U.S. Chamber of Commerce to urge Yucca decision

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, Dec. 6, 2001 | 9:56 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today is expected to launch a first strike in its new campaign to advocate Yucca Mountain.

The Chamber at a press conference plans to urge Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and President Bush to make a decision about the DOE-managed Yucca project, a proposal to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste in tunnels under the mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The DOE has been studying Yucca Mountain for years and Abraham this winter is widely expected to recommend the site to Bush as a suitable waste burial ground.

But a draft copy of a congressional audit that surfaced last week recommended delaying the Yucca project indefinitely. The General Accounting Office report said too many scientific studies at the site are still pending to make a decision.

Chamber officials are expected to outline flaws in the draft report, which has not been finalized and is not expected to be officially released until later this month. They plan to stress that ratepayers who use electricity generated by nuclear power plants have paid about $20 billion for the government to develop a permanent nuclear waste dump. Roughly $8 billion of that has been spent on Yucca already.

Today's event is part of a national pro-Yucca lobbying effort unveiled Nov. 15 by the U.S. Chamber's organization of nuclear energy-related members, called the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth. The alliance enlisted John Sununu, who served as chief of staff for former President George Bush, and former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, as its high-profile leaders.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce withdrew its membership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over the issue. The national group did not contact the local Chamber while its energy arm was developing the pro-Yucca strategy.

The Las Vegas Chamber has had no contact with its former parent group since then, spokeswoman Catherine Levy said. The Las Vegas Chamber, one of the nation's largest local chambers, plans to donate the $3,000 in dues it would have paid the U.S. Chamber to an anti-Yucca effort, Levy said. That effort has not been decided, she said.

The local group hardly misses the minor benefits of being a U.S. Chamber member, Levy said.

Las Vegas Chamber officials had no comment on today's U.S. Chamber press conference, she said.

The U.S. Chamber has 3 million business members and 3,000 state and local chambers. The U.S. Chamber's services include lobbying Congress, fighting in court and offering member benefits and discounts, such as retirement and insurance plans.