December 27, 2007

Sen. Ensign: Yucca Mountain Doomed

Senator John Ensign

By Dave Maxwell

Sen. John Ensign R-Nev, said the 22 percent cut to the Department of Energy’s Yucca Mountain project – the longtime proposed site to store the nation’s more than 77 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste in Nye County – was just the latest sign the project was doomed.

Ensign made his comments December 20 during a post-session teleconference with rural Nevada reporters. “I don’t think Yucca Mountain will ever be built,” he said. Yucca Mountain is now in its 21st year of study and work and billions of dollars have been spent. In addition, this is the 13th year that Congress has cut back the DOEs spending budget.

“I’m very pleased about that,” he said. “In my position on the Budget Committee and previously Sen. Reid’s position on the Appropriations Committee, we’ve been able to significantly scale back that project each and every year and this year was even a bigger scale back…We have made tremendous progress and there’s a lot of people starting to say what we’re saying.”

Ensign added, “Five, six or seven years ago, we were totally on the defense. People said this thing was inevitable; there was no way to stop it. But we have a good chance of completely stopping Yucca Mountain.”

Asked about efforts of Southern Nevada Water to take water from rural Nevada Ensign said he really doesn’t like to get involved in fights over water. “Fighting over water in the West is nothing new. We’re very used to it, he said.”

Instead, Ensign said he would rather see SNPLMA (Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act) money used to create a water conservation program in Las Vegas which has been blocked by the Sierra Club.

On other issues, Ensign said potentially damaging mining legislation passed by the House will be “dead on arrival” when - and if - the Senate takes up the issue in the spring. When asked what the mood on the bill was in Washington, he said. “There’s no chance for that bill in the Senate. I’m not even convinced we’ll hear it,” he said.

When asked to address how much support or opposition there is to the legislation in the Senate, Ensign said, “All I can tell you is that if this bill, in its current form, comes to me I will do everything in my legislative power to kill it.”

In November, the House voted to approve the Hardrock Mining and Reclamation Act of 2007. The legislation now goes to the Senate for possible debate, revisions, and ultimately a vote. If passed in some manner by the Senate, the legislation would then go to the President for his signature or vote.

Another issue that could also impact mining in eastern Nevada is Sen. Harry Reid’s attempt to block construction of two coal-fired power plants near Ely, which was defeated in the budget process. However, a study of air quality at Great Basin National Park was approved.

Ensign said he believed Nevada received its share of the $555 billion appropriations bill that passed Dec. 18, but more importantly, he said, was that Republicans got what they wanted out of the deal. “This is the first time in my 11 years in Congress that I remember Republicans winning the battle. In the past Republicans kind of folded, this time, they (Democrats) folded,” he added.

He also cited unconditional war funding as well as money for energy, the S-CHIP child health care program, and the tax-glitch AMT legislation as items that were passed “no questions asked.”

All of this, Ensign said, about the appropriations bill, was done without raising taxes. “Those things are just huge victories, not only for the Republican Party in Washington, but also mainly for the American people, he said.

Congress is in recess and will reconvene after the New Year.