Yucca Mountain News Clips - Friday, June 11, 2004

Yucca Mountain News Clips
Friday, June 11, 2004
---------------------------

Las Vegas SUN
June 10, 2004

House panel slashes project funding

Several steps before final budget OK'd

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A House subcommittee approved $131 million for the Yucca Mountain project on Wednesday, a severe cut from the Energy Department's $880 million request.

There are several steps to go before the final budget is approved for fiscal year 2005, and that amount could certainly change before the budget is approved.

The House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee passed the energy spending bill by a unanimous voice vote Wednesday in under 30 minutes. The full Appropriations Committee could take up the bill as early as next week.

Energy Department officials have insisted that without full funding the department will not be able to meet its 2010 deadlines to open the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Congress has still not approved the department's request to sidestep the regular budget process and take $749 million of next year's money directly from the Nuclear Waste Fund, an account funded directly by a surcharge on nuclear power.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, subcommittee chairman, has said for months that with no "Plan B" there was nothing he could do but fund the program with the $131 million that could go to the program without the policy change.

"As I have mentioned many times, OMB (Office of Management and Budget) has played Russian roulette when they assumed the House and Senate would pass the proposed reclassification language," Hobson said. "I don't like going forward with so little money for Yucca Mountain, but we are playing the hand frankly that we were dealt."

Two bills that would make the change have yet to move through committee and Congress has limited time left this election year.

Hobson said he did not think the change would get through this year "but this is one of the few times I want to be proven wrong."

He would not expand on suggestions he has given to the Office of Management and Budget for other ways to solve the problem. Even beyond this fiscal year, the department will need the policy change to fund upcoming bigger budgets in coming years.

Hobson emphasized he wanted to give more money to the project, as he did last year with a more than $100 million increase over the department request, but he did not have the power to do it.

"I don't have the money allocated for me," he said.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham told Hobson last month that more than 1,700 department employees and contractors in Nevada could be laid off if Congress does not allocate the full $880 million for the program. "Reduction in Force" notices would need to be given by July 31, Abraham said.

The license application, expected to be delivered at the end of this year, would be at risk and the site would not be able to open in 2010 as planned, Abraham also told Hobson.

"This is a problem," department spokesman Joe Davis said. "We made it clear that the funding we requested in the funding we needed."

Davis noted it is early in the appropriations process and that Congress needs to fund the program it approved two years ago.

The Senate has not created its spending limits for each of the appropriations bills, so it is not clear year how much money it will allot for the project.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is the top Democrat on the subcommittee that creates the bill and works to cut the project's budget every year. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., fought earlier to keep the funding change out of the budget approved by Congress, which forced the department to try separate bills to get the change through.

---------------------------

Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 10, 2004

Yucca Mountain faces cash crisis

House panel OKs fraction of budget request

By H. Josef Hebert
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- A House panel approved only a fraction of the money the government says it needs to keep the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project on schedule, jeopardizing a 2010 completion.

The proposed facility, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has strong congressional support. But a budget glitch forced a House Appropriations panel Wednesday to provide only $131 million for the program in the next fiscal year.

Energy Department officials had requested $880 million to begin seeking permits for the waste repository, go ahead with design work and develop a plan for transporting waste from nuclear power plants around the country.

"I think we have an obligation to get (the facility) opened and funded," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, subcommittee chairman. "But I don't have the tools right now to get that done."

The Yucca Mountain money is part of a $28 billion spending bill for energy and water projects that the subcommittee approved by voice vote Wednesday. While opportunities to increase funds for Yucca Mountain may arise as the bill works its way through the House, Hobson was not optimistic about the prospects.

Hobson said funding for the program has been put in jeopardy because the Bush administration, in requesting the funds, linked the remaining $749 million to Congress passing separate legislation on how lawmakers use a special nuclear waste fund for the Yucca project.

Congress has used that fund, which totals nearly $15 billion, to help shrink the federal deficit. There is little prospect that the legislation offered by the administration will pass this year.

Given the tight budget situation, Hobson could not find the money elsewhere, so Yucca Mountain funding for the 2005 fiscal year, beginning in October, was limited to the $131 million allocated for defense waste.

The government wants to use Yucca Mountain to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste, including used reactor fuel now held at power plants in 31 states as well as defense waste.

Next year is pivotal for the program. The Energy Department will begin the process for getting a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and developing a transportation plan for the waste.

Margaret Chu, director of the Energy Department office that heads the program, has said if the agency does not get the full $880 million it would be impossible to meet the 2010 deadline for accepting the first load of waste.

The Bush administration has always relied on the House to come up with money for Yucca Mountain and counter problems in the Senate, where Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca opponent, is in the leadership and can sidetrack legislation or keep funding down.

---------------------------

Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 10, 2004

Editorial: More DOE bungling

Program to compensate nuke workers a typical boondoggle

Back in 2000, Congress gave the Department of Energy $74 million to compensate workers -- potentially thousands of workers -- who used to work at the country's nuclear weapons plants and facilities, and who may have subsequently been stricken with illnesses stemming from that work.

(There's some statistical evidence that former nuclear bomb workers tend to die prematurely, and are burdened with large medical bills for cancers and other illnesses that they claim are job-related.)

The number of applicants who have sought compensation stands at 23,000 -- far more than originally expected. ("Raise your hand if you saw that one coming," comment the folks at Citizens Against Government Waste.)

But now four years have passed, the DOE has written all the necessary rules and procedures, all the money has been spent, and the General Accounting office has finally reported back to Congress on the number of former weapons plants workers who have been helped.

One.

One man in Washington state was paid $15,000.

"The remaining $73,985,000 has been spent on paperwork," report the folks at CAGW, in their April newsletter. "No, this is not a bad episode of the Simpsons; this is how our government works."

The DOE has thrown out about 5 percent of the claims, but has moved forward on only about another 1 percent, according to the General Accounting Office.

Yes, some safeguards had to be put in place to make sure money wasn't handed out, willy nilly, without checking to make sure a claimant actually had a job-related illness.

But statistically speaking, the taxpayers would be no worse off -- and presumably some actual sick people would be better off -- if the DOE had simply mailed out a $3,000 check to every claimant.

Even the DOE admits much of the program was botched from the beginning, as they spent some two years just writing the program's rules. Some are also curious about DOE's no-bid contract with an outfit called Science and Engineering Associates to administer the program. SEA paid a program manager $400,000 per year.

But don't worry: DOE Undersecretary Robert Card has come forward with a proposed solution. All Congress has to do to help hundreds more workers get some compensation is -- ready? -- hand the DOE another $76 million.

Hey, for that kind of money, we're sure at least one more worker will receive his $15,000.

Understandably, some in Congress are balking. "The Energy Department's problems are not going to be solved by throwing more money into a black hole," warns Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.

But brave talk is cheap. In the end, taxpayers will probably be funding this compensation program -- with administrators making $400,000 -- long after the last nuclear weapons plant worker has gone to his or her reward.

Just explain to us one more time: Why is it anyone still believes that if you want a problem handled, you should turn it over to the federal government?

---------------------------

Las Vegas SUN
June 09, 2004

Nevada nuclear waste project faces budget issues, possible delay

By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - A House panel approved only a fraction of the money the administration says it needs to keep a proposed nuclear waste project in Nevada on schedule, jeopardizing its planned completion by 2010.

While the facility at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has widespread congressional support, a budget glitch forced a House Appropriations subcommittee Wednesday to provide only $131 million for the program in the next fiscal year.

The Energy Department had requested $880 million it says it will need to begin seeking permits for the waste repository, go ahead with design work and develop a plan for transporting waste to the site from nuclear power plants around the country.

"I think we have an obligation to get (the facility) opened and funded," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the subcommittee. "But I don't have the tools right now to get that done."

The Yucca Mountain money is part of a $28 billion spending bill for energy and water projects that the subcommittee approved by voice vote Wednesday. While there may be opportunities to increase funds for Yucca Mountain as the bill works its way through the House, Hobson was not optimistic about the prospects.

Hobson said funding for the program has been put in jeopardy because the administration, in requesting the funds, linked the remaining $749 million to Congress passing separate legislation on how lawmakers use a special nuclear waste fund for the Yucca project.

Congress has used that fund, which now totals nearly $15 billion, to help shrink the federal deficit, and there is little prospect that the legislation offered by the administration will pass this year.

The government wants to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste - used reactor fuel now held at power plants in 31 states as well as defense waste - at Yucca Mountain. Next year has been described as pivotal for the program since the Energy Department will begin the process for getting a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and developing a transportation plan for the waste.

Margaret Chu, director of the Energy Department office that heads the program, has told lawmakers that if it does not get the full $880 million it would be impossible to meet the 2010 deadline for accepting the first load of waste.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., also a strong supporter of the Yucca project, said it would take "something extraordinary" to find the funding the administration says is needed given the legislative box that the White House Office of Management and Budget has created by linking the funding to separate legislation.

The administration has always relied on the House to come up with the needed money for Yucca Mountain and counter problems in the Senate, where Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, an ardent Yucca opponent, is in the leadership and has the ability to sidetrack legislation or keep funding down for the waste project.

Although Congress overrode Nevada's objections to the waste facility in 2002, the state and its congressional delegation continue to fight the project in the courts and anywhere else possible.

Domenici said he planned to discuss with administration officials ways to get out of the budget problem and ensure full funding for the program. But he said finding the money may be "very, very difficult."

---------------------------

Pahrump Valley Times
June 9, 2004

Johnnie man joins political race

By Phillip Gomez
PVT

The sole resident of Johnnie, on the hill leading south into Pahrump, is running for Nye County commissioner.

Ken Clearwater Grubb, a full-blooded Delaware Indian, has thrown his hat in the ring for District I, Precint 19 and 23.

Grubb, a Republican, says his main focus in the campaign is for the development of needed infrastructures in the county, particularly those associated with the proposed nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain. He wants to see that federal project developed and tapped into as a source of funding for the new hospital in Pahrump. Grubb says he also would like to see a highway bypass developed around Pahrump for the transportation of nuclear waste to the Yucca Mountain facility, should it ever become a reality.

Grubb also calls for the development of water retention basins at Willow Pass and Johnnie, to prevent highway and street flooding during spring and fall rainy periods.

An engineer by trade, Grubb in the early 1960s, when he was still a teenager, worked for Chicago Bridge and Iron as a contractor of the Army Corps of Engineers to remove the London Bridge from the Thames River in England to Lake Havasu, Ariz.

---------------------------
State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
---------------------------