Nuke firms behind U.S. Chamber’s pro-Yucca campaign

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2001 | 9:36 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A national alliance of energy companies that includes nuclear utilities led the effort to craft the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's lobbying campaign to promote Yucca Mountain.

The U.S. Chamber manages the Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, but officials are releasing few behind-the-scenes details about how the lobbying initiative was developed -- or specifically who developed it. The campaign was announced last week at a Washington press conference.

What's clear is that the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the federal plan to ship 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, was not contacted for input. The local chamber withdrew its U.S. Chamber membership over the issue Monday.

"There are those times when good organizations disagree on policy, and this is one of those times," said J.P. Moery, a U.S. Chamber vice president. "Obviously we wish they had not withdrawn their membership over a single issue."

The Yucca Mountain plan is backed by nuclear power companies, but Nevada officials oppose it. Nuclear power companies have long demanded that the Department of Energy, which manages the proposed Yucca project, honor a legal commitment to haul their high-level waste to a national dump.

The Yucca plan has not been approved by Congress, the president or Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The U.S. Chamber and energy alliance on Thursday launched the campaign led by high-profile figureheads Geraldine Ferraro and John Sununu to urge final approvals of the Yucca plan.

Leaders of the energy alliance developed the strategy, Moery said. The alliance is a group of 1,200 members including the nation's top nuclear lobby group, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and nuclear power companies including the Southern Co., Duke Energy and Exelon Corp.

U.S. Chamber officials said details were not available about how the initiative was developed but said the Las Vegas Chamber was not contacted about it. Energy alliance leader and U.S. Chamber vice president Bruce Josten has not been available for comment this week, U.S. Chamber officials said.

Like the Las Vegas group, local Chamber of Commerce chapters in cities on nuclear waste transportation routes had no input in developing the U.S. Chamber strategy.

But unlike the Las Vegas chamber, other chapters contacted by the Sun have limited interest in the issue. They don't mind that their parent group is promoting a plan to ship high-level waste to Nevada through their cities, several chamber leaders said.

The Gary, Ind., Chamber of Commerce has no formal position on the federal plan to ship waste through town bound for permanent burial at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"From what I have read and hear, they are providing for safe (waste transportation)," Gary Chamber board chairman Ross Amundson said. "How safe is a subject of some scrutiny. Apparently the U.S. Chamber thinks it's safe."

No pro-Yucca nuclear utilities belong to the Gary chamber, but Indiana relies on nuclear-generated electricity from neighboring states, Amundson said. He believes the nation needs a national nuclear waste repository and supports the Yucca plan.

"I support the U.S. Chamber," Amundson added.

The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce does not have much regular contact with the U.S. Chamber, although it is a member of the parent group, president and CEO Lou Burgher said.

"If they had called me, I certainly would have been supportive of the (Yucca) project," Burgher said. "We've always got the problem of not-in-my-backyard. It's got to go somewhere."

Nearly 8,000 casks could be shipped near Omaha, according to an estimate by the anti-Yucca Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

"To the best of my knowledge, (waste shipping) goes on now, and we haven't had any problems," Burgher said. "I'm more concerned about anhydrous ammonia being spilled than I am about nuclear waste shipments."

The St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association has no formal position on Yucca, even though 4,800 casks of nuclear waste in the coming years could be transported on trucks and trains near St. Louis, according to Nevada estimates.

"It just hasn't risen to a level of taking a formal position," said Tom Irwin, a St. Louis chamber vice president. The chamber's president and CEO Dick Fleming is not familiar with the details of the Yucca plan, Irwin said.

A spokeswoman for the Missouri state chapter of the Chamber of Commerce said the chapter's officers were not familiar with the Yucca project or the new U.S. Chamber initiative.

The U.S. Chamber has had a pro-Yucca position for about 12 years, Moery said. The new lobbying campaign is still being developed, U.S. Chamber spokeswoman Linda Rozett said.

The chamber enlisted former Democratic vice presidential candidate Ferraro and former President George Bush chief-of-staff Sununu to lead the effort. Rozett would not say if Ferraro and Sununu were being paid. She would not say how they were chosen.

Ferraro, of New York, and Sununu, of New Hampshire, hail from states with nuclear power plants.