Spending bill includes $577 million for Yucca

Suzanne Struglinski

Friday, Nov. 19, 2004 | 11:05 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Congressional leaders, scrambling to finalize a massive spending bill, agreed on a Yucca Mountain budget after a long night of meetings, ending much political wrangling and behind-the-scenes negotiations.

The nuclear waste project budget for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1 would be $577 million, the same budget as the last fiscal year, said Tessa Hafen, spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

The Energy and Water Spending bill is finalized and there is little chance the number would change. The bill does not contain any proposed change to the Environmental Protection Agency's radiation standard.

At the center of the Yucca deal-making were Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., a leading pro-Yucca lawmaker, and Reid, who has long battled Yucca and was elected this week to lead the Senate Democrats.

The Energy Department asked for $880 million, and after a fight over how to fund it, the House only approved $131 million. The Energy Department, which is trying to submit its license application for Yucca Mountain to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of the year, has not said how the final budget will affect the project.

Hafen said the $577 million is not ideal for Reid, but when starting at an almost $1 billion request, it is almost half of the amount the department wanted.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, agreed to small across-the-board cuts for all other projects to make up the money needed to fund the Yucca projet, Hafen said.

Back-room debate over Yucca took a leading role this week in a lame-duck session of Congress. Lawmakers have been working feverishly to finalize a $388 billion budget bill for federal agencies and domestic programs, and Yucca was one of a handful of important sticking points.

Reid tried as he does every year to slice the budget. Domenici fought to maintain at least the same level of funding as last year.

Lawmakers are trying to get work done by this evening or Saturday before they leave the Capitol until the new session starts in January.

The giant measure contains extra money for priorities such as veterans and the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan, and likely thousands of projects for lawmakers' home districts.

But the legislation was largely defined by Bush's demands for curbs on domestic spending, with only modest increases for favorites such as education and cuts for some of the president's own initiatives.

"Everybody took hits," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., a chief author of the measure. "There will be members who aren't totally satisfied, but we were committed to stay within the budget number."

In other news, it was unclear today where Reid's nomination to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- one of Reid's top aides, Greg Jaczko -- stood. The commission ultimately would license and regulate Yucca. Domenici and other pro-Yucca lawmakers oppose the nomination.

Reid was working to include Jaczko in a large nominations package under negotiation. The package could contain up to 100 different people awaiting confirmation including nominees for federal judgeships, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, assistant U.S. attorney and other federal positions. Reid has a hold on a number of those nominations, although not judges.

Hafen said Reid is determined to get Jaczko on the commission, so if Domenici wants to hold his nomination up he will bring down the entire nominations package.

"Sen. Reid is very serious about that," Hafen said.

Reid will lift his hold on other nominees as long as Jaczko is in the package, so the ball will be in Domenici's court, Hafen said.

Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos said he did not know where the situation stood earlier today.

The debate on Jaczko's nomination was held up largely this year by Republicans who said they wanted to consider a Republican nominee and they would wait to move both together.

On Monday the White House nominated Albert Henry Konetzni Jr. of New York for a spot on the commission.

Konetzni retired as a Navy vice admiral in July after 38 years, according to the White House. He was a nuclear submariner.

He served as deputy commander of the U.S. Fleet Forces Command and U.S. Atlantic Fleet. He received his bachelor's degree from the United States Naval Academy and his master's degree from George Washington University, according to the White House nomination announcement issued Monday.

Mitch Singer, spokesman for the pro-Yucca Nuclear Energy Institute, said the group would prefer both Jaczko and Konetzni go through the appropriate hearing process, rather than be pushed through during the final hours of a lame-duck session.

"This thing needs to go through a full confirmation," Singer said. "We'd rather see them not rush it."

The Nuclear Energy Institute and some senators oppose Jaczko's nomination because they see him as possibly biased due to his past work in Reid's office against the proposed nuclear waste storage site planned for Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.