Report raps LV junkets funded by nuclear industry

Friday, July 31, 1998 | 11:03 a.m.

Nuclear industry lobbyists paid $81,421 for members of Congress and their staffs to visit Las Vegas and Yucca Mountain, the proposed site of a national high-level nuclear waste dump.

Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project released a six-page report, "Irradiated Las Vegas Junkets," detailing the 1997 trip to Las Vegas for 74 senators, representatives and staffers who toured Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Apparently the Nuclear Energy Institute's efforts paid off, the report said. Of those whose expenses were paid by NEI, 85 percent voted to end a filibuster of a temporary nuclear waste storage bill in the Senate and 95 percent voted in favor of the bill in the House.

"The nuclear industry should not be funding trips for congressional staff," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project.

"Las Vegas hotel and casino perks for Congress are not doled out to improve democracy, but to provide the nuclear lobby greater access to Congress," said Auke Piersma, energy policy analyst with Public Citizen.

The report criticized the NEI-funded tour for barring Nevada's oversight scientists from participating. "The Department of Energy, at the behest of NEI, continues to refuse Nevada personnel access to the tours of Yucca Mountain, despite open access at all other times," the report said.

"To get 74 members or staff to agree to a trip is difficult, but if Las Vegas is the destination, they tend to make an exception," said Steve Weissman, legislative representative of Public Citizen's Congress Watch. On at least one occasion, congressional staff stayed at the Rio hotel-casino with its sandy beach by the pool, 15 restaurants, golf course, 20 retail stores and "the world's largest public wine collection."

The NEI paid more than $6,000 for Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and two staff members, Nils Johnson and Mike Tracy, for their Las Vegas trip. Craig is a sponsor of temporary nuclear waste storage at the Nevada Test Site.

Nathaniel Wienecke, staffer for Rep. Daniel Burton, R-Ind., got a $2,084 expense-paid trip.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., sent Scott Aliferis for $1,383. Upton sponsored the temporary storage bill in the House.

The report came out as the Senate's Subcommittee on Nuclear Safety held an oversight hearing Thursday on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency in charge of licensing a repository at Yucca Mountain.

A General Accounting Office representative testified that the NRC was moving too slowly on correcting problems at the nation's nuclear power plants. Nine reactors out of 109 are shut down.

Public Citizen's report said as utility deregulation takes effect, the nuclear industry will cut corners at its power plants.

"Public Citizen is trying to cobble together" the issues of fact-finding trips with the oversight hearing, said Steve Unglesbee, NEI spokesman.

"We are scrupulous about the legal requirements involved," Unglesbee said. "There's no better way for a congressman or staff member than to see nuclear facilities. They see in reality what becomes policy."

An ethics law that took effect Jan. 1, 1996, banned most gifts to Congress. However, members of Congress, their spouses and their staffs are allowed to accept free trips to attend meetings, give speeches or study issues related to their official duties. They must file reports telling who paid for the trips and how much they cost. Public Citizen used these disclosures for its report.

The NEI spent $54,871 on 46 trips for congressional aides in 1996, including such resorts as Pebble Beach, Calif., and Hilton Head, S.C.