Without Congress, state won’t get more Yucca funds

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, June 4, 2004 | 10:11 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada will not get the additional $4 million for Yucca Mountain oversight it requested from the Energy Department, unless Congress approves a change, a department official said Wednesday.

The state has already received close to $1 million from Congress for its work on Yucca Mountain this year and the department has no authority to provide any more money for the same work, Margaret Chu, director of the department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management wrote in a five-page letter to the state.

In a letter to Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects, Chu said the department believes the state can only get more money if Congress approves it.

The state sued the department in March, claiming it shortchanged the state $4 million this fiscal year in the funding for oversight of the development of a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Nevada attorneys believe the state is entitled to money set aside to fund the project, regardless of what Congress allocates.

Loux said Chu's letter was no surprise. The state asked the court hearing its lawsuit to put the case on the fast track, but the court has not. In the meantime, state officials have been evaluating how they will prioritize the work without the additional money. What specifically would be cut is hard to pinpoint until the federal court rules on the state's six other legal challenges against the project.

"We're treading water until we know," Loux said.

If the court rules in favor of Nevada, the state will not need the money to fight the project.

However, in case that doesn't happen, the state has requested $14 million for fiscal year 2005 and plans to file a petition with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to stop work on the project until the state has enough money to meet its responsibilities under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

As an official party to the licensing process, Nevada has to follow certain rules, such as posting documents to the electronic database, and the work can not be done properly without adequate money, Loux said.

Meanwhile, the Nuclear Energy Institute placed full-page ads in Washington newspapers The Hill and Roll Call Thursday calling for Congress to give the Energy Department access to the Nuclear Waste Fund.

"One of America's most important environmental projects -- a secure repository for used nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, Nevada -- is at risk unless Congress takes decisive action now," according to NEI, the nuclear industry's lobbying arm.

The ad, which depicts a cowboy labeled "U.S. Congress" rescuing a woman labeled "Yucca Mountain Repository" tied to the railroad tracks in front of an oncoming train, calls for Congress to pass bills that let money from the fund go directly to the project. It also wants to "stop the looming crisis in fiscal year 2005" pointing to the department's claim it will have to lay off people in Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and other states if the funding change is not approved by July 31.

Suzanne Struglinski can be reached at (202) 662-7245 or suzanne@ lasvegassun.com.