Reid-led subcommittee cuts proposed Yucca budget

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, July 23, 2002 | 9:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A key panel led by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., slashed next year's proposed budget for Yucca Mountain by one-third, setting up a showdown with pro-Yucca lawmakers later this year.

The Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee approved a budget framework Monday that sets aside $336 million for Yucca Mountain -- $191 million less than what the Energy Department requested, and $39 million less than this year's budget.

It is an annual ritual: Reid, subcommmittee chairman and the No. 2 Senate Democrat, uses his influence to reduce project funding in an attempt to slow its progress, and Yucca advocates negotiate to restore the money.

A final compromise likely will be worked out between House and Senate negotiators in a conference committee room behind closed doors later this fall.

"I just wanted to keep it lower than this year," Reid said. "As you know they will try to raise it up in conference higher than it was this year."

The annual budget wrangling unfolds in a new context this year -- when the Senate approved Yucca just three weeks ago, Congress had officially endorsed the Yucca site.

Nevada has long battled to keep the national high-level nuclear waste dump out of the state. While Nevada lawmakers can no longer stop Yucca in Congress, Reid has vowed to slow project progress by squeezing its budget.

Energy Department officials are urging lawmakers to restore the $527 million they requested, so that they can stick to an ambitious timeline for opening the site as early as 2010.

"Our budget request reflects the amount we believe necessary to conduct ongoing work on the Yucca Mountain project," DOE spokesman Joe Davis said. "The appropriation process has many steps before final budgets on this project are set."The Yucca budget is wrapped inside a broader $26.3 billion bill that will be the subject of further House-Senate negotiations.

In addition to the Yucca budget, the bill contains a long list of energy and water projects, including about $160 million for Nevada. That includes $2.5 million for the state of Nevada and $6 million for Nevada counties for Yucca oversight. The legislation also includes $2.5 million for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to continue groundwater studies around Yucca Mountain.

According to Reid's office, the latest version of the bill also includes: