Democratic Party lawmakers from Nevada are urging President Donald Trump to follow through on his apparent pledge to re-evaluate plans for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, after Energy Secretary Rick Perry said the administration continues to support the project.
“These contradictory remarks from Secretary Perry underline why the White House must follow through on President Trump’s words about supporting consent-based siting and commit to zeroing out funding for Yucca Mountain,” Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) said in a prepared statement Monday. “This Administration needs to keep its word and listen to Nevada families and businesses instead of Republican leaders in Washington intent on turning our state into a nuclear waste dumping ground.”
Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.) was even more pointed Tuesday on Twitter: “Donald Trump came to Nevada and lied about his administration’s support for Yucca Mountain. With Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling Congress we will cont. to face a fight on dumping the nation’s nuclear waste here.”
During a campaign trip to the state on Oct. 20, Trump acknowledged Nevadans’ overall opposition to the long-planned disposal site and said the administration “will be looking at it very seriously over the next few weeks.” Six days later, Perry played down the potential for a new approach in an interview with Bloomberg. The DOE chief reaffirmed that the department will follow the law on the matter – meaning the 1987 amendment to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act that designated Yucca Mountain as the site for the repository.
“I’m going to follow the law. And the law says, ‘here are the things you’re going to do.’ Those have to be funded. And so, we’re following the law,” Perry said, according to Bloomberg. “If Yucca is to be closed, then I’m sure that Congress will deal with it and I’ll follow their instructions.”
The Department of Energy is the license applicant for the facility, which would be ruled on by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Obama administration defunded the licensing proceeding in 2010 after roughly $15 billion had been spent on developing the project. Trump has failed to persuade Congress in the fiscal 2018 and 2019 budget cycles to resume appropriations.
Last week, Rosen and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) wrote to Trump urging him to follow through on his pledge and not to seek funding for Yucca Mountain in fiscal 2020. Federal agencies should release their next budget requests in February.
“President Trump made a promise to Nevadans that his Administration would end their policy of supporting the failed Yucca Mountain project. Secretary Perry’s comments show that the President has lied to the people of Nevada,” Cortez Masto said in a statement released shortly after Perry’s comments were reported. “There is bipartisan consensus that Yucca Mountain is bad for Nevada’s future – more than 70% of Nevadans strongly oppose the project. It’s time for this President to keep his promise.”
The White House did not respond this week to queries regarding how Perry’s statement relates to Trump’s comments.
Rosen is campaigning to unseat Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.), who so far has not publicly commented on the latest statements on Yucca Mountain from Trump and Perry.
