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twitterReid: White House to cut off Yucca funding
Budget for pursuing a license application cut to zero in fiscal 2011
Thursday, July 30, 2009 | 12:17 p.m.
Harry Reid
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WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced today that the White House and its Energy Secretary have agreed to cut off all funding to pursue the license for Yucca Mountain in next year’s budget.
President Barack Obama promised Nevadans the nuclear waste repository north of Las Vegas would not be built on his watch, and substantially cut funding in his first budget for fiscal 2010 now before Congress.
Yet Obama had allowed the funding for the pursuit of the license application to continue before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, worrying Yucca Mountain opponents who feared a new president could one day open the dump.
Reid’s office said this afternoon that following conversations with Energy Secretary Steven Chu and the White House the administration has agreed to cut off all funding to pursue a license application in fiscal 2011.
“This is a major victory for Nevada,” Reid said in a statement. The only funding allocated for Yucca would be to conclude the work being done at the site, bringing the project to a close.
“I am pleased that President Obama has lived up to his promise to me and all Nevadans by working with me to kill the Yucca Mountain Project. I look forward to continuing my work with the President and his administration to find responsible, alternative solutions for dealing with nuclear waste.”
Discussion: 52 comments so far…
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"This is a major victory for Nevada," Reid said in a statement.
How many high paying jobs will be lost?
yes, let's kill all those jobs it would have brought us.
good job, d#@k.
atta boy harry...
you are the man...
great job...
any nevadan who does not vote for you is an absolute idiot...
just like our friend logic should rule...
what a moron...
appears he would rather have our kids glow in the dark than lose some jobs...
some people are just too stupid to logic with...
hee hee hee...
Yucca Mountain was never built for nuclear waste; it's a US Government National Emergency VIP Relocation Center with an underground transportation link to area 51's runway. All Government VIP's would be flown into Area 51 to be processed into the Yucca Mountain Center before all SHTF!
Gee, thanks Senator!
"work to begin immediately on giant cork"
First of all, if any one posts a comment on a newspaper website, they should proofread their statements and make sure their grammar is correct. Secondly, I applaud anyone who believes in Yuuca Mtn. because the waste has to go somewhere, whether we like it or not. The high paying, scientific, and technologically specific positions and educational opportunities that had been there and would be there again with the approval of the license application, are now gone. Nevada needs these positions not only during these terrible economic times, but for our future economic times. Plus, the money that would have been provided for our infrastructure and our educational systems, which we desperately need, is immeasurable. So, for the person who stated that only idiots would want their kids to glow for money, why don't you do some homework and learn more about YMP than you think you already know.
Hey Harry.....the YMP has brought to NV more than $500M (that's 1/2 BILLION $'s) since 1983.....before you killed it off...did you THINK of the lost revenues???
Of course not, it's MUCH easier to fear-monger and use the word "nuclear" to scare people into believing it's NOT what Nevadans want.
I wasn't born here, but I've lived here since I was 5 (since 1971), and I can tell you that my family and I are NOT happy that you have killed a major revenue generator to support our state.
How about all of the dangerous and far more prevalent transuranic waste that travels daily through Clark County??? Why not ban that???? I'd bet many Las Vegan's would crap their pants if they knew what dangerous chemicals (tens of thousands of gallons) of which are transported through Las Vegas daily????
Stop the BS and be intelligent....we NEED federal $$ to support our state and use a facility that doesn't exist anywhere else. We could have literally held every other state that has nuclear waste "hostage" for large $$$ to dispose and manage the waste.
You've squandered our future away.
I wonder if Birdiedream is an example of your typical Harry Reid supporter?
Birdiedreamin - have you actually reviewed any documents (technical) about YMP??? or even understand what nuclear waste is??? or isn't???
you are too easily pointing fingers at "republicans" or those who oppose Harry.....as being "an enemy of NV".
we're not....I live here, my family lives here....we were raised and educated here....yet I am not afraid of nuclear waste.
maybe it's because I took the time to actually learn for myself what is and isn't true about nuclear waste???? you only fear what you do not understand.
maybe take some time, read, learn and understand what is fact and what is not when it comes to nuclear waste.
I would hope it will change your mind, or at least enlighten you to not believe everything you read in a newspaper.
jorockart,
If you are going to call out grammar, do it yourself! "any one"..... Don't you mean "anyone"?
What an ass!!!!
As far as I am concerned, Nuclear power is a must for the future of this country, especially if we are going to virtually shut down the coal industry.
I just don't understand the naysayers. They try to use fear mongering and other scare tactics to manipulate the truth. Fact is that their data is as dated as Three Mile Island. How far has technology advanced in the last 30+ years in automobiles, computers, daily life? How can France and Sweden power most of their grid with Nuclear power - Trouble Free? Do they possess technology that we can't acquire?
If we truly want to end our need for foreign oil, we need to advance our Nuclear Power system NOW!
anyone who supports yucca is an idiot...
period...
end of story...
for all you blowhards crying about jobs...
kiss my derriere...
listen up boys and girls...
yucca is a mountain...
ergo...
it is prone to earthquakes...
ergo...
it is above ground water...
so...
take your scientific mumbo jumbo and stick it in your ear...
all i know is...
whenever the government wants to bury something this toxic in a big whole in the ground...
bet the house that one day it will turn out to be one fo the worst disasters known to mankind...
oh yeah...
and another thing...
our poor poor terribly misguided republican friends clearly are mentally challenged...
morons!!!
isn't it funny...
how our poor poor terribly misguided republican friends...
and all of their tough guy noise...
these clowns...
cry like little babies whenever they don't get their way...
nothing but a bunch of wusses...
boo hoo hoo...
wah wah wah...
pathetic...
absolutely pathetic!!!
Obama, Harry Reid, and Chu are breaking the law.
They are not meeting the NWPA legal requirements.
Obama, Harry Reid, and Chu will have to return $30 billion to the ratepayers.
Obama, Harry Reid, and Chu will be sued for failure to perform.
And people want to support a law breaker?
I want my tax money back that was spent on this since it never worked
"The only funding allocated for Yucca would be to conclude the work being done at the site, bringing the project to a close".
I find it interesting that this states that the project will be funded to conclude the work..
If the work is concluded, then the project is done and it can then store waste, since a private company has taken it over anyway...
You don't think dingy Harry is trying to trick us, do you???? :)
Great job Senator Reid!
To those worried about jobs; what do you think ONE accident would do to tourism? What do you think the daily headlines in local communities will be when the shipping starts, "the toxic nuclear waste is being transported to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas" What will those headlines do to our tourism?
Science did not choose Yucca Mountain as the sole dump site. Nevada's political weakness at the time is how the Yucca Mountain dump came to be. I'm all for science, and science says there are better options.
Yucca Mountain is a DUMB
Deep Underground Military Base
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEDAE_9v4...
Your Government hangs a Nuclear Waste Dump sign on the door to keep the taxpayers out.
Ask George Knapp...he worked there!
In 1991, Knapp left KLAS to work for Altamira Communications, a public relations firm whose clients included advocates of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository 90 miles north of Las Vegas.[3]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Knap...
THE HARRY REID PROFIT SHARING PLAN LTD. may still try to sell the topsoil to developers in the next Federal Land swap.
"what do you think ONE accident would do to tourism?"
How dumb are you these are ceramic pellets inside of layers and layers of steel protection. No gases or liquids.
When did you worry about gaseous toxic hazards.
The point was made in the R-J on 1-17-2008, that Bill Clinton and Bill Richardson held 21 formal draft EIS hearings (9 in Nevada) in 1999 and 2000, to establish that danger from transportation of nuclear waste is less then such hazardous materials as chorine, ethanol and propane. This has been a long closed issue, but still raised by Nevada even though they will not do anything about chlorine tankers running by the Vegas Strip. Bill Richardson was engaged in preparing a positive the Site Recommendation right before he left office.
Transportation of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is not a problem. If Nevada representatives would demand similar protection for Chlorine tankers as will be in place for SNF such as dedicate trains, exclusion zones, evacuation plans, GPS locators, armed guards (to protect from terrorist with TOW missiles), track and signal inspects, alerts to local officials of the location of hazardous materials, trained emergency responders then we could be less concerned about the potential 90,000 deaths from a toxic laden tankers.
Finally, a president that keeps his promise! Thank you President Obama and Senator Reid.
Recycle spent nuclear rods.
Birdie, spend some time reading instead of looking like a fool.
"glow in the dark", what are you three?
Gordon and all the other scientists on the board,
Where do you think Yucca is? In Orange county next to disneyland?
Yucca is next to the Test Site - - you know underground nuclear test site.
Even if Yucca should go away (which is illegal) what do you do about the test site PRETEND it isn't there.
Enough with the stupid knee-jerk campaign promises garbage. Reality is reality.
It amazes me that the eco-nuts think technology for going "green" is ever expansive, yet the technology for nuclear is dead in the water.
What buffoons.
"Finally, a president that keeps his promise!'
Not true Obama lied to us in the budget request
Here is the text from the president's proposed budget.
"The Budget provides $196.8 million for the Department of Energy (DOE) to ....continue participation in the repository license proceeding before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"The President has acknowledged that nuclear power is -- and likely will remain -- an important source of electricity for many years to come and that how the Nation deals with the dangerous byproduct of nuclear reactors is a critical question that has yet to be resolved.
Obama further said "it is about ensuring that scientific data is never distorted or concealed to serve a political agenda and that we make facts, not ideology."
What is Obama doing about the sound science of Yucca Mountain or alternative nuclear waste storage?
Obama and Reid are afraid that the NRC answer is it is okay.
Obama does not believe in sound science.
Future: "How dumb are you these are ceramic pellets inside of layers and layers of steel protection. No gases or liquids."
Ohhhh, So it's already safe where it sits? Why move it then?
getalife: "Even if Yucca should go away (which is illegal) what do you do about the test site PRETEND it isn't there."
Apples and oranges getalife. Read how safe Hiroshima and Nagasaki are today: http://www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/kids/KP...
As for the legality; there is flexibility in the NWPA that allows the president to end Yucca. Section 8, paragraph B "Evaluation by the president"..."Such evaluation shall take into consideration factors relating to cost efficiency, health and safety, regulation, transportation, public acceptability, and national security." Source NWPA: http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/documents/nwpa/...
There won't be any jobs lost..have spoken with engineer at Yucca who told me it would employ just as many to close Yucca as it took to open. Obama came through on his campaign promise!!
I'm with Gordon and think Future is stuck in the past. What few jobs a nuke dump at Yucca would ever create would be a drop in the bucket compared to the damage just the perception of this project would do to Las Vegas, its tourism-driven economy, property values, etc.
As for the debate over Yucca science and politics, keep in mind it was politics that targeted Nevada for this thing. And now it's both that are killing this project.
travislv86 - try looking up words and the different situations in which they can be used; any one refers to a group and that is what I was saying.
others: I am not a Republican, nor an idiot, but do support YMP. At one time YMP employed over 2000 people....not many employers here have that number on their payroll. Well, unless you count casinos in which most employees are barely making ends meet. With YMP you had well educated and well paid individuals who purchased homes, visited restaurants, etc. and were an integral part of our communities and local economy. So, yes, it would create a significant amount of employment opportunities as well as provide additional support for the nuclear industry and science in general.
Small pellets of nuclear waste and you're worried they won't be able to withstand earthquakes, rain, and terrorist attacks? First of all, they aren't pellets - the rods are solid. Second of all, visit the Dept. of Energy's and Nuclear Regulatory Commission's websites and read through all the data collected for over 20 years. Even if it doesn't change your opposition, at least you will be better informed and can make a better educated response for yourself.
why do i get the feeling that the pro yucca supporters are yucca employees...
hmmm...
that or...
they are poor poor terribly misguided republican fools...
who will say anything to win an argument...
like their heros karl rove, cheney the evil doer and w the loser scum bag clown...
bottom line...
if you live in nevada and support yucca...
you have an ulterior motive...
or...
you are just plain old dumb...
and remember...
most of our poor poor terribly misguided republican friends are just plain old dumb!!!
jorockart,
Quick lesson:
anyone vs. any one"""". to space or not to space
I would love to have "any one" of those cars. (Meaning a variety of cars to select from)
I would like "anyone" to join me. (Now that would be a group of people) Look at you sentence:
If any one posts a comment on a newspaper website, they should proofread their statements and make sure their grammar is correct.
"why do i get the feeling that the pro yucca supporters are yucca employees"
You must have missed the reports on all the layoffs months ago.
There were only a couple left to answer NRC of which there are none.
Why is Obama and Reid afraid of the NRC review - because it is safe and it would be approved
Birdiedreaming,
Yucca Mountain is not a Republican project. The House voted two weeks ago 388 to 30 to keep its funding. Are you saying that 388 House members are Republican? I think not. Further, Yucca Mountain was chosen in a Democratic Congress. How naive and ill informed are you?
GM,
Few jobs? Are you kidding? 5000 to 10000 jobs for the next 30 to 100 years in Nevada. Billions in infrastructure improvements. Rural medicine and emergency care for all. Has anyone really explained to Nevadans the incredible long term benefits Yucca could bring?
Gordon,
One accident? Las Vegas tourism hurt? The daily nuclear weapons testing didn't hurt anything. The waste doesn't have to come through Las Vegas - this is a myth made up by Reid et al. There are far more hazards to visitors on a daily basis, e.g. car jackings, hold ups, stabbings, robberies, etc that aren't reported to keep up the good image of Las Vegas than you would ever guess. At least Yucca would let you know exactly what is going on.
The Sun,
Obama is violating Federal Law. The last time I checked, people went to jail usually for doing this. Why is it OK for Obama as President to intentionally ignore a Congressional Law? What a strange left liberal thinking you have.
To Nevada,
The true losers in all of this is Nevadans who are Americans. America has national issues that require national unity on answers. Do you really think that the other 49 states won't payback Nevadans in the long run for killing Yucca Mountain just so Reid can win re-election? Congress has a long memory - we as citizens will pay the price. In fact we already are in that federal monies to Nevada rank at the very bottom. Reid is using up his IOUs on Yucca Mountain by giving every other state our money. Wake up and realize that Nevada is protected by the Nuclear Navy, by Nuclear weapons (at Nellis!), powered by nuclear supplied electricity and ecnomically benefited by cheap nuclear electricity around the world that enables tourism.
Lastly, remember again that in the House 388 voted to keep funding for Yucca Mountain. It is highly unlikely that even if Obama proposes zero budget in FY2011 that Congress will go along with it.
hey davelv...
this is what i am hearing from you...
boo hoo hoo...
wah wah wah...
bottom line...
if you live in nevada and support yucca you are a moron...
any nevadan who supports creating a dump to hold worse crap ever known to man in an earthquake prone storage facility located above ground water is an idiot...
and you sir...
are an idiot...
here is some free advise davelv...
you know what i would do if i were you...
look for another job!!!
to the grammar obsessed loser...
in my previous post...
strike "worse"...
and replace with "the worst"...
you see...
yucca would be a dump to hold THE WORST crap ever known to man in an earthquake prone storage facility located above ground water...
period!!!
end of story!!!
tru dat
Who read the story this past week about the MEGATON nuclear below ground explosions and the nuclear waste (tritium) migrating towards domestic water wells!!?? All of those explosions and waste are there now! they will move with time but having waste that is monitored and watched is a problem. Nevada is a a bunch of Cold War wimps. How do you think all that nuclear material got there to be used in the first place!!? Right up the highway!! or flown over our heads. There is more radioactivity in your watches and devices and in your house!! than what you'll be exposed to with nuclear waste going to Yucca. In case you wonder google earth the area - It looks like the moon above Yucca Flat!!
Must be an election coming up. Cleanface Reid is saying Yucca Mountain is dead.... AGAIN!
Birdiedremin-
After reading your string of juvenile posts, I've decided that whatever you're for, I'm against.
Birdiedremin -
obvious TROLL is obvious.
Ok birdbrain answer me this,he cut the funding to yucca mountain,but he kept so they can finish the work right now?So he said ok finish what your doing now,but it will never open?YOU MY FREIND MUST LIVE IN A SEA OF RETARDATION?YOUR BOY HARRY WOULDNT EVEN GIVE YOU THE TIME OF DAY IN PASSING!
birdbrain you are one sick puppy! you my fool,is what scares me about americans!play follow the leader with this fool uncle harry,and get back to me in a year.we ll see what side uncle harry is on then?and to be very honest,i ll bet Obooma will get as far away from this blind fool who is out only for himself,not for the people whom put him there!also keep up the mindless posts.they give me a good laugh everyday. it shows me where you went to school.searchlight maybe?
Harry Reid thinks that killing Yucca Mountain will guarantee his reelection. Reid assumes that the people of Nevada are hanging on every decision regarding the project.
Harry, take a look at the "Most Read" stories in the Las Vegas Sun (link at the top of this page). The first three are:
1. Prostitution, drug activity found at topless Rio pool
2. Craigslist clampdown leaves door open for sex ads
3. Ashton Kutcher to Digg Vegas
The "Reid: White House to cut off Yucca funding" story doesn't even make the top ten.
No matter how one views the Yucca Mountain project, this insight into the priorities of Las Vegans is troubling.
Way to go Nevada!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You guys certainly put one in the win column for the NIMBYs(Not In My Back Yard). All I have to say is you all are bunch planet killing hypocrites. The worst case scenario was a few isotopes hitting the water table in 100,000 plus years. This coupled with fact nuclear decay made the radiotoxicity of these isotopes very low makes Nevada the home of the ignorant NIMBYs. The entire state needs to take high school physics. No wonder Nevada was the home of bad loans. If you always rely on someone else to make your decision instead of sitting down and reading the fine print you will always be taken again, again, and again.
hey rumrunner and jfarmer9...
yucca is fatally flawed...
period...
end of story...
it sits in a mountain prone to earthquakes...
one big earthquake and all of your science mumbo jumbo is rendered meaningless...
got that ladies...
and...
it sits above ground water...
if the water is contaminated millions will be harmed...
millions...
bottom line...
there has got to be a better place...
a place that if there is a failure not so many people will be harmed...
america is a big country...
why on god's green earth do we have to put that dump right next to one of it's biggest cities...
and...
now this is key...
vegas is one of the most visited places on the planet...
and oh by the way...
visitors drink water too...
got that ladies...
on a personal note...
rumrunner...
sorry you had to leave nevada...
you clearly are still in love with the area...
i don't blame you...
i love it here too...
why else would you still be reading nevada news papers...
and posting such bitter comments...
you need to let it go...
get on with your life...
look forward...
not backwards with such bitterness...
jfarmer9...
sorry you are going to lose you job when yucca closes...
good luck finding a new one...
seriously good luck...
but your lecturing nevadans...
well...
it's pathetic...
it is painfully obvious for all to see that you are selling snake oil just to save your job...
stop the nonsense...
save your dignity...
and start sending out some resumes...
best o luck to both of you!!!
hey thumper...
sorry you got fired and had to leave las vegas...
between me and you...
get over it...
move on...
don't spend all of your time reading vegas newspapers...
and trying to hurt this great town...
know what i mean...
besides...
just because there are current envoronmental problems...
in no way means that we should not fight to defeat having the worst toxic dump in the history of man placed nearby in a mountain prone to earthquakes above ground water...
got that skippy...
move on friend!!!
birdie,
Seriously, what are you on? The other posters are right, you are so juvenile and ridiculous.
Do you talk as asinine as you type? It is very to imagine that you come in much contact with people. How old are you?
I just read this article from a google search on the funding being cut for YMP. I am dissapointed that Nevada feels this way, especially since I do know what's at stake.
So I am not going to use the obviously intelligent arguments shown here; I am simply never going to spend money in Nevada again.
I can vacation anywhere else; I choose to spend my money in another casino area. I will not buy anything online from Nevada, either.
Goodbye Nevada!