Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Emergency funds sought for state’s fight against Yucca

CARSON CITY -- The state Nuclear Projects Office is seeking an emergency appropriation of $1.1 million to carry on the fight against Yucca Mountain.

The request goes before the state Board of Examiners on Tuesday, when the board will also consider a $650,000 emergency allocation to Attorney General Brian Sandoval to continue the legal battle against the proposed nuclear dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The federal Yucca Mountain budget is still in question because Congress will not pass the spending bill allocating money to it until after the Nov. 2 election.

The state receives federal money to fight the project but has not received as much as it has wanted in the past year.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee that funds the project is working to cut the overall Yucca budget, which could ultimately delay the project, but in the meantime the state needs money to continue fighting it.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Office, said his budget is "tapped out" and the Energy Department intends to file its application in December for a permit to build the repository. If the federal government submits its application in December, Loux said his office will have 90 days to review whether it is complete. The $1.1 million will carry the projects office through the end of February, but "we may have to come back for more money," he said.

Loux's office must retain experts to review the department's license application and must put all of the state's documents on the electronic system in preparation for the hearing by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The state was getting $2.5 million from the federal government to help in the battle against Yucca Mountain, but that amount was slashed by 60 percent to $1 million. The department and the commission both denied requests from the state for more financial assistance, leaving the state to wait for Congress to pass a bill or get more money from the state.

In approving the budget for the nuclear projects office, the 2003 Legislature anticipated the $2.5 million would be forthcoming in each of the two fiscal years.

If the Board of Examiners, made up of Gov. Kenny Guinn, Secretary of State Dean Heller and Sandoval, approves the request, it goes to the Legislative Interim Finance Committee, which has about $3.3 million left in its emergency fund. The committee is scheduled to meet Nov. 17.

The 2003 Legislature allocated $2 million to the attorney general's office for legal costs, including hiring outside lawyers, to pursue the court battle against Yucca Mountain.

State Budget Director Perry Comeaux said Thursday that the attorney general's office had the authority to carry the balance of unused funds from one year to the next. About $1 million was used in the first year but Sandoval's office did not carry forward the additional $1 million into this fiscal year, so the money reverted to the general treasury.

Sandoval also could have asked the finance committee for permission to carry the unspent money in fiscal 2004 forward to this fiscal year but he did not.

Comeaux said Sandoval is now asking for the $650,000 to cover outstanding and expected litigation expenditures through February next year.

Sandoval said he thought the Interim Finance Committee gave him authority in April this year to carry the money forward but there was a "misunderstanding."

He said the $650,000 is just a part of the $1 million that he had authority to spend.

Sandoval said he needs the money because the state has filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. contending the federal government improperly withheld about $4 million from the state for the nuclear budget. He said arguments are set for Jan. 12 next year.

In addition, he said, the Nuclear Energy Institute has indicated it will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. in which the state won a victory.

The appellate court ruled in July that the EPA's 10,000-year radiation standard for the proposed repository at Yucca unlawfully deviated from the stricter National Academy of Sciences recommendation.

The court ruling, coupled with a decision by a NRC panel that the department did not meet documentation requirements were a setback for project and uncertainty in the fiscal 2005 budget number have left the project hanging until Congress or a court makes more decisions.

The state wants to be on a level playing field, Loux has said. If the department gets all the money it needs and is able move forward with the project, the state wants the money it needs to move ahead with the fight.

The state hired attorney Joseph R. Egan of Washington, D.C., at a rate of $395 an hour and also Antonio Rossmann, a San Francisco attorney, for $300 an hour to represent Nevada in the legal battle.

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