John Locher/Associated Press file
Participants in a 2015 congressional tour of Yucca Mountain enter the project’s south portal. The site is near the Nevada town of Mercury, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 | 5 p.m.
President Donald Trump is signaling he will not pursue further development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, breaking with his administration's past position in the decadeslong fight over the future of the site.
Trump tweeted Thursday afternoon that he was “confident” his administration could develop a solution to Yucca Mountain and said he was committed to studying “innovative approaches.”
“Nevada, I hear you on Yucca Mountain and my Administration will RESPECT you! Congress and previous Administrations have long failed to find lasting solutions — my Administration is committed to exploring innovative approaches — I’m confident we can get it done!,” he tweeted.
It’s unclear what approaches Trump was advocating.
The status of the Yucca Mountain repository is a contentious issue in the Silver State, which Trump lost to Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by around 2 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election. Essentially all of the Democratic candidates running for president this year have also come out against further development of Yucca Mountain.
Congress declared the site as the nation’s only permanent nuclear waste repository in 1983, but in 2010 President Barack Obama directed the Department of Energy to discontinue its application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to construct a repository at Yucca Mountain. Obama, in his 2011 federal budget, eliminated funding for development of the Yucca Mountain facility. Development was frozen and all that now sits at the site is a miles-deep hole.
Trump has requested money for restarting the licensing process for the repository since he became president in 2017, including in the 2019 federal budget. He’s received pushback from Nevada state and federal politicians for doing so, and the state’s delegation to Washington has managed to keep any further development on the site tied up in Congress.
Nevada lawmakers react on social media
Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., whose vast district includes Yucca Mountain, tweeted that he hoped the president’s commitment to not developing the repository holds.
“The people of Nevada have made themselves clear: We do not want our state to be the dumping ground for the nation’s nuclear waste,” Horsford tweeted. “My constituents will not be ignored and my fight for their safety will continue.”
Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., whose district includes much of Las Vegas proper and the Strip, took to Twitter as well, calling Trump’s decision a victory for the Nevada delegation.
“They say if you can’t beat them, join them,” Titus tweeted. “President Trump tried to shove nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain down our throats for three years. We beat him badly and he knows it.”
Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., whose district contains much of Henderson, took a skeptical tone toward Trump’s declaration. Lee drew a link between the election year and Trump's prospects for victory in Nevada.
“When you ran in 2016, you said you opposed Yucca. Then, once elected, you wanted to fund it,” she said. “Now, election season is here and you’re against Yucca again. Please don’t play political games with Nevadans’ health and future. If you're sincere about alternatives, I'm all ears.”
Rep. Mark Amodei, the lone Rebublican in the Nevada congressional delegation and whose district is in Northern Nevada, sent out a message of support to the president.
“Pleased to see the administration willing to come to the table and offer solutions on this issue,” Amodei tweeted. “Big thanks to the president, Department of Energy and White House officials for making a point to be communicative prior to this announcement and I look forward to working together.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., has been arguably the most visible member of the federal Nevada delegation pushing back on plans out of Washington to license Yucca Mountain. A member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Cortez Masto has argued against both former Energy Secretary Rick Perry and his successor, Dan Brouillette, on the topic.
On Twitter, Cortez Masto said she was looking forward to working with Trump on the issue and ensuring no money was budgeted for the site.
Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev. said that she would continue to pressure any presidential administration not to support Yucca.
“While I am relieved to hear that President Trump has heard the voices of Nevadans across the state who have long opposed Yucca Mountain and is not planning to include it in his budget this year — unlike previous years — the work continues,” Rosen tweeted.
