Probe confirms conflict of interest for Yucca law firm

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Nov. 16, 2001 | 11:13 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy could decide within 15 days what will happen to Winston & Strawn, the law firm that is handling the legal work for DOE's Yucca Mountain project.

An internal investigation revealed Thursday that the firm may have had a conflict of interest with another client that it did not disclose, a DOE spokesman said today.

Firm lawyers said in the report they did not have a conflict of interest by working for the pro-Yucca lobby group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, which the firm represented until July.

From 1999 until July, the firm represented both NEI and the DOE. That's a conflict of interest because the DOE is supposed to be an independent Yucca manager, Nevada lawmakers said.

DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman released a 26-page investigation report on Thursday, recommending the DOE's internal lawyers review the report, which details the firm's relationship with NEI and DOE, and then decide what kind of action to take against the firm, if any.

DOE officials interviewed during Friedman's investigation said they could have disqualified Winston & Strawn as a candidate for the DOE Yucca contract if they had known the firm's ties to NEI when they hired the firm in 1999.

But Friedman's report noted that DOE officials have made no conclusions about whether there was a conflict of interest.

Nevada lawmakers have said the law firm mess helps aids their argument that the DOE's whole scientific study of Yucca Mountain has been flawed.

"It's important to note that the IG report found no indications of an improper bias in the Department's analysis of Yucca Mountain," DOE spokesman Joe Davis said today.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., are plotting their next moves. Reid plans to send a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft requesting some sort of action, Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said today.

Reid said he also could launch a congressional inquiry. Both senators said there should be an independent scientific investigation of whether Yucca Mountain is a suitable waste site. They also urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to carefully consider the law firm's actions when the NRC eventually reviews the Yucca proposal.