HOUSE LAWMAKERS SEEK ANSWERS FROM MONIZ ON RECENT YUCCA DECISIONS

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Environment and Economy Subcommittee Chairman John Shimkus (R-Ill.) are looking for answers concerning the Department of Energy’s willingness to implement the court’s recent decisions upholding the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in a letter sent to Secretary Ernest Moniz yesterday. In August, the court issued a writ of mandamus compelling the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to complete DOE’s license application for Yucca Mountain, while last month, the court ruled in favor of a petition to reduce the Nuclear Waste Fund fee to zero. “Despite DOE officials’ repeated commitments to this committee that DOE will follow the law, the impartial U.S. Court of Appeals’ conclusions indicate otherwise,” the congressmen wrote. Attached to the letter was a series of questions about DOE’s intentions to comply with the court’s decision. The topics of the questions included the timeline of actions needed to reduce the Nuclear Waste Fund fee to zero, the plan to complete the supplemental environmental impact statement as needed for the Yucca Mountain licensing, and clarifications to DOE’s monthly report to the committee concerning its use of Nuclear Waste Fund money.