Yucca Mountain News Clips
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
November 09, 2004
Nevada lawmakers approve money to continue Yucca Mountain fight
Associated Press
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - State lawmakers have approved spending $1.75 million to continue fighting plans to build a national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
The Legislature's Interim Finance Committee, which makes budget decisions when the Legislature is not in session, allocated $1.1 million Monday for the Agency for Nuclear Projects and $650,000 for the attorney general's office for outside legal assistance.
Bob Loux, executive director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, said funding from the Legislature's contingency fund could not wait until the Legislature convenes in February.
The U.S. Department of Energy plans by the end of December to file a licensing application for Yucca Mountain with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the state has to be ready with its experts and legal advisers, Loux said.
The money could be returned to the state if a federal budget is approved including money for Nevada's Yucca Mountain scientific work.
The $1.1 million sought by Loux was a new request. The $650,000 for the attorney general's office will come from a $1 million appropriation made by the 2003 Legislature that had reverted to the state general fund when it was not spent quickly enough.
The Nuclear Projects Agency relies on federal funding for its fight against Yucca Mountain, but Congress allocated only $1 million for fiscal 2004, far less than the $2.5 million anticipated. A federal budget stalemate this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, means no more funding is yet available.
Attorney General Brian Sandoval has sued the Energy Department for more government funding for its anti-Yucca effort. That case is scheduled to be heard Jan. 10 by a panel of federal judges in Washington, D.C.
Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and most Nevada political leaders oppose the Energy Department plan to entomb 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
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On the Net:
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects: http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste
Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
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Las Vegas SUN
November 09, 2004
$1.1 million Yucca allocation helps deplete emergency fund
By Cy Ryan
<cy@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Capital Bureau
CARSON CITY -- Approval Monday by the Legislative Interim Finance Committee of spending $2.1 million to continue the battle against Yucca Mountain and to help fix problems at the Sawyer State Office Building has left the state's emergency fund with just $150,000.
Bob Loux, director of the state Office of Nuclear Projects, was asked Monday whether the request for $1.1 million for the Yucca Mountain fight could be delayed until the Legislature meets in February.
"We're running out of money. Are you sure we can't put this off until the regular session?" Sen. Bob Beers, R-Las Vegas, asked.
Loux told the committee that the Energy Department plans to file its application for a construction permit in December to start turning Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, into the nation's dump for highly radioactive nuclear waste. Loux said he needed the money from the emergency fund to prepare for the hearings.
Loux said there was a possible bright spot in all of this, however: It may be illegal for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to start the hearings because there are no radiation standards on how long the public should be protected.
The Environmental Protection Agency believes it will take years to develop a new standard to replace the one struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., Loux said.
The appeals court in July ruled that the radiation standard for public protection was inadequate. The court tossed out the 10,000-year radiation compliance period that was approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. Congress either has to change the law or the EPA has to come up with a new standard.
Loux said it would take years for the EPA to draft and approve a new regulation.
Outside the hearing, Loux said the state could take legal action if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission begins its hearings. After the Energy Department files its application, the state has 90 days to submit all of its records, e-mails and other data electronically to the regulatory commission. Loux said there are 8 million to 10 million pages to be transmitted, costing between $160,000 and $200,000.
The money would also be used to hire attorneys and to retain the 30 scientific expert witnesses to oppose the project.
Committee members wondered why they should allocate the money when the legal issues were still pending.
Loux said the state needs to be ready to proceed if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decides to go ahead.
The state planned on receiving $2.5 million from the federal government for the Yucca Mountain legal battle, but Loux said it received only $1 million. He said this year's federal appropriation still has not been approved.
The hearing before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is scheduled to take about four years.
The Interim Finance Committee Monday also allocated $650,000 from its emergency account to the state attorney general's office to continue the other legal battles against the Energy Department.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams said the office mistakenly sent $1 million back to the general treasury and now needs some of that money for the court battles that are under way.
There was $13.5 million in the emergency fund when the Legislature adjourned at the end of the summer of the 2003. The expenditures have included: $2.7 million to help schoolteachers pay insurance costs; $2.6 million to pay to settle the lawsuits over the construction of the Lied Library at UNLV and $2.6 million for the Forestry Division to buy vehicles and cover the cost of fighting wildfires.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
November 09, 2004
Lawmakers approve funds to continue Yucca fight
By Sean Whaley
Review-Journal Capital Bureau
CARSON CITY -- Lawmakers on Monday approved spending $1.75 million to continue the state's efforts to fight construction of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
The request for $1.1 million for the Agency for Nuclear Projects and $650,000 for the attorney general's office for outside legal assistance was approved by the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee, which makes budget decisions when the Legislature is not in session.
Bob Loux, executive director of the Agency for Nuclear Projects, said the additional funding from the Legislature's contingency fund is needed now and cannot wait until the Legislature convenes in February.
The U.S. Department of Energy has indicated it plans to file a licensing application for Yucca Mountain with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in December, and the state has to be ready with its experts and legal advisers, he said.
Loux said the money could be returned to the state if a federal budget that includes money for Nevada's Yucca Mountain scientific work is approved.
Only the $1.1 million requested by Loux is new money. The $650,000 for the attorney general's office will come from a $1 million appropriation made by the 2003 Legislature that had reverted to the state general fund when it was not spent quickly enough.
The Nuclear Projects Agency has relied on federal support for its fight against Yucca Mountain, but Congress allocated only $1 million for fiscal 2004, far less than the $2.5 million anticipated. And with a federal budget stalemate this fiscal year, no funding is yet available. The new federal fiscal year began Oct. 1.
Attorney General Brian Sandoval has sued the Energy Department for more government funding for its efforts against Yucca Mountain. That case is scheduled to be heard by a panel of federal judges in Washington on Jan. 10.
Guinn and most Nevada political leaders oppose plans by the DOE to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
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Nevada Appeal
November 09, 2004
Lawmakers approve $1.6 million for battle to block Yucca nuclear dump
By Geoff Dornan
gdornan@nevadaappeal.com
Nevada legislators on Monday approved $1.6 million to continue the battle to block the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump project.
Of that, $1 million was to make up money the federal government cut from Nevada's requested Yucca Mountain budget.
Nuclear Projects Director Bob Loux said he made the request "regretfully."
"We did not see what has been recommended historically in fiscal 2004," he told the Interim Finance Committee, which makes funding decisions between legislative sessions.
The state has normally received $2.5 million but this year was cut to $1 million for Yucca Mountain funding. Loux said the reduction comes at a bad time because it could limit the state's ability to fight proceedings designed to license the nuclear waste dump 75 miles north of Las Vegas.
The most critical deadline, he said, involves entering the state's evidence - upward of 1 million documents - into a computer database set up to handle the licensing procedure. He said Nevada must do that within 90 days of the Department of Energy filing or forfeit rights to participate in the process.
He said that will take up to $160,000. Most of the rest is for legal fees.
Loux said the big question at this point is whether the Energy Department can legally file its license application. He pointed out the court of appeals has thrown out health and safety standards proposed by the Department of Energy, and the state's position is it can't seek a license without those standards. That issue may, like others in the process, end up in court.
He said the Department of Energy may file the application and ask that the process begin while it begins developing new health and safety standards. He said Nevada believes that would be illegal - in effect "putting the cart before the horse."
In addition, IFC approved $650,000 to cover litigation expenses in the Attorney General's Office for cases in the works.
Committee members also approved $1 million from the state contingency fund to remove dangerous tiles from the exterior of the Grant Sawyer state office building in Las Vegas.
Those 6-by-6-inch tiles have been falling off, and the state is suing contractors involved in the project. But lawyers and the Public Works Board have recommended the state immediately begin removing the tiles to make sure no one is injured by falling tiles.
Lawmakers approved the $1 million but refused permission for Public Works to take another $1.25 million out of a Clear Creek improvements budget, saying the agency could come back for more money to continue the tile work during the regular 2005 legislative session.
Committee members approved $507,533 to cover fees charged the Department of Motor Vehicles by credit card companies. The credit card program has been more successful than DMV officials expected, but there is no mechanism in state law to charge the customers for card company fees or to cover those costs out of registration fees.
DMV Director Ginny Lewis said the agency is hoping to present legislation this next session to handle the situation.
Contact reporter Geoff Dornan at nevadaappeal@sbcglobal.net or at 687-8750.
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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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