Tauzin’s resignation won’t help Nevada’s Yucca fight

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 | 11:19 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- A leadership change in the House Energy and Commerce Committee will not make Nevada's fight against Yucca Mountain any easier, one member of Nevada's Congressional delegation said this morning.

Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., is stepping down as chairman of one of the most powerful committees in Congress, and is considering an offer to become the top lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry.

Tauzin, who has spent nearly 24 years in Congress, informed House Speaker Dennis Hastert on Tuesday that he would give up his chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee, effective Feb. 16.

He has been a strong supporter of the Energy Department's plan to store 77,000 tons of nuclear waste at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, voting in favor of the project and various related legislation numerous times, said Amy Spanbauer, spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, on Tuesday met with Hastert to press his desire for the chairmanship. Barton, a former oil industry engineer and chairman of the Commerce energy and air quality subcommittee, is viewed as the most likely successor to Tauzin.

Barton now heads the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee and introduced the House Resolution in April 2002 that eventually allowed the Yucca project to move forward to the licensing phase.

"Joe Barton was at the President's side in the Oval Office when he signed the bill approving Yucca Mountain, and he has helped lead the charge in Congress to bury nuclear waste in Nevada," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said.

"The Bush administration, has called for large increases in nuclear power and has looked to congressional allies like Joe Barton to help accomplish this goal. As chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, I assume that he will play an even greater role in pushing ahead with Yucca Mountain."

Spanbauer said Congress still has oversight on the project but the main fight now is in the budget, which does not go through this committee.

"It's still going to be the same uphill fight we've faced before," she said. "It's still 49 states against one."

Tauzin does not plan to seek re-election in November and may leave Congress before then, said Ken Johnson, Tauzin's spokesman, adding that the Republican congressman has yet to decide what he will do next.

But Tauzin, 60, is widely expected to accept a job as head of the Washington lobbying operation of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, or PhRMA, which represents big drug manufacturers such as Eli Lilly and Co. and Merck & Co.

The job offer has raised eyebrows since Tauzin's committee deals with critical legislation affecting the pharmaceutical industry.