and the nuclear power industry.

Last week the Senate passed a bill designating Yucca Mountain for the nuclear waste dump. But the bill failed to pass by enough votes to override a promised presidential veto.

Speaking at a gathering of energy executives, Barton, a Republican and chairman of the House Energy and Power Subcommittee, said the decision whether to proceed will be made by the House leadership.

He said the "conventional wisdom" is that leaders will decide not to bother with the bill, but he planned to discuss possible action with them.

"You can take a strategy forward to pass a House bill and go forward, or you can let that slide until next year," Barton said. "I would rather get the bill done this year. But I'm also cognizant you don't want to go up against a brick wall if you can't get the votes to overcome a veto."

"It is an outrage they should be considering this legislation," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "Common sense should dictate that in light of a promised veto that we waste not one minute of our time with the issue."

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he had heard reports of an effort to move the bill and planned to address the issue with House Speaker Dennis Hastert.

The Senate last week voted 64-34 to proceed with plans targeting Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the site for a repository to store radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants. The vote was three short of what was needed to override a promised presidential veto.

The Energy Department has requested $437.5 million from Congress this year for continuing research at Yucca Mountain, a boost of $86 million over last year.

Ivan Itkin, director of the Energy Department's nuclear waste program, said the Yucca Mountain budget will grow during repository construction to almost $1.3 billion in fiscal 2005.

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