Abraham: Congress should sidestep EPA on Yucca

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Congress -- not the Environmental Protection Agency -- should set a new radiation standard for Yucca Mountain, departing Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said Wednesday.

Speaking with reporters, Abraham said congressional action was needed to jump-start the Energy Department's controversial nuclear waste repository program.

The future of the federal plan to bury the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste at the Nevada site was thrown into question when a court last year ruled that the current radiation standard -- a rule that radiation emitted from the site be contained at low levels for 10,000 years -- was not in line with stricter standard recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences.

That sent the Environmental Protection Agency back to the drawing board to devise a new standard -- unless Congress chooses to simply legislate one. If Congress does take that route, it is expected to create a standard that Yucca could meet.

President Bush has said he would respect the ruling of the federal court, and so far, no pro-Yucca lawmakers have said publicly they intend to launch an effort in Congress to set a standard. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., a leading Yucca supporter, told the Sun last week that it would be "too difficult" politically with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in his new role as Minority Leader.

But Abraham, now free from his four-year stint in the Bush administration, on Wednesday urged Congress to act.

"I believe that Congress needs to make it possible for this process to come to a conclusion," Abraham said. "If there needs to be clarification, in the statutes, I think Congress needs to take this up and address it."

Nevada lawmakers have vowed to battle any attempt to change the radiation standard in Congress, and they have listened closely for news that pro-Yucca lawmakers were planning to champion the issue.

"It's our understanding that it is not likely to come up, and obviously we would be in a position to fight it if it did," said Jack Finn, spokesman for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

And given Reid's high-profile role, "Sen. Reid is in a good position to stop any legislation if it did come forward," Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

If there are plans afoot to legislate a radiation standard, it likely would be kept under wraps until there was an opportunity to quietly get the measure approved, said David Cherry, spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. But they may not bother given the long odds of passing it in the Senate with Reid and Ensign keeping watch on both sides of the aisle, Nevada congressional aides said.

The Yucca program has been plagued by delays and budget cuts in its long history. In its most recent setback, the Energy Department failed to file a Yucca license application at the end of last year as planned. But Abraham said the department should still pursue the project.

"I certainly feel every bit as confident today as I was in February 2002 about the recommendation that I made to the president concerning Yucca Mountain and its ability to withstand the tests for safety and radiation standard tests the (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) would require to be met," Abraham said.

Abraham expects energy production to become a higher profile issue, especially as Congress begins debate on another attempt at an energy bill. He said conversations about future electricity demand must include discussion of expanded nuclear power. President Bush specifically mentioned that the nation needs nuclear power in his State of the Union speech on Wednesday.

Nuclear power now makes up 20 percent of the nation's electricity production and Abraham and nuclear industry officials have said solving the waste storage issue is key to the industry's future. Bush and Abraham have called for new U.S. nuclear plant construction.

"People in Nevada have concerns that have been long expressed, so those concerns have to be part of, obviously, be part of this debate, but I think we have to be realistic about making it possible for nuclear power to remain a key part of the energy mix," Abraham said. "If we fail to do that, I just don't see how we address the emissions issue or the power generation issue."

Abraham ended his job as Energy Secretary Tuesday. During his time as secretary, the Energy Department finished its primary environmental assessment of the planned waste repository at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Abraham recommended the project to the president and Bush promptly approved it.

Abraham also said the issue of annual Yucca budget battles in Congress needs to be resolved. He said the Bush administration is on the right track in proposing that money from a national Nuclear Waste Fund be available directly to program managers, without the constraints of annual budget caps set by Congress.

"I think it is just simply unacceptable to say that for years we have collected from ratepayers money that has been sent to Washington to deal with the nuclear waste that has collected at the various sites where these ratepayers live and then never do anything about it," Abraham said.

Nuclear ratepayers have put about $16 billion into the waste fund, but congressional budget rules limit the amount that Yucca managers can spend on the repository each year. Yucca critics value the current system, which allows Reid to cut the budget and slow the program.

The administration may propose the change again when Bush's budget proposal is released Monday. Abraham said he did not prepare any of the budget because he was leaving the department.

Now that Abraham is out of federal office, Abraham will be a distinguished visiting fellow in the Washington office of the Hoover Institution, a public policy think tank based at Stanford University in California that focus on politics and economics.

He said he has not decided where he will go next. He said he would like to remain involved with nuclear nonproliferation issues and the energy debate.

Concerns about emissions from other forms of electricity will also contribute to a continued need for nuclear power, Abraham said. Replacing nuclear power, which releases no emissions into the air, with other forms of energy could lead to added air pollution, nuclear advocates say.

Abraham said it would be "impossible" to discuss reducing emissions without having nuclear power as an option.

"I don't see anyone offering any kind of concrete alternative as to how we would make that up -- that huge percentage of electricity production in America," Abraham said. "The ingredients that are needed to keep nuclear power as a major part of our nation's energy mix have to be addressed, including making sure disposal of the waste is in fact addressed."

With regard to the license application, Abraham said, "Hopefully that can be done this year."

Abraham's replacement, Samuel Bodman, was sworn in as secretary on Tuesday.