A group of mostly Republican lawmakers wants to make it illegal to use federal funds to close down the unfinished, mothballed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, according to a letter the legislators mailed to colleagues on a crucial appropriations subcommittee in March.
The letter was dated March 15 and addressed to Reps. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) and Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who are, respectively, the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations energy and water subcommittee that writes the first draft of DOE’s annual spending bill each year.
The letter-writers said the Obama administration’s 2010 move to halt the federal permitting process for Yucca Mountain — still legally designated as the country’s dumping ground for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste created — was illegal.
As such, the lawmakers asked their colleagues on the Appropriations subcommittee to include language in their forthcoming bill stipulating that “none of the funds made available under this or any other Act, or any prior Appropriations Act may be used to conduct the closure of adjudicatory functions, technical review, or support activities associated with the Yucca Mountain geologic repository license application, or for any actions that irrevocably remove the possibility that Yucca Mountain may be a repository option in the future.”
A pair of Democrats and a dozen GOP lawmakers signed the missive. The full list of signatories, in the order they signed the letter, is:
Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.)
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.)
Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.)
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.)
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.)
Rep. Roger Williams (R-Tex.)
Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.)
Rep. John Duncan (R-Tenn.)
Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Conn.)
Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.)
Rep. Dan Benishek (R-Mich.)
Rep. Earl “Buddy” Carter (R-Ga.)
Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.)
Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.)
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates it would cost about $300 million to complete Yucca Mountain’s license.
The project has high-profile enemies in Congress, namely Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who is retiring when his term expires in January. Yucca Mountain is also deeply unpopular in Nevada.
DOE, for its part, has maintained it will not resume the license process for Yucca Mountain, preferring instead to focus on a so-called consent-based siting approach in which states and localities would accept nuclear waste for storage within their borders.
