Yucca funding: Another $100 million cut

Published Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 | 3:07 p.m.

Updated Monday, Feb. 23, 2009 | 4:03 p.m.

Yucca Mountain

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Yucca Mountain

WASHINGTON -- Congress today proposed slashing Yucca Mountain's funding by nearly another $100 million for the remainder of fiscal 2009, severely gutting the project and potentially forcing several hundred job layoffs in Nevada.

The House announced the new funding level as part of its proposed funding package to keep the government running until Oct. 1. Current funding expires in March.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had promised further reductions were coming as part of his continued efforts to kill the nuclear waste project. Funding already had been cut more than 20 percent over the past two years.

Workers at the project;s headquarters in Summerlin have been bracing for layoffs. Many of them are already leaving.

The House proposes $288.3 million annualized for the remainder of the fiscal year, down from $386.4 million approved for the project last fall.

Allen Benson, a spokesman for the Department of Energy in Nevada, said the reduced funding "is something we had been hearing for some time now."

Benson estimates the workforce would drop from almost 1,400 contractors and federal employees to fewer than 900.

The department also is planning to relinquish some of its office space at its headquarters in Nevada.

Congress is expected to vote on the bill in coming weeks. Congress last year passed only a six-month spending bill for federal government operations, unable to resolve differences with then-President George W. Bush.

President Barack Obama is expected to soon release his first budget, the fiscal 2010 spending plan. Reid has said the new budget is expected to all but zero out funding for Yucca Mountain.

Nevada’s lawmakers welcomed the steep cuts.

Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley said a House vote on the funding package was expected by week’s end.

“I am thrilled that once again we are slashing the amount of radioactive pork that is being spent on the failed Yucca Mountain Project,” Berkley said. “This $100 billion boondoggle in the Nevada desert is a dinosaur whose days are numbered.

Reid said that over the past year Bush’s original request had been reduced by more than 40 percent.

“For more than 20 years I have been fighting to protect Nevadans and end the wasteful spending that is the Yucca Mountain Project,” Reid said. “I am pleased that I was able to further cut Yucca’s budget and help make brighter the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Obama opposed the waste dump on the campaign trail and has vowed Yucca Mountain will not open as a nuclear waste repository.

Discussion: 12 comments so far…

By getalife

2/23/09 at 4:33 p.m.

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Shelley Berkley, I am stunned your lips didn't explode when you called this pork. After the bill you signed to "give away" the store, I can't believe you have the nerve to call this pork.

I sure am glad our lawmakers are looking out for Nevada.

The only dinosaurs I see are our "morally bankrupt" lawmakers. Maybe if Yucca goes to another state they will support this "boondogle".

I can't help but wonder what our country will do for energy since NIMBY is the law of the land.

I see "green spending" is coming our way. NOT !!

Nevada will never be land of the "windmills and solar collectors".

Only lawyers fighting for or against "green energy" will profit from this latest round of hogwash.
By davelv

2/23/09 at 7:47 p.m.

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Perhaps all nuclear power plants should be shutdown if the federal government reneges on its contracts to develop a central storage site. Oh wait, this means 20% of electricity gets turned off, including the 16% that powers Reid's and Berkley's homes in Nevada. Likewise, the lights on the strip should be turned out. Nevada could lead the nation in turning its back on nuclear power! But will the leaders in power now be willing to fight global wars for energy? Nuclear energy keeps the US out of wars - a little waste in the middle of the desert next to where 1000 nuclear bombs exploded seems a small price to pay for stability and prosperity.
By Pro_Nuke_Environmentalist

2/23/09 at 9:08 p.m.

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Many in Nevada commonly refer to the 1987 Amendment of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act as "the Screw Nevada Bill." I wonder what would we call what Reid, Berkley and the rest of their gang are doing when Nevadans realize the considerable negative economic impact from the loss of all those high-paying direct jobs (and all of the other affected indirect jobs) because of their (Reid, Berkley and their gang)baseless and unethical actions against Yucca Mountain.
By JonR

2/24/09 at 8:53 a.m.

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As long as we keep electing fools like Berkley (recently) and Reid (next year), we deserve what we get!

The hypocracy of Berkley and Reid is mind-numbing. However, elections have consequences and we have to put up with the drivel that comes out of the mouth and actions of these two clowns. In other words, it is our fault that Nevada is in the shape it is in because of the idiots we elect.

Yucca Mountain would have been a great resource and job source for Nevada. It is not a "dump" as the liars (Berkley/Reid) state. The risk is minimal and the scientific study is sound.

Say goodby to the engineers, scientists, technical and administrative jobs/families that are leaving the state. (Make no mistake! Most of them are!) Say hello to the empty houses, less spending and unpaid taxes that all these people and their dependents leave us. Say Thank you to Berkley and Reid. They "deserve" your thanks.
By Impeach_Harry_Reid

2/24/09 at 10:02 a.m.

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GetaLife: Excellent!!! We've got to get rid of these Dinosaur Loser Politicians!!!! They are killing the State of Nevada...

DaveLV: Right on point!!! I've been saying the same thing; No Yucca, No Nuclear Power on the grid and bring the country to its knees until people WAKE UP to how necessary Nuclear Power AND Yucca Mountain are to our country.

PNE: I work with some of the people who were involved with the final selection of Yucca Mountain as the site for the repository... It was solely based on the scientific results of the site characterizations and was NOT selected to simply Screw Nevada because they were a politically weak state... But, of course, the NV Politicians immediately put their spin on the issue and have purpetuated their lies even since.

A recent Reno Gazette-Journal Poll shows 66% of Nevadans are IN FAVOR of Yucca Mountain!!!! So where's the story for the public to see???? Can you say "Media Bias"???? I wish the non-thinking sheep that listen to the lies coming from Harry "We lost the War" Reid would WAKE UP!

We need to campaign against Reid's fear mongering insanity that has this state completely hoodwinked. We need the Yucca Mountain for so many good reasons -- a primary one now is to help the Nevada economy and save jobs!!! Besides, IT IS THE LAW!!!

Dirty Harry has done NOTHING to help the Nevada economy and now he's trying to kill a $100 Billion income stream from the Yucca Mountain Project; some thousands of jobs now and in the future; the only job in Nevada for highly educated, highly trained workers; and put enough homes on the market in Summerlin to quickly turn it into Slummerlin...

If the public was properly informed about the Yucca Mountain Project, I'm sure more and more people would be for it. Let's put it on a Ballot for a vote!

Reid should have worked with the Government to make Yucca an advanced center for Nuclear Power, Nuclear Waste, Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing, and even solar and wind farms.

But no, the monster ego of this truly little man is single handedly destroying Nevada while he lines his pockets from his shady dealings...

And then there are his infuriating recent commercials... Every word of them is a lie as he tries to gain our votes once again....
Just say "NO" to Harry in 2010 !!!!!

Ty Cobb is the ONLY Nevada politician with his head NOT firmed planted in Harry's butt! I hope he will challenge Harry in 2010!!!

All,

For information on how to fight Harry on his farcical "Don Quixote"-like quest to kill Yucca Mountain, please see: www.yuccamatters.com
By Ardent

2/24/09 at 10:10 a.m.

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Here's something Berkley and Reid usually fail to mention: The fact that the federal government is obligated legally AND contractually to build a repository at Yucca Mountain. In other words, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act obligates the Department of Energy (a) to build a repository, and (b) to take possession of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear utilities. These obligations were supposed to be fulfilled by 1998, and because they weren't, the nuclear utilities have successfully sued the government for on-site storage costs ever since, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

That money is paid out of the Justice Department legal fund -- in other words, by taxpayers like you and me.

Recent announcements from the nuclear industry and state regulators of nuclear plants confirm that the bill for delaying Yucca Mountain is going to climb substantially due to Reid's increased obstruction of the Project. To wit:

"If the administration unilaterally decides to abandon the Yucca Mountain project without enacting new legislation to modify existing law, it should expect new lawsuits seeking further damage payments as well as likely requests for refunding at least $22 billion already collected from consumers that has not been spent on the program from the Nuclear Waste Fund. State regulators last week warned that if administration or congressional actions curtail the Yucca project, they will take legal or legislative action to protect the balance of the fund and escrow future consumer payments."
By gmag39

2/24/09 at 11:11 a.m.

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yep. heck. give us yer spent nuke casks. ship em ALL out here to Nevada, we'll bury em' in the mountainside! Chances "R" they ain't never gonna leak, right? Yucca! It's like free money!
How stupid can these ol' pol's be??? Dang, it's JOBS, right? And free Guv'ment money by the TRAINLOAD! We already store all the gamblin' fools n' whores and criminal elements of all persuasions, got a MOB MUSEUM goin' right downtown's what I hear, for cryin' out loud.
What's a little nuke-you-ler furniture in the mix? Worst thing happens, EVER' THING around these parts'll glow like NEON! Let's not be short-sighted now; Y'all call ol' Harry & DEMAND THAT YUCCA STAY OPEN! Yeehaw!
By Impeach_Harry_Reid

2/24/09 at 11:19 a.m.

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Ardent: Excellent information... Please share the source of your quote.

See: www.yuccamatters.com
By Impeach_Harry_Reid

2/24/09 at 11:28 a.m.

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GMag39: Pretty funny... Except for your "glow" comment. Nuclear waste will not explode...

Further, if you knew anything about the transportation casks and how robust they are, the proposed transportation routes that do not bring waste through Las Vegas, you should realize that there is nothing to fear. Tourists will not be deterred by something 100 miles from Las Vegas when they want to get their gamble on!!!!

What you should be afraid of is all of the tank cars full of poisonous chemical compounds that roll parallel and in close proximity to the Las Vegas Strip every day -- A rupture of chlorine tank cars will kill tens of thousands of people very quickly... Where is Reid's outcry about that???

You can sit on a nuclear waste transportation package!!!
By Ardent

2/24/09 at 12:55 p.m.

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It's a good thing our congressional delegation is fighting so hard and expending precious political capital to fight Yucca Mountain. Meanwhile, judging by the just-released Omnibus Bill for 2009, the congressional delegations from other states are securing millions of dollars for their states in construction projects. For example:

New Jersey = $46 million
New York = $98 million
Pennsylvania = 77 million

Where does Nevada rank in funds allocated by the government for 2009 spending on construction projects?

Nevada = $18 million.

By contrast:

New Mexico = $36 million
North Dakota = $31 million
Wisconsin = $2.1 billion

And last but not least:

Puerto Rico = $52 million.

Even Puerto Rico is getting more money than Nevada for new construction projects, and yet our congressional delegation wastes all of its clout and trades favors to block the Yucca Mountain Project.

The $18 million that we did manage to get, by the way, is earmarked for "Rural Projects," which sounds like something near and dear to the Senator from Searchlight's heart.

Thanks a lot, Reid, Berkley, Ensign, et al. Way to look out for our state.
By Ardent

2/24/09 at 12:58 p.m.

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Impeach_Harry_Reid:

The source is:

http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2009/0...
By MAGSNY1999

3/4/09 at 10:13 a.m.

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put the waste out in yucca theres nothign but nuclear waste there from 1000's of bombs anyways so what is the difference? We Should also be putting solar and wind arrays on all this empty land in Nevada. We should also turn the yucca site or somewhere close to it into nuclear research center.
This would bring highly skilled jobs to las vegas and BILLIONS in tax revenue. If Las Vegas doesn't get something other than gaming and bars. Than this city will never ever get museums, funding world class ammentities also obtaining theme parks or maybe making mt charelston and lake mead actual resorts with something to do there.
Come on people Vegas needs to change again and this time back to the rat pack days of respect and being the best city in the World

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