Pena selects ex-Nye County consultant for chief of staff

      WASHINGTON -- New Secretary of Energy Federico Pena has named a former Nye County nuclear waste adviser as his chief of staff.
      Elgie Holstein, 46, who is from New Jersey, worked in Washington for Nye County from 1987 to 1992.
      "It was not my job to represent a point of view on what the nation's nuclear waste policy should be," Holstein said in an interview Friday.
      "My job was to be an observer at technical meetings of the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and to keep the county commissioners informed."
      Holstein stressed that he was never a lobbyist for Nye County.
      He declined to discuss his views on legislation that may come to the Senate floor next week calling for interim storage of high-level radioactive waste at the Nevada Test Site by Nov. 30, 1999.
      Since 1993, Holstein has worked at the White House for the National Economic Council. He met Pena when he was assigned to a team that briefed the new energy secretary on issues that would come up during the confirmation process.
      Pena selected Holstein as his chief of staff after Senate Republicans held up Pena's nomination for almost a month because of the Clinton ad-ministration's resistance to a bill targeting Nevada for interim storage of nuclear waste.
      But it isn't clear Pena was trying to send a message by choosing Holstein.
      "I don't even remember nuclear waste being a part of our discussion," Holstein said.
      "He certainly knows my background, because he's seen my resume."
      Holstein said he did not regularly brief President Clinton or Vice President Al Gore on nuclear waste issues when he worked in the White House.
      "I do recall at the beginning of the administration in 1993 that the vice president requested background information on the (nuclear waste disposal program) because he was taking a trip to Nevada," Holstein said.
      "I do recall providing background for him on that occasion, but that was all."
      Unlike the adamant opposition in most of Nevada, Nye County has maintained a neutral stand on the government's efforts to build a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
      On the other hand, Lincoln County has actively supported nuclear waste storage in Nevada for the jobs it could create.
      "Nye County's emphasis was first and foremost sound science, and an equally important priority was community outreach and education," Holstein said.
      Nye County Manager Les Bradshaw said Friday he did not work long with Holstein, but "he did a nice job for us."
      Friends and foes of the nuclear power industry in Washington weren't sure what to make of Holstein.
      "He obviously has the confidence of the secretary, and the industry is looking forward to working with the Department of Energy to enact nuclear waste legislation," said Steve Unglesbee of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's chief lobbying arm in Washington.
      A spokesman for Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who co-authored this year's nuclear waste bill, said Craig had not heard of Holstein.
      Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who opposes the nuclear waste bill, said he doesn't know Holstein well but said "Pena is a fine administrator and I know he picks good people."
      Holstein earned a degree in international relations from Syracuse University.
      He later joined the staff of the National Council of State Legislators in Washington and began working on issues regarding low-level radioactive waste in 1980.