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. I’ll continue fighting in every way I can to prevent this dangerous project from being revived and putting Nevadans at risk.”
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.” But on Friday, 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.
The Department of Energy is the license applicant for the facility, which would be decided by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Obama administration defunded the licensing proceeding in 2010 and Trump has failed to persuade Congress in the fiscal 2018 and 2019 budget cycles to resume funding.
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) was more pointed than Rosen in a statement on Friday.
“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,” she said.
