Thursday, Jan. 18, 2001 | 11:29 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- The man tapped to be the next energy secretary today vowed to jump-start the slow-moving federal plan to bury the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada.
"It has to move forward," said former Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., fielding questions from the Senate Energy Committee at his confirmation hearing.
The committee was expected to approve Abraham today, setting up a likely approval in the full Senate in the next few days.
The issue of the energy crisis in California and its potential spread across the country dominated the hearing.
"We're going to lose life and lose business," said a grave Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. "And this is the tip of the iceberg."
Feinstein again warned that the state's power companies were near bankruptcy and rolling blackouts loom. She said the crisis in the nation's most populous state would have a ripple effect on economies worldwide. The companies are paying skyrocketing rates for electricity but are capped in prices they can charge consumers.
"There is no quick fix," Feinstein said. "We're going to live with this for the next year and a half or two years."
Abraham declined to offer specifics about how he would deal with the energy crisis in California, but pledged to offer them shortly after being confirmed.
Several other senators also told Abraham that the California crisis would spread nationwide. Senators told Abraham his job would be the toughest in the Cabinet. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said he would be accountable for energy price fluctuations beyond his control and environmental messes that he didn't make.
"And he will be held liable for not having opened a nuclear waste repository three years ago," Bingaman said.
The Department of Energy broke its contract to haul waste from power plants to Yucca Mountain by 1998.
"I take very seriously the responsibility of this department to fulfill the commitment made to various companies and rate payers across this country," Abraham said.
In response to several questions about nuclear energy, Abraham suggested he supports a "balanced" approach to energy production that relies less on natural gas and more on increasing coal and nuclear production.
The last time a nuclear power plant was ordered in the United States was in the 1970s. One obstacle has been a growing stockpile of waste at the nation's 103 reactors with no place to put it.
Congress in 1987 approved Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a burial site, but the plan has not yet been proven a safe place to dump 77,000 tons of radioactive spent fuel rods.
Abraham, who has four nuclear reactors in his state, has voted for the Yucca plan. Energy Committee chairman Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, the Senate's leading Yucca proponent, warned Abraham to be ready for the political fight waged by Nevada lawmakers who strongly oppose waste in their state. Nevada officials say scientific evidence suggests Yucca is a bad site because of water leakage and possible volcanic or seismic activity.
Murkowski told Abraham, "This has to be one of your highest priorities."
In his opening statement, Abraham sounded the same "sound science" theme as President-elect George W. Bush on the issue.
"With respect to the nuclear waste program, I share President-elect Bush's commitment to ensuring that sound science governs this program. I share the frustration of members of this committee with the lack of progress in this area. My commitment is to make progress on the nuclear waste program while ensuring sound science governs decisions on site recommendation."
In fielding a variety of questions, Abraham said he would review the new practice of administering lie detector tests to thousands of nuclear lab workers, and he committed to the increased use of alternative fuels.
He listened as Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, a leading nuclear energy advocate, said it was time to crank up as many different types of power plants as possible. "We have become a conserving nation, not a producing nation. We do not conserve our way out of this one," Craig said.
Abraham was introduced -- and endorsed -- by two unlikely lawmakers, Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both D-Mich. Stabenow defeated Abraham for his Senate seat in November and Levin backed her.
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