Senators who led in nuke money voted for Yucca

Benjamin Grove

Thursday, July 11, 2002 | 11:02 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The senators who have received the most money from the nuclear industry voted for Yucca Mountain, according to a campaign money watchdog group.

The 45 Republicans who voted for the nuclear waste dump project on Tuesday received an average $50,585 between 1997 and 2002 from companies that operate nuclear power plants, nuclear trade groups, and companies that develop nuclear technology. That's according to figures compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

For the 15 Democrats who voted for Yucca, the average was $35,900.

The senators who received the most cash from the industry, according to the analysis: Robert Smith, R-N.H. ($169,021); Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska ($146,542); Rick Santorum, R-Pa. ($113,191); Mary Landrieu, D-La. ($109,249); Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. ($98,149). All voted for Yucca.

Twenty-four of the top 25 cash recipients voted for Yucca, with the exception of Sen. John Breaux, D-La.

After months of lobbying on both sides of the Yucca issue -- project foes led by the state of Nevada spent several million dollars of their own on television commercials and lobbyists -- the Senate voted 60-39 to approve the project, marking the end of years of legislative wrangling.

The campaign cash figures generally show that the industry, which lobbied heavily for the plan to permanently bury its high-level nuclear waste at the Nevada site, influenced the vote, the CRP report said.

"The vote was a bitter defeat for Nevada's congressional delegation, led by Majority Whip Harry Reid who had lobbied vigorously against the plan," the report said. "But when it came down to it, Reid and his friends may just have been outgunned."

But campaign cash does not weigh heavily on a lawmaker's policy decision, lobbyists often argue. Most senators who voted for Yucca did so because they want the waste piling up in their states shipped to Yucca -- not because the industry gave them a few donations, nuclear industry officials say.

Senators who voted for Yucca believed the site is safe and represents good public policy, said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a lobby group. He pointed to senators like Breaux, who received campaign money from the industry but voted against Yucca. Several senators who received no industry money voted for it.

"It's unfair to draw a direct analogy between campaign contributions and the vote," Singer said.

Even Reid, a Democrat, defended some of the senators who received nuclear industry money.

"Some of them have been long-time advocates of Yucca Mountain, so in fairness, why wouldn't they take some money from the industry?"

Still, Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., have said repeatedly that the industry spent more money in the Yucca fight, making their job tougher.

Today the senators said they were most struck by the report's pleasant surprises, including Breaux, who voted against Yucca despite receiving $66,050; and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who received $47,250.