Reid lone dissenter at Abraham hearing

Monday, Jan. 22, 2001 | 10:47 a.m.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid was the lone dissenting voice over the weekend to the confirmation of Spencer Abraham as energy secretary.

Reid told his colleagues on the Senate floor Saturday that he was opposing Abraham because of his "troubling record" on storing nuclear waste in Nevada, including Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Abraham was among seven of President Bush's cabinet choices who were confirmed on Saturday.

"As a senator from Michigan, he voted repeatedly to ship nuclear waste to the state of Nevada despite the overwhelming evidence that such a move was being made without regard for sound science and public health and safety," Reid said on the Senate floor.

"He voted to ship nuclear waste to Nevada notwithstanding the fact that there is no safe route for the transportation of high-level nuclear waste through states and cities and towns in America. He supported an industry-backed bill that would have expedited delivery of nuclear waste to Nevada on an interim basis. He even supported overriding President Clinton's veto of a bill, which would have greatly weakened the EPA's role in establishing the appropriate radiation standards at Yucca Mountain.

"The decision on the designation of a permanent nuclear waste repository rests with the secretary of energy," Reid added. "This decision and others relating to Yucca Mountain must be made without bias.

"Regrettably, Secretary-designee Abraham's record as a senator and his testimony before the Energy Committee as a nominee lead me to believe that he may not be capable of such impartiality on the very important issue."

Reid last month asked the DOE's inspector general to investigate possible bias on the part of the DOE and its chief Yucca Mountain contractor, TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc.

A team of federal investigators has been dispatched to Las Vegas to probe whether laws were broken in the drafting of DOE documents that suggested Yucca Mountain is safe to store radioactive waste, even though lengthy studies haven't been completed.

Reid said the documents, obtained by the Sun, appeared to show the DOE collaborating with TRW to win approval for the Nevada repository.

The Sun reported Dec. 1 that it had obtained a 60-page draft of a DOE overview on Yucca Mountain declaring the site suitable for nuclear waste storage.

The newspaper also obtained a two-page memo, allegedly written by TRW, that suggested the overview could be used to help the nuclear industry sell Yucca Mountain to Congress.

The DOE had been preparing to make a recommendation on Yucca Mountain's suitability in June, but the decision has been delayed because of the inspector general's investigation.

Yucca Mountain is the only site under study to store the nation's high-level nuclear waste.