Editorial: Don’t end oversight of nuke dump

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 3:53 a.m.

If someone had to pick a single federal government program that deserves more scrutiny, not less, it would have to be the Yucca Mountain Project. After all, the Department of Energy too often has ignored scientific evidence that has demonstrated how dangerous it would be to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain. That is why it was so disturbing to learn that Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is considering a recommendation to place the Yucca Mountain Project "off-budget." If Congress were to agree to this change, it would mean that the Yucca Mountain Project's budget wouldn't face the same spending constraints as other government programs, effectively limiting congressional oversight of this terribly mismanaged program.

Throughout its existence the Yucca Mountain Project has received stinging rebukes for not only its slipshod scientific investigation, but also for its sorry management. In 1999 a GAO report noted that $6.5 billion and 15 years later, the Yucca Mountain Project was still 12 years behind schedule. This obviously wouldn't be a ringing endorsement to decrease oversight of that project. Nevadans naturally are frightened about giving a budgetary green light to an agency that has not earned the public's trust.

It is encouraging that Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the assistant majority leader, is adamantly opposed to Abraham's proposal. Reid believes it would be wrong to lessen the DOE's accountability. It would be a travesty if Congress were to suspend its annual review of the budget of a program that has done a disastrous job of assessing whether man's deadliest waste can safely be stored in Nevada.