Energy Secretary Perry clarifies remarks on interim storage

By Yvonne Gonzalez

Wednesday, June 21, 2017 | 3:54 p.m.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry has clarified his remarks on interim storage after Gov. Brian Sandoval said that he was blindsided by a suggestion that the Nevada Test Site could be suitable for interim storage.

Before the Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee, Perry said Wednesday that no decision has been made on when or where waste will be stored.

“I think it is appropriate to say, there are no plans for interim storage at this particular time for interim storage in New Mexico, Nevada or Texas or any other site,” he said. “Any such plans would obviously require coordination ... with the federal, state and local officials.”

His comments came after he spoke to lawmakers Tuesday during a House Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee budget hearing. Perry mentioned the Western Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, the Waste Control Specialists company in Texas and the Nevada Test Site in Nevada’s Nye County.

Perry said Wednesday that the waste “dilemma” is one that the federal government has a responsibility to address.

“Yesterday what I was doing was attempting to convey my interest in working with Congress to bring resolution to this issue, and that’s all I was saying,” Perry said. “My point is, let’s work together and find solutions to the challenges that vex us and have been in front of us for a while and I’m eternally optimistic, sir, that we can do that in a way that serves this great country.”

Sandoval said in a statement Wednesday that he appreciated that Perry clarified the comments he made Tuesday. He pointed to legislation sponsored by Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., that provides for a consent-based system for determining storage sites for nuclear waste.

Nevada’s representatives in Congress are pushing the House version of that bill.

“I encourage the secretary to pursue consent-based interim storage solutions,” Sandoval said.