Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 | 10:56 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush nominated Sam Bodman today as the new energy secretary.
Bodman takes over the Energy Department at a time when numerous questions still remain on the Yucca Mountain project in Nevada and Congress has yet to finish a comprehensive energy bill.
Nevada officials today were researching stances Bodman may have taken on Yucca Mountain or nuclear power issues, but initial checks didn't reveal much.
Incoming Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada had a "long and productive" conversation with Bodman today, according to a Reid statement. Reid asked him to keep an open mind on issues facing the department.
"I stressed to Dr. Bodman that, while I understand he serves at the pleasure of the president who supports the project, I hoped he would take a fresh look at alternatives to the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain," Reid said. "He agreed to do so."
Reid said he was looking forward to a thorough nomination process in order to examine Bodman's stances on issues facing the department.
Bodman will replace Spencer Abraham. Abraham resigned last month after serving with Bush since the beginning of his presidency. Abraham, a former Republican Michigan senator, lost his re-election race in 2000.
It's not clear whether Bodman had much involvement with the nuclear industry during his years in business. Bodman today said he spent 14 years managing Cabot Corporation, a global chemical company. Among Cabot's array of products is a chemical processing arm that markets tantalum, niobium and niobium alloys -- materials well suited for high-temperature environments in chemical, pharmaceutical and nuclear plants, according to the company Web site.
Bodman's nomination took some by surprise.
"He wasn't even on anybody's guess list," said Allison MacFarlane, a research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has closely followed the Yucca project for years. She said she had never heard of Bodman.
Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said, "I am confident that Mr. Bodman will face the same rigorous questioning about his position on Yucca Mountain" as his predecessor did.
"Should he be confirmed as the next energy secretary, I will remain committed to educating Mr. Bodman on the problems and risks with shipping high level nuclear waste across the entire country to Yucca Mountain, an unsafe and flawed project that will not solve our nation's nuclear waste problems," Gibbons said.
Gibbons said he hopes Bodman will choose to invest in "21st century technologies," such as transmutation and reprocessing rather than "wasting millions of dollars on the unsound Yucca Mountain project."
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., issued a similar statement.
"It is my hope that the secretary designee is open to alternative solutions when it comes to disposing of nuclear waste, though I expect that Mr. Bodman, if confirmed, will carry out the administration's wishes which includes Yucca Mountain," Porter said. "Nothing changes this fight. I will continue to work with my Nevada colleagues to stop the project."
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said that when it comes to Yucca Mountain, it is "irrelevant" who is nominated to the post because the administration has already made up its mind that it wants the project.
"If they have nominated this gentleman, I guarantee he will not stand up to them on this," Berkley said. "He has already passed that test."
Berkley said the administration has made clear it is not interested in anyone else's point of view. She said she doubted that Bodman has been "immersed in the Yucca Mountain issue" but that she will send letters and take other actions to make sure he knows of its problems.
"But I think we will be whistling in the wind," she said. "This is not someone with independent thoughts or the ability to take independent action."
Joe Colvin, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's advocacy group and top Yucca supporter, said the industry looks forward to working with Bodman to "maximize nuclear energy's role in achieving the nation's clean air goals and advancing its economic well-being and national security interests."
"We are greatly encouraged that the president has chosen an accomplished individual who clearly understands the vital role that dependable, affordable energy plays in fostering economic growth and improving quality of life for every American," Colvin said in a statement sent out by the institute.
"Given his extensive experience, Mr. Bodman understands the need for the federal government to send appropriate signals to the private sector that it values the large capital investments that are urgently needed in the nation's energy infrastructure," Colvin's statement said.
Bodman is now deputy secretary at the Treasury Department.
He previously served as deputy secretary at the Commerce Department, where he managed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Patent and Trademark Office and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who leads the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, supports Bodman's nomination and predicted a "swift and smooth Senate confirmation."
"He is articulate and brings a broad and impressive set of skills to the Department of Energy," Domenici said in a statement. "His management experience will be a boon to the department. His financial expertise will be a tremendous asset in accurately assessing the economic impact of energy policy and crafting that policy in an environment of fiscal restraint."
Abraham's nomination was not without controversy due to his previous working relationships with Michigan's auto manufacturers and his role in an attempt to actually abolish the Energy Department, but the Senate approved him.
Abraham's support in the Senate for the Yucca Mountain project followed him to the cabinet position as he became the main face of the administration's support for the nuclear waste storage site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. He was also a key advocate for construction of new nuclear power plants.
Abraham started the process outlined in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 that eventually led to the approval of Yucca Mountain as the site for the nation to store its most dangerous nuclear waste.
In February 2002, Abraham recommended the project to the president and Bush signed off on the project days later, moving the fight to Congress. Congress eventually approved the site and Abraham was in the Capitol the day the Senate approved the site in July 2002.
But Abraham's tenure also saw significant roadblocks for the project that Bodman will have to figure out how to solve.
A federal court's decision throwing out a key radiation protection standard and an administrative court's demand for better documentation were among the reasons the department decided not to submit the project's license application by the end of the year as planned.
Bodman and the Energy Department's top Yucca official, Margaret Chu, will have to determine a new schedule for the project or explain how it will still open by 2010. Meanwhile, lawsuits against the department for not taking waste in 1998 as required are still pending and those could lead to judgments or settlements of billions of dollars in damages.
Bodman was born in Chicago in 1938. He received a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University in 1961. He received his doctorate of science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1965.
Bodman gave the Republican National Committee $15,000 this May and gave Bush $2,000 in 2003 for his re-election campaign, according to campaign records compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
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