New Yucca oversight limits decried

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Sept. 17, 2004 | 11:51 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department is unfairly trying to restrict Nevada's ability to monitor the department's Yucca Mountain project, the state's five members of Congress said.

In a letter sent Thursday to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, the lawmakers objected to department officials who last month outlined plans to apply stricter control over how the state spends federal money on Yucca oversight. Specifically, the lawmakers are concerned that the department aims to limit their ability to spend money to analyze proposed waste transportation routes.

"We request that the Department reconsider its funding guidance and continue to provide local governments with the necessary oversight resources," the lawmakers wrote.

Congress each year gives Nevada and nine counties money to use for oversight of Yucca, a plan to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Nevada counties, plus one in California, split $4 million this year.

There are limits on spending. The federal money cannot be used for anti-Yucca lobbying or lawsuits, for example. But lawmakers say the department now intends to limit the spending in new ways, curbing the ability of state officials to conduct basic oversight.

Energy Department officials have said they are not trying to block Nevada oversight in new ways; the department is just following the federal law that limits the spending, a department spokesman said.