Editorial: Standing up to the boss

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2004 | 9:05 a.m.

Last week President Bush made a surprise choice in nominating Samuel Bodman, deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, to succeed Spencer Abraham as secretary of the Energy Department. Bodman doesn't have a lengthy track record in dealing with energy matters, making his selection puzzling to some energy experts. "Sam who? I've never heard of this guy," one energy industry lobbyist told Reuters news service upon learning of his nomination, adding that Bodman was essentially unknown to other Washington energy policy insiders as well. Nevadans are especially interested in learning more about Bodman and his views on nuclear power, because the Energy Department is the agency seeking a license to build a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, just 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Bodman does have impressive credentials. He was a professor of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before leaving there in 1970 to work for a venture capital firm. He later joined Fidelity Investments, ultimately becoming its president. Bush said Bodman is "a problem solver who knows how to set goals and he knows how to reach them." One of the biggest issues facing Bodman is the Yucca Mountain project, which recently was dealt a setback when a federal appeals court ruled that the dump's design would contain radiation for just 10,000 years, even though a much longer period was required by law. One way of "solving" this problem would be for Congress to pass legislation relaxing this radiation protection standard at Yucca Mountain, paving the way to build the dump. While that would move the project along quickly to the nuclear po wer industry's delight, it would be disastrous because gutting safety standards is the worst possible solution in dealing w! ith man's deadliest waste.

We're not naive enough to think that the president, who already has thrown his support behind the Yucca Mountain project, will suddenly reverse course. But Bodman, if confirmed by the Senate, should take a look at the Yucca Mountain project with a fresh set of eyes, listening to the concerns of Nevada's congressional delegation and even visiting Las Vegas to get a real sense of how devastating a nuclear waste dump would be for our safety and to our economy. And while the president's Cabinet in the next term consists largely of "yes men," we hope that Bodman gives Bush straight advice based on science, not information that's tailor-made to fit the president's own preconceived views. That would make Bodman a true problem solver.