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House spending bill thwarts Obama on Yucca nuke waste site
A House GOP energy programs spending bill unveiled Wednesday would reverse the White House decision to abandon the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada.
The fiscal year 2012 appropriations plan for energy programs provides $35 million to support Yucca, including $10 million for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to continue licensing of the project, according to a House Appropriations Committee summary.
The bill — which an Appropriations subcommittee will take up Thursday — also forbids any funding in the measure from being used to shut down the Yucca program, or actions that “irrevocably remove” the prospect that Yucca could be used as a waste dump in the future.
The Obama administration’s decision to walk away from the long-planned (and long-delayed) site — a project fiercely opposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — has come under fire from Republicans.
A House Energy and Commerce Committee panel, which is investigating the decision, will delve into the issue at a Wednesday afternoon hearing that will feature renewed criticism from Republicans.
They’re armed with a recent Government Accountability Office report they requested that found the decision to walk away from Yucca could “restart a costly and time-consuming process” to find another waste storage site.
The White House last year created an expert commission to study options for managing the nation’s spent nuclear fuel.
