Yucca Mountain News Clips
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
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Las Vegas SUN
September 17, 2003
Senate approves lower spending on Yucca
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN
WASHINGTON -- The Senate approved a drastically lower Yucca Mountain budget than what the House passed and the Energy Department requested, setting up a contentious -- though not unusual -- debate between negotiators from each chamber that will now meet to iron out differences between the bills.
The Senate energy and water spending bill, passed late Tuesday night, includes $425 million for the department's Yucca Mountain project, which aims to store 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
This marks a decrease from the department's $591 million request and the $765 million approved in July by the House.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted to pass the bill.
Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said the senator will work to keep the Yucca funding low, but that the House Republicans put the numbers at an "outrageously" high mark.
Reid is the top Democrat on the Senate committee that controls the program's budget. He will also be a member of the negotiations that will determine the project's final number for the next fiscal year.
The White House told the Senate last week that such a funding cut would delay the project and compromise transportation plans. The department still aims to reach its December 2004 deadline to submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and open the site by 2010, a spokesman said.
Of its $591 million request, DOE is seeking $161 million from the Nuclear Waste Fund, an account earmarked for spent fuel storage costs compiled with fees paid by ratepayers, and $430 million from the Defense Department, since some of DOD's waste will also be stored at the site.
In the defense authorization bill, which also funds a portion of the Yucca project, the House matched the $430 million request while the Senate only authorized $360 million, a $70 million decrease.
Ensign is also part of the conference committee that will produce the final version of that bill, but negotiations have not started yet.
Jack Finn, Ensign's spokesman, said the Yucca Mountain issue will ultimately be decided in the courts, but that the senator always has his eyes open for any way to affect the project.
In 2003 the Energy Department originally requested $527 million for the program later asked asked for an additional $66 million after Congress approved the site. The House Appropriations Committee rejected the additional funding, but approved $525 million. The Senate, also based on Reid's strong opposition to the program, put the funding at $336 million, approximately $190 million below the administration's request. The Senate later approved Reid's figure in the omnibus bill, but the conference approved the $460 million.
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Las Vegas SUN
September 17, 2003
Court to decide on whether law firm should get Yucca pact
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN
WASHINGTON -- A federal court will decide if a previously rejected law firm should be awarded an Energy Department contract to review legal aspects of the Yucca Mountain project.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments on the matter Tuesday morning.
The law firm -- LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae -- sued the department on conflict of interest charges, saying a rival law firm, Winston & Strawn, should not have been selected for the contract because it had previously represented TRW Environmental Safety Services, the former main contracting firm working at the Yucca Mountain Project.
Both firms earned a perfect score on the previous bid evaluation for the project, but LeBoeuf's bid was $3.7 million higher.
The Chicago-based Winston & Strawn eventually withdrew from the $16.5 million contract in 2001 after the department's inspector general concluded the firm did not tell the Energy Department it had lobbied for the pro-Yucca Nuclear Energy Institute. Winston & Strawn denied any conflict but resigned anyway.
In July 2002 a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of the department, saying the case was moot since the old contract no longer existed and the department did not indicate it still wanted outside counsel.
It's uncertain whether the project still lacks legal representation.
Justice Department lawyer Harold Lester Jr., who represented the Energy Department before the court today, said that it was his understanding that no new law firm had been hired. Rumors are, however, that Morgan and Lewis is getting the contract.
That firm would neither confirm nor deny those rumors.
James Feldesman, an attorney with Feldesman, Tucker, Leifer, Fidell, who represented LeBoeuf, said the department "ignored rules of professional responsibility" with regard to Winston & Strawn's work for the previous Yucca contractor and the nuclear industry.
He asked the court to order the department to put LeBoeuf back in the same position it was in before it awarded the work to Winston & Strawn.
Judge David Tatel questioned the validity of all the documents in the court record related to the case, asking how he could be sure other facts did not exist that could affect the judgment, while Judge David Sentelle said he was not certain putting LeBoeuf back in the same position was possible, since some of the work has already been done.
Tatel also asked: If the court did determine a conflict, why should the department choose to rely on old information instead of starting over?
Lester said the department is entitled to work on the reviews in-house and that future contracting work would not be the same as submitted in 1999.
After the hearing, Feldman said the court's acknowledgement that there could be a conflict was reassuring.
The leader of Nevada's Yucca legal team, Joe Egan, of Virgnia-based Egan, Fitzpatrick and Malsch, said once the court makes a decision in this case, that decision will show how conflicts of interest play out in the Yucca Mountain controversy either with contractors, the quality assurance programs or law firms.
Egan said he did not know if Tuesday's hearing would prompt the department to announce a new law firm.
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Las Vegas SUN
September 17, 2003
Letter: Bush has been bad for Nevada
I am glad that the Sun always finds time to take a thoughtful position on some local matter that sets it apart from the rest of the local media machine.
I enjoyed and very much concur with your Sept. 14 editorial, which criticizes Gov. Kenny Guinn for taking an active role in President Bush's re-election campaign even though Bush supports the opening of Yucca Mountain.
Do all of the state Republican officials automatically fall into place when the national Republicans snap their fingers? Gov. Guinn may be retiring from public life soon, so it may not matter to him.
Nevada is still a politically weak state -- that is how Yucca Mountain got shoved down our collective throat. The five electoral votes may or may not be important in the next presidential election. But how is the Bush administration a friend to Nevada? How could anybody from the national Republican administration come to Nevada looking for campaign donations and not feel a little guilty about it?
Mark Bradshaw
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 17, 2003
Yucca Mountain: Judges hear firm's case against DOE
Losing bidder alleges winner of contract in repository project had conflict of interest
By Steve Tetreault
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- At the same time it is trying to recruit a new team of attorneys for licensing the Yucca Mountain Project, the Energy Department is struggling to untangle itself from a lawsuit over a legal services contract it awarded four years ago.
Federal appeals judges questioned a government lawyer Tuesday about a $16.5 million contract the DOE gave in 1999 to Chicago-based Winston & Strawn LLP law firm.
It was given the job of helping prepare an application for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Nevada. But the award was challenged by the losing bidder, who said Winston & Strawn previously had worked for the Yucca project's main contractor for seven years.
LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae LLP filed a lawsuit contending that Winston & Strawn should have been disqualified because its previous ties were a conflict of interest.
The firm would be paid as a DOE contractor to review the work it performed for TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc., the lawsuit said.
The Energy Department defended the contract award, and a federal district judge in Washington ruled in favor of the government last summer. LeBoeuf filed an appeal that was argued Tuesday before a three-judge panel in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Some attorneys who watch the Yucca program said the LeBoeuf Lamb lawsuit is complicating the Energy Department's efforts to build a case for the nuclear waste repository. Others said the lawsuit is a side issue that is having no effect on the program.
Winston & Strawn left the Yucca project in 2001 after allegations of other conflicts of interest. After expressing uncertainty whether it might keep Yucca legal work in house, the DOE was lobbied by the nuclear power industry to add outside advisers, legal sources said.
The department announced a new search this spring. Industry sources said several firms have expressed interest.
LeBoeuf officials have said they still want legal work on the project, but judges Tuesday expressed uncertainty whether they could order the DOE to hire the firm.
In court, LeBoeuf attorney James Feldesman told judges that the DOE "ignored the rules of professional responsibility" in awarding the 1999 contract. Winston's work for TRW should have raised a red flag with contract officers, he said.
Judges questioned Harold Lester, Jr., a Justice Department lawyer representing the DOE. Judge David Tatel said he wondered whether the work Winston & Strawn performed would have to be rechecked.
"Maybe there is some explanation, but it sounds like DOE hired (Winston & Strawn) to review its own work," Tatel said. "That sounds like a conflict to me."
Lester defended the contracting process and said the DOE's contract officer "is entitled to great deference in making determinations."
"You're saying we should just trust the agency here," Tatel said. "That's not the way it works."
The federal appeals court will hear arguments in Yucca Mountain Project lawsuits filed by Nevada, Las Vegas and Clark County.
Nevada-hired attorneys Joseph Egan and Martin Malsch were among four dozen onlookers Tuesday.
Egan said the LeBoeuf case might provide insights about how certain judges view the Yucca project and how the Energy Department responds to legal challenges on matters of conflict of interest, which figure into Nevada's court cases.
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Las Vegas SUN
September 14, 2003
Editorial: Why should governor boost Bush?
Las Vegas SUN
Gov. Kenny Guinn came to a fork in the proverbial political road, and, to our disappointment, he chose the one more traveled. We're talking about his decision to actively support the re-election campaign of President George Bush. Guinn chose the easier path of supporting his party rather than the more difficult path of not helping Bush because of the president's stance on Yucca Mountain.
Guinn, an honorary co-chairman of Bush's re-election campaign in Nevada, told a Reno TV station that his support for Bush transcends Yucca Mountain. He said he could "very easily" be a part of Bush's re-election campaign here. "I'm looking at the holistic body of an individual and so that's the reason," Guinn said. In our view, no matter what other qualities Guinn may see in him, Bush put politics over a promise to Nevada. As a candidate, and later as president, Bush promised that science, not politics, would dictate any decision on Yucca Mountain. There has never been any scientific consensus on Yucca's suitability. Yet in February 2002, Bush approved Yucca Mountain and used his influence to gain the approval of Congress that July.
We wish Guinn and Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is chairman of the state's re-election team for Bush, had taken their cues from a response by Nevada Democrats in October 1988. The presidential campaign that year pitted Republican Vice President George H.W. Bush against Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. Campaigning in Minnesota, Dukakis threw his support behind the congressional decision to designate Yucca Mountain as the sole site for study. He reversed his earlier position, which had favored reopening the site-selection process to consider other states, including Minnesota. An immediate rift arose between the Dukakis campaign and top Nevada Democrats, including then-Gov. Richard Bryan, who was waging his own race for U.S. Senate. Bryan distanced himself from the Dukakis campaign because he disagreed with Dukakis' position.
We have supported Guinn when he has spoken out against Yucca Mountain and when he committed state resources to a legal fight against it. That's his proper role. But Nevada's governor should not actively campaign for a president who would force the state to endure a future shrouded in nuclear waste.
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Las Vegas SUN
September 12, 2003
Administration objects to possible Yucca Mountain delay
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN
WASHINGTON -- The Yucca Mountain project will be delayed and transportation plans compromised should a pending budget cut in the Senate go through, the White House told the Senate Thursday.
In a letter sent to the Senate, the Office of Management and Budget said the administration "strongly objects" to a proposed $166 million reduction in the project budget.
OMB said such a cut would continue problems caused by the $134 million left out of the 2003 budget "and would cause up to a year's delay in the scheduled December 2004 submission of the repository construction license application."
The letter also says the cut would delay waste transportation system plans nationwide as well as in Nevada and "postpone initial operations beyond the current target of 2010."
DOE spokesman Joe Davis said this morning that the department is still shooting for the 2004 and 2010 deadline.
Davis said the department has told Congress numerous times that "if they don't provide the necessary resources" there was bound to be delays.
The department says it needs to move the 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from sites across the country to Yucca Mountain, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Congress approved the site last year for a high-level nuclear dump, despite strong opposition from the state.
Budget battles are common to the Yucca debate. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee that oversees the project's budget, helped cut the funding to $425 million, marking the $166 million decrease from the department's $591 million request. The House approved $765 million in July.
Reid often used his seat on the Senate Appropriations Committee to trim funding from the project, which he, like other members of the Nevada delegation, strongly opposes.
In 2003 DOE requested $527 million for the program and later asked for an additional $66 million after Congress approved the site. The House Appropriations Committee approved $525 million. The Senate put the funding at $336 million and a conference committee came to a compromise of $460 million.
Supporters of the project, such as the industry group the Nuclear Energy Institute, nuclear utilities and the DOE, have fought for full funding in the past, but this is the first time the White House has admitted the 2004 license application and 2010 opening dates could be missed due a lack of money, according to Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute.
The Senate began debate Thursday on the Energy and Water Development spending bill, which funds the Yucca Mountain.
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Gloucester County Times
September 13, 2003
Funding for river dredging irritates Bush
By Bill Cahir
Bill.Cahir@newhouse.com
The Bush administration on Thursday criticized Senate lawmakers for failing to provide sufficient funds for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., while appropriating too much cash for water projects.
The president had requested $591 million for nuclear waste disposal in fiscal 2004, but senators refused to provide $166 million.
In its statement the White House complained that the Senate's energy and water projects appropriations bill raised "policy concerns" by directing $10 million in new funds to the Delaware River channel-deepening project.
President Bush had requested only $300,000 for the plan to dredge the river from 40 to 45 feet. The dredging proposal has been stuck in neutral, criticized both by the General Accounting Office and by state and federal lawmakers from South Jersey.
The White House stopped short of issuing a veto threat for the bill on Thursday.
But it sternly criticized the Senate for drafting overly generous spending bills, warning that the cost of the 13 Senate spending measures must be slashed by roughly $700 million.
The energy and water bill would provide $133 million in appropriations that Bush is not seeking.
It would fund the U.S. Energy Department and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, allocating "about $35 million to sewage overflow, drinking water, wastewater treatment, and other local environmental infrastructure projects which fall outside the main mission of the Corps," the White House said.
"In addition, (the bill) provides over $150 million to other work that raises policy concerns, such as directing funds for construction of the Delaware River Main Channel, the Yazoo and Grand Prairie pumping plants, and the Dallas Floodway Extension."
The Corps of Engineers has defended the Delaware River dredging program as economically worthwhile. Meanwhile, the Office of Management and Budget's policy statement, in an unusual move, nearly contradicts an executive agency subordinate to the president.
U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews has been lobbying the White House budget office and urging Bush administration officials to oppose the Delaware dredging project.
Andrews, D-1st Dist., on Thursday said he was convinced that OMB officials do not want to spend the $10 million sought by U.S. senators Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, two Republicans from Pennsylvania.
On the nuclear waste front, the policy statement also says that the budget office "strongly objects" to the $166 million reduction in the president's request for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
"The reduction would exacerbate the adverse consequences of the (fiscal year) 2003 funding shortfall of $134 million and would cause up to a year's delay in the scheduled December 2004 submission of the repository construction license application" to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the White House budget office said.
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Las Vegas SUN
September 12, 2003
New power plant costs questioned at meeting
By Kevin Rademacher
<kevin.rademacher@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN
Despite pleas from the company executives and state regulators, just four Nevada Power Co. customers spoke Thursday afternoon at a meeting to discuss a multi-million resource plan proposed by the utility.
Nevada Power filed its resource plan in July. The document asked for, among other requests, permission from the state Public Utilities Commission to build two power plants at a cost of more than $450 million.
"We felt it is important with the rate cases we've had the last few years to explain the resource planning process," said PUC Chairman Don Soderberg. "The rates we pay today are often decided by resource plans made sometimes six or seven years ago."
Over the last two years, Nevada Power has sought the recovery of more than $1 billion in fuel and purchased power costs. Nearly $500 million of that has been denied, pushing the utility into financial turmoil.
At the meeting, Michael Yackira, executive vice president for Strategy and Policy with Nevada Power's parent company, Sierra Pacific Resources, pointed out that the company currently only generates about 40 percent of the electricity needed to meet customer demand. The balance of that electricity is purchased on the open market, which was subject to soaring prices during the Western energy crisis.
The two new plants, given the utility's rapid customer growth, will be needed just to maintain that balance.
Customers expressed concern over the cost of new power plants and the environmental impact of new plants.
Peggy Maze Johnson, a representative of Citizens Alert, which has battled the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, said aggressive energy conservation has worked in other markets and should be taken more seriously by Nevada Power.
"I'm sorry we don't see anything that aggressive with Nevada Power," said Johnson, who also expressed support for a shift to publicly owned utilities.
Thelma Clark, an AARP representative, also said the utility should examine power plants that do not use natural gas as a fuel source.
The cost of natural gas has soared in recent years since most of the new plant built in the last decade have been gas fired.
Coal plants, Yackira said, fell out of favor in the 1980s because of environmental concerns and higher construction costs. The new resource plan, however, asks the PUC for permission to $500,000 to research the feasibility of building a new coal plant in Southern Nevada.
Yackira said the cost of a coal plant is about double the price of a natural gas fired plant, but fuel costs are less expensive and stable. He also said that new technology has made coal plants cleaner, reducing environmental concerns.
While he did not speak at the meeting, Nevada Consumer Advocate Tim Hay attended and cast doubt on the resource plan after the testimony had concluded.
"We've got substantial concerns whether the plan is even viable considering the financial condition of the company," he said.
Last month, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in New York ordered Nevada Power and its sister company, Reno-based Sierra Pacific Power Co., to pay an Enron Corp. subsidiary $312 million for terminated power contracts. The move caused the nation's leading credit rating agencies to lower their outlook on the parent company.
Sierra Pacific Resources already suffers from a junk credit rating, increasing the cost of capital available to the company for projects such as construction.
Hay and the other involved parties are scheduled to file formal testimony on the resource plan with the PUC by Sept. 19. Hearings before the commission will begin Oct. 14 with a final ruling expected by mid-November.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
September 12, 2003
Yucca Mountain Project hearing postponed
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- A U.S. House of Representatives hearing on the Yucca Mountain Project was postponed Thursday after lawmakers wrapped up work early this week and many went home.
The House energy and air quality subcommittee did not announce a rescheduled date for the hearing. A spokeswoman said it probably would be held "sooner rather than later" because of interest in the nuclear waste repository program.
House leaders had scheduled no floor votes for Thursday and Friday, leading many lawmakers to make plans to leave Washington at midweek and forcing postponement of a handful of meetings.
The Yucca Mountain hearing was to highlight testimony from Energy Department officials giving a status report of the repository program. The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an executive from DOE contractor Bechtel SAIC, and a nuclear industry representative also were scheduled to speak.
Nevada's three House members also arranged invitations after initially being discouraged to testify, their offices said.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
September 12, 2003
Guinn backs Bush, despite nuclear dump
Associated Press
Gov. Kenny Guinn repeated Wednesday that he has no problem being part of the team that will try to deliver Nevada´s five electoral votes to President Bush next year — despite Bush´s approval of the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump.
The Republican governor, on the News 4 “Nevada Newsmakers’ show in Reno, said he tried to block the high-level waste dump but still “very easily’ could be part of the Bush re-election team in the state.
“I´m looking at the holistic body of an individual and so that´s the reason,’ said Guinn, an honorary co-chairman of the Bush re-election effort in Nevada, along with U.S. Sen. John Ensign and U.S. Reps. Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter. State Attorney General Brian Sandoval is the chairman.
Bush carried Nevada in 2000, following a campaign promise by Bush to ensure “sound science’ prevailed in any decision he made on a nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain.
After his election, Bush approved the Yucca Mountain project, prompting Democrats to criticize him for breaking his promises regarding the project.
Guinn also defended his “irrelevant’ description of people who are opposed to higher taxes even if the need for new levies is clear, and said it was taken out of context to suggest he was talking about some anti-tax legislators.
Guinn insisted that inference was wrong. “But, look, I´m not a crybaby. I just live with it,’ he said.
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Pahrump Valley Times
September 12, 2003
Draft of master plan out today
By Mark Waite
PVT
The draft master plan for the Pahrump Regional Planning District will be mailed out to local officials today, Lynee Busta of Consensus Planning announced.
The 139-page draft document will be reviewed by the citizen's steering committee, Nye County staff, the Pahrump town board, and several other groups and organizations, said Jim Talbert, project manager for the Tri-Core Planning Team. Officials from Nye County, the Town of Pahrump and the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission will then hold what is expected to be an all-day meeting to discuss the plan from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Pahrump Community Center.
The draft master plan follows a community survey of 407 Pahrumpians conducted by telephone and a questionnaire in which local residents were invited to respond to a list of suggested goals and objectives.
The master plan was reviewed by attorneys for Kummer, Kaempfer, Bonner and Renshaw, legal counsel hired by Tri-Core to ensure it is compliant with Nevada Revised Statute Chapter 278, which authorizes planning districts to compile master plans.
Tri-Core Engineering, the firm that worked on the Wal-Mart project, was hired by Nye County Commissioners to prepare a master plan last November. The $1.4 million project is expected to take 18 months.
Talbert said their work is far from over. The schedule calls for adoption of the master plan by November. After that Tri-Core will prepare a zoning ordinance - possibly the most controversial section of the master plan - development guidelines, a land development code, a streets and highways plan and an adequate public facilities ordinance. The process is expected to be wrapped up by next August.
"The master plan sets out goals, objectives and policies. It's kind of the framework that everything else is built around. Once those are approved, that master plan, then we get into zoning, which is, without a doubt, where rubber hits the road so to speak," Talbert said.
The existing master plan for the Pahrump Regional Planning District is a 26-page document adopted in July 1999. The Pahrump town board requested Nye County Commissioners to adopt one of three options in that master plan, to implement a commercial zone along Highway 160 with a system of conditional use permits for certain type of businesses building outside that commercial zone.
The draft master plan being presented next week will include a much more complex draft land use plan with various types of zoning. Tri-Core presented two possible land use plans at an open house June 4, then boiled it down to one preferred land use plan by the time the company dedicated its new office in Pahrump at the Valley Bank Plaza July 7.
Under the land use plan, most of the land in Pahrump Valley would be zoned low density residential with one-acre minimum size lots. The Johnnie area would be drawn for a rural residential area, with five-acre minimum lots. Much of Highway 372 and Highway 160 frontage is drawn as commercial. A large industrial park is drawn at the north end of Highway 160, while the southwest corner of the valley includes zoning for an airport on the California state line, surrounded by a "wildlife habitat reserve."
Already the Pahrump Regional Planning Commission is making decisions based on the upcoming master plan. When developer Vasilios Grillas submitted plans for a variance from deed restrictions for a 12,000 square-foot retail mall at Homestead Drive and Alfalfa Street on May 14, RPC members told him to stop back in the future, as the property would probably be rezoned commercial. Grillas' development would be across the street from where Frank Tarantino opened a flea market that was the subject of a lawsuit by the Calvada Homeowners Protective Corporation, the CHPC claims that property along Highway 160 is restricted to residential use.
"We believe that from a planning standpoint the highest and best use along Highway 160 is commercial," Talbert said.
The industrial park at the north end, what Talbert described as a science and technology park, would be to accommodate possible business from Yucca Mountain.
While a "wildlife habitat reserve" in the dry, lakebed area seems like a joke, in an area where perhaps only jackrabbits and coyotes roam, Talbert explained that zone would serve several purposes.
"Those habitat areas do several things. One, it is truly a habitat area where wildlife could develop. It's also an approach and takeoff area for the airport. As planes take off and land you don't want a lot of development around that anyway. We know those are low areas in a flood plain, so not developing in that area makes sense. We kill several birds when we talk about a wildlife (reserve)," he said.
The draft master plan, Talbert said, includes sections on the community profile, housing plan, economic plan, land use plan, community design plan, air quality issues, transportation, public services and facilities plan, geo-technical matters and how to implement the plan.
Sections from the 1999 master plan dealing with public safety, historic building preservation, flood control, seismic safety, transit and water resources were incorporated into the new plan, Busta said.
Tri-Core was awarded two other contracts in addition to the master plan. Commissioners March 4 awarded the company a $69,000 contract to draft a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on air quality control measures to prevent Pahrump Valley from being listed as a non-attainment area with clean air standards due to dust problems. Tri-Core hired Richard DeLong, president of Enviroscientists Inc., to work on that project.
On April 15 county commissioners awarded the company up to $219,000 to study soil conditions in Pahrump Valley. Tri-Core hired Ninyo and Moore consultants as a subcontractor, which is presently sinking over 100 boring tests 10 to 20 feet into the soil in selected problem areas, Talbert said.
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Pahrump Valley Times
September 12, 2003
YUCCA MOUNTAIN IMPACT
Cox, Trummell lobby for mitigation funding
By Mark Waite
PVT
Nye County Commissioners Patricia Cox and Candice Trummell were in Washington D.C., this week to lobby for possible funding from a $30 million appropriation in a U.S. House of Representatives bill to mitigate the impact of Yucca Mountain on local counties.
Nye County commissioners, meeting by conference call Monday, decided not to give a precise list of requests for the money. Any allocation out of the $30 million, proposed by U.S. Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Energy and Water Subcommittee, would be on top of $10 million the county already receives annually in Payment Equal to Taxes and $2 million per year in oversight funds of the project.
Commissioners elected to request $8 million in oversight funding for Nye and nine other counties surrounding Yucca Mountain, as suggested in a U.S. Senate bill, not $6.5 million in the House bill. They also decided to request some impact assistance money for mitigation, keeping their request vague.
Lobbyist Rick Spees, managing partner for Katz, Kutter, Alderman and Bryant, said the U.S. Senate may delete language containing the $30 million in mitigation funds, since U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D.-Nev., doesn't feel there will be a need for impact mitigation because the project will never materialize. Spees's firm was hired at $7,500 per month to represent Nye County's concerns on Yucca Mountain at a March 18 county commission meeting.
"It's going to be a tough sell but I think we should make a shot at it, we're not going to look piggy," Spees told county officials.
"Just because the state says it's not going to come does not make it so," County Commission Chairman Henry Neth said, on the question of whether Yucca Mountain will become a reality.
"It is going to impact you right now," Spees said.
Spees said the Ponderosa Dairy couldn't obtain commercial financing to expand its business with a packaging operation due to the proximity to Yucca Mountain could be an example of a project funded out of the $30 million. The dairy could be eligible for loan guarantees, he said.
County Commissioner Joni Eastley said she suggested establishing an economic development fund out of PETT money.
"It's difficult for us to quantify what businesses would've come here but didn't," Trummell said. She said a loss of property tax revenue could be an argument made for the money.
Les Bradshaw, Nye County director of natural resources and federal facilities, suggested asking for a direct payment with no strings attached, like a grant. But Neth said, "they're already giving us over $10 million a year, for what they consider these type of things."
Spees said there's a lot of money in impact mitigation funds, the federal government will have to put some rules on it.
Neth said Pahrump Valley has numerous challenges with economic growth, like the lack of proper medical facilities and a dust control problem. The growth rate of 11 to 14 percent will increase once Yucca Mountain comes on line, he said.
"I think it's a great opportunity for Nye County, I feel like we're almost at the table as far as this budget process," Neth said.
Neth said a good example of a project that could be funded using the money would be an emergency control center at the new Amargosa Valley Science and Technology Park.
Consultant Mal Murphy said an emergency response plan is an essential element for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to respond to emergencies at the Yucca Mountain site.
Eastley questioned how well local emergency management officials could respond to accidents involving low level nuclear waste shipments currently taking place, let alone the high level nuclear waste to be shipped to Yucca Mountain.
"You talk about impact mitigation, there's been none for the low level stuff," Eastley said. She questioned how many low level nuclear waste shipments are traveling through Tonopah. Bradshaw said there are 15 to 25 trucks per week.
After the discussion, commissioners Cox and Trummell, listening by conference call in the old courthouse, were asked about using the Yucca Mountain mitigation money to build a Pahrump hospital or medical clinic. Trummell said a certificate of need has already been awarded to Rural Health Management Corporation to build the hospital and the public would be against providing RHMC with the money. But she said if RHMC doesn't build a hospital, that's a possibility.
Hobson's bill applauded the Nye County community protection plan as an example of projects that could be funded out of the $30 million. Yucca Mountain consultant Cash Jaszczak said, "Turning the concept of the Community Protection Plan into reality is what this is all about."
The 10 suggestions in the Nye County Community Protection Plan include continued local oversight of the Yucca Mountain project, expanded monitoring, better emergency response, a U.S. Department of Energy center in Nye County for nuclear waste management research and development, transporting the waste by rail, transferring more federal land to Nye County and encouraging investment in the U.S. Highway 95 corridor.
Cox said besides meeting with Hobson during their trip the two commissioners would meet with officials at the Nuclear Energy Institute, lobbyists from the Russ Reid Company, who have been contracted at $10,000 per month to lobby for transportation funds, and members of the Nevada Congressional delegation.
Neth and Eastley were appointed Nye County's liaisons on Yucca Mountain in February, and they ordinarily travel to Washington D.C. on such matters.
"Chairman Neth recommended both of us go so we have a clear understanding who the players are," Cox said. "We can kill three birds with one stone."
Trummell said consultants for Russ Reid informed the county a pending transportation bill includes "a soft earmark" of funds requested for Tonopah Airport, for which the county requested $500,000, but not the $3 million the county wants to chip seal roads in Pahrump.
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Pahrump Valley Times
September 12, 2003
County Commission Preview
Air quality, manager top slate
By Mark Waite
PVT
The approval of a memorandum of understanding regarding air quality issues in Pahrump will be discussed at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, during the Nye County Commission meeting at the Pahrump community center.
The agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Town of Pahrump and Nye County; sets up a timeline for action to be taken to resolve the dust problem in Pahrump Valley.
The commission meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. Nye County Commissioners Patricia Cox and Candice Trummell will hold a pre-agenda workshop at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the community center for those who are unable to attend.
In other business slated for Tuesday, consultant Scott Weiss will give a report at 11:30 a.m. on the cost of preparing Pahrump Medical Center to reopen.
The appointment of interim County Manager Mike Maher as permanent county manager is also on the agenda.
Commissioners will consider recommendations by the State Board of Health that Nye County require engineer-certified percolation tests and a soil study within six months, as a condition of allowing the county to continue the permitting of septic tanks.
A cooperative transportation agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy is one of seven items on the agenda requested by the Department of Natural Resources and Federal Facilities. The commission will also consider a special revenue fund for Yucca Mountain transportation issues; review work proposed for a southern Nye County groundwater study; and a contract with Raphael Construction Inc. for infrastructure at the Amargosa Valley Science and Technology Park.
In another item, set for 10 a.m., commissioners will conduct a public hearing on the creation of a Nye County Federal Impacts Advisory Board.
A professional services agreement is up for consideration to appraise 38 county-owned properties and 30 privately owned properties in Calvada Valley Unit 11 subdivision next to the McCullough Memorial Arena at Petrack Park.
The use of county property by the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program and High Desert Counselors will be discussed at 2:15 p.m.
The county manager's office has requested direction on the leases and cost of facilities and utilities at the "Calvada eye" used for district court and juvenile court.
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Las Vegas Business Press
September 12, 2003
Future energy woes could leave valley powerless
By Valerie Miller
VMiller@LVPress.com
While Congress debates the merits of an energy bill in Washington, D.C. and investigations go into last month's Northeast power blackout, Nevada officials are questioning whether Southern Nevada is vulnerable.
As the energy bill made its way to the U.S. Senate last week, local politicians and energy officials disagreed on Nevada's energy outlook and possible solutions to looming problems.
Rising power rates, a dearth of generation plants in Southern Nevada, the health of the western power grid, renewable energy, Yucca Mountain and the threat of terrorism were among the issues raised by local congressional representative, utility officials and others evaluating the health of Nevada's energy supply.
Many competing issues have emerged from Nevada's Congressional delegation. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nevada, is outspoken about what she calls the bill's reliance on nuclear power. It's a path that she says will only help speed along the Yucca Mountain Project toward Nevada.
"This is the most ill-conceived, poorly planned piece of legislation that we will consider in this session of Congress that will have a far-reaching impact," she says about one of the bill drafts. "[The government] estimates it will cost $56-$308 billion to dig a hole in the middle of the Nevada desert to dump nuclear waste."
Berkeley, along with Republican members of the Nevada delegation, Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter, also voiced support for renewable energies. Gibbons, in particular, says he supports finding ways to make geothermal energy more accessible in Southern Nevada.
For now, however, the fact that Nevada is on the newer western power grid -- a separate power grid from the eastern one that was affected by the massive August 14 blackout -- makes the state less likely to experience that type of a power outage, according to Don Soderberg, chairman of Nevada's Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
We feel that it is in much better shape, so it is not in need of a great amount of refurbishing," he says of the western grid, which generally supplies power to states in the Pacific and Mountain time zones. "In the blackout in the East, there were five to six footprints of significant congestion, but in the West, there is only one (area of congestion) -- path 15, which connects Northern California with Southern California -- so I don't see a need for us to be involved in the Eastern system (upgrading)."
The western grid has already undergone its share or revamping, which occurred after a blackout in the late 1990s. "In 1997, there was a regionwide blackout that originated in Oregon or Northern California ... There you have an event where a wire became overheated, sagged, and snagged a tree branch, and caused a shortage and decapitated the system for a while," recalls Kirby Lamplay, the manager of the public analysis division of the PUC. "The system we have now is supposed to stop and short by [having] the breakers shutting off a certain area to stop the short. Plants are designed to shut themselves off."
With the actual causes of the Northeast blackout still being pieced together, it's not the right time to rush to upgrades, anyway, Soderberg contends. "It's only September, so I don't think we need to put a laundry list together. It is too soon."
Some Nevada delegates in Congress, however, disagree, and say that the need is there for an upgrade and it is better to do it now, before Nevadans risk experiencing what 50 million people in the Northeast have already faced.
"I think all the power grids need to be upgraded, but we are fortunate that ours is relatively new," says Porter. There are three power grids in the United States: the western interconnection, the eastern interconnection and the Texas interconnection. Sen. Harry Reid and Congresswoman Berkeley also contend the power grid serving Nevada needs a facelift eventually. "Every power grid in America needs to be updated. We're working with the Nevada PUC to upgrade it," Reid maintains.
A bigger problem could lie ahead for Nevada in the short term, especially for the southern part of the state, though, Soderberg says. Because Southern Nevada's utility -- Nevada Power -- imports most of its power from California and Arizona, there would be problems now if the valley had to isolate itself to avoid a short from spreading.
"Our concern in Southern Nevada is that we have a shortage of generating plants. We don't have enough generation, if this happened, to supply power on a hot summer day," Soderberg says.
Despite the valley's explosive growth over the last two decades, Nevada Power Company has not built a new generating plant since 1999, when Sierra Pacific Resources acquired Nevada Power. That was not wholly the utility's own choice, according to Michael Yackira, executive vice president of Sierra Pacific Resources. "The last generation plant that Nevada Power built was the Harry Allen Plant in 1995. In 1999, when Sierra Pacific resources merged with Nevada Power, we agreed to divest some of our generation facilities. [Also] in 1999, the Nevada Legislature passed a [deregulation] law that required generation divestiture and customer choice," he explains. "It certainly didn't make sense for us to build generation plants if we were going to have to divest them."
Reid says he opposed both divestiture plans, which were later reversed. The Legislature changed its stance on deregulation in 2001, after California had suffered its energy crisis. Even so, Reid says, valuable time was lost for the Silver State. "It took two years for the Legislature to reverse it ... In retrospect, they shouldn't have done that [deregulation approval]."
PUC officials also admit that Southern Nevada's power supply could be in better shape. While Arizona -- especially the Phoenix utility Arizona Public Service -- was busy building power plants, Nevada Power and the PUC decided that it was better to invest in transmission lines to bring in then-cheap power bought on the open market.
The California energy crisis and rising energy prices now make that decision look like the wrong one, says Soderberg. "In the '90s, wholesale power costs were extremely low because there was such a glut. The decision was made collectively [between the PUC and Nevada Power] to rely on the power market," he explains. "In the short term, power plants are usually more expensive, but in hindsight, it was not a good decision not to build power plants [in Nevada]."
Over the last 13 years, Nevadans have seen their power rates rise by 60.4 percent, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Arizona residents paid 11.8 less in 2003 for power than they did in 1990. Arizona also has more generating capacity, according to David Chairez, a spokesperson for the PUC.
In 2002 -- the latest numbers available for the Arizona -- Nevada's neighbor to the south had a 6,047-megawatt generation capacity when including long-term contracts, with a peak demand of 5,803 megawatts that same year. By comparison, in 2003, Nevada had a peak demand of 4,808 megawatts, but only 2,701 megawatts of generating capacity, he says.
State consumer advocate Tim Hay disputes Nevada Power's claim that the threat of divestiture was the main reason behind the lack of new generation plants. Hay contends that the divestiture idea was an offer by Sierra Pacific after it's acquisition of Nevada Power. The money from the proposed sale of generation plants would have likely gone toward the Nevada utility's failed plan to acquire Portland General Electric, according to Hay.
Reid defends Nevada Power handling of Southern Nevada's growth. "Nevada Power has invested a half billion in transmission line upgrades since 1998," he says. Nevada Power's parent Sierra Pacific has also set its sights on opening two new plants, according to Yakira. An 80-megawatt plant planned to be operational by 2006, and a 500-megawatt plant is proposed for a 2007 opening. The company owns four plants currently and has partial ownership in two others.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority is also teaming up with Phoenix-based Pinnacle West Capital Corp. to build the 570-megawatt Silverhawk Power Generation Facility, which is scheduled to be completed by next summer. The SNWA board has approved the expenditure of $115 million on the facility, according to water authority spokesperson J.C. Davis. Houston-based Reliant Resources is slated to begin operations at its Bighorn plant near Primm near the end of the year.
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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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