Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Congress resolves Yucca funding dispute
Counties can use DOE grants to take part in licensing for project
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- A dispute over how Nevada counties can spend federal money on Yucca Mountain has been resolved by Congress in favor of the counties, officials said this week.
A year-end spending bill that lawmakers passed Nov. 20 makes clear that local governments can use Energy Department grants to take part in licensing for the proposed nuclear waste repository, they said.
Clark County commissioners protested after DOE issued new grant guidelines in August. One directive disallowed use of grant money for activities such as loading pertinent research into an electronic database being built for Yucca Mountain license hearings.
County leaders said the rules would restrict their ability to fully participate in upcoming hearings before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
A provision that reverses the directive was proposed by Clark County officials and was inserted into the bill by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., according to Capitol Hill officials.
Abigail Johnson, a nuclear waste consultant to Eureka County, said the problem appears to be solved for now.
"It provides the specific language that answers the questions that had come up over how we can use our oversight funds," she said.
Reid aides said the provision will need to be renewed each year.
Nine Nevada counties and Inyo County in California shared $4 million this year and are being given $8 million during fiscal 2005 to monitor DOE's work at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, and to study the planned repository's potential impacts on their residents.
Clark County's allocation for 2005 is expected to be about $2 million.
Yucca Mountain hearings will be conducted in a triallike format before an NRC administrative panel.
DOE officials said their August guidelines were based on their reading of a law that prohibits the counties from spending federal money on repository "litigation."
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said DOE welcomed the instructions from Congress.
"Congress has for many years provided us guidance as well as the state and the (counties) on how the funds should be spent," Benson said. "Now we have congressional direction, which helps all of us."
