Tuesday, April 7, 1998 | 10:45 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- Nevada's lawmakers said Monday that retiring Energy Secretary Federico Pena would be sorely missed as an advocate for the state's interests in the White House, particularly for his opposition to building an interim nuclear waste site.
Pena, who announced Monday his plans to step down effective June 30, was the administration's point man in opposition to the proposed short-terms storage site of high-level waste near the Nevada Test Site.
"I think it's a great loss to the country and the state of Nevada," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the top Democrat on the subcommittee that funded the Energy Department.
Calling Pena "as responsive to the needs of Nevada" as any past Energy secretary, Reid said, "I don't know how we would hope to have anybody as good to us."
Pena came to the post without a day's work in the energy field, having spent his career as the Denver mayor in the 1980s and as transportation secretary from 1993 to 1996.
"It's not his area of expertise and it's an incredibly difficult department to manage. I can't blame him for wanting to leave," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of the Nuclear Information Resource Service, an anti-nuclear grassroots group. "My overall impression is that he himself was not majorly identified with any policy," Mariotte added. "He really was a caretaker administrator. I can't think of any policy that will falter or press ahead now that he's leaving."
But Reid, other lawmakers and independent analysts credited Pena for being a fine administrator and for properly organizing an office that was left in some disarray by his predecessor, Hazel O'Leary, who was often criticized for her expensive trips across the globe.
"I have not heard an iota of criticism of him," said Norman Ornstein, a political analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, one of the leading Washington think tanks.
While at the DOE, Pena has heeded the first rule of being a cabinet member: no news is good news, Ornstein said. "If they're not criticized, or they're not getting a lot of attention publicly, they're probably doing a pretty good job."
Pena did make several public appearances on Nevada's behalf, including trips out to the Nevada Test Site and a Washington appearance with Reid, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., and Gov. Bob Miller to reiterate the White House's opposition the interim storage site.
"Pena has understood the effect thousands of shipment of high level nuclear waste could have on Nevada and states across the country," Bryan said.
But Pena has just as vigorously voiced the White House's support for a long-term storage site, which will be in Yucca Mountain if it is deemed safe, and he was a vocal supporter of nuclear energy -- two facts not lost on the nuclear industry.
"We are also pleased that the secretary has supported preserving nuclear power as a key component of the U.S. energy portfolio," said Joe F. Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute.
If Pena wasn't an expert on the minutiae of nuclear policy, he understood an important factor in pressing the administration's agenda: developing a good relationship with Congress, even the more testy House Republicans.
"Mr. Pena did make an effort to make himself available to Congress and to both parties," said Mike Dayton, chief of staff for Rep. James Gibbons, R-Nev., a member of the House Resources Committee.
Miller praised Pena, saying he has been fair with Nevada over the issue of nuclear waste at a proposed dump at Yucca Mountain.
Miller said Pena called him to tell him he is resigning in June. The governor said he worked with Pena for five years, first when he was transportation secretary and now as energy secretary.
"Secretary Pena has been committed to fair play for Nevada over the issue of nuclear waste," Miller said. "The secretary has always been receptive to dialogue with Nevada. He takes our concerns seriously and keeps an open mind. This has been a far better attitude than we've seen with his predecessors at Energy."
The governor also said he had an "excellent working relationship," when Pena was transportation secretary. "His commitment to improving our highways and other transportation systems has been invaluable in helping the states keep pace with their needs," Miller said.
SUN REPORTER Cy Ryan contributed to this story.
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