RW Monitor
10/30/2015
IN THE 2016 ELECTION
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush pointed to communities in Texas and New Mexico as possible solutions for the nation’s nuclear waste obligations in an interview last week with a Nevada public television station. Bush, who has said he opposes the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada, indicated that if a community wants the waste it should go there. “New Mexico, Texas, have communities. … There are regions there (that) would compete for it,” Bush said. “I’ve been told there’s real interest in doing this. We need to start the process and get going.” According to the Las Vegas Sun, a campaign aide later clarified that a repository “will only be built in a state that consents to it.” Waste Control Specialists in West Texas and the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance in southeastern New Mexico have both indicated their local support for hosting an interim storage program. Congressional approval is still needed before the Department of Energy could send waste to those communities.
