Nevada congressmen divided on energy bill

Suzanne Struglinski

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 | 10:54 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's congressional delegation is divided on the massive energy bill that could go to the floor of the Senate and House this week.

A key component of the bill, which was just approved by Senate and House negotiators, is more than $6 billion for new nuclear power plants and other nuclear programs.

Michele Boyd, legislative director of Public Citizen's Energy Program, said the bill's nuclear provisions not only mean more nuclear waste, but more pressure to complete the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she will continue to oppose the bill.

"Buried in this bill are a few provisions that do seek to promote more renewable energy, but they pale in comparison to the mountain of tax breaks that will go to oil and gas producers who are already reaping record profits and to forms of energy that pollute the environment and create more deadly nuclear waste." Berkley said.

Berkley voted against the House version of the bill in April. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., voted for it.

Exact language contained in the bill will not be public until the House and Senate staff complete a conference report, but lawmakers finished meeting early Tuesday morning.

Porter said "historically" there are a number of things in the previous versions of the bill that he has supported.

He said he is "very cognizant and concerned" about the potential for more nuclear waste and he still adamantly opposes Yucca.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., also will still support the bill. He is not opposed to nuclear power, spokeswoman Amy Maier said, however, he wants to see the nuclear waste problem addressed in a scientific and sound matter.

"That is not Yucca Mountain," she said. There are ways to reduce the amount of fuel and different ways to manage it than digging a hole and burying it, she said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., voted in favor of the Senate version of the bill in June.

Reid has not said yet how he will vote on the final bill, spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said.

Hafen said the nuclear components of the final energy bill make Reid's effort to keep nuclear waste at power plants even more necessary.