Friday, March 12, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Energy's Abraham questioned

Lawmakers on House panel say budget plans for Yucca Mountain inadequate, risky

WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham faced tough questioning Thursday from the chairman and members of a House panel who complained next year's budget request for Yucca Mountain is inadequate and risky.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on energy and water, also criticized the Energy Department's request for $27.6 million to continue research on a new earth-penetrating nuclear weapon known as a bunker-buster.

But Hobson seemed particularly disturbed that the Energy Department is counting on Congress to change current law so that $749 million in nuclear ratepayer fees can be spent solely on Yucca Mountain without counting against federal budget limits.

Asking Congress to make such a change is a dangerous gamble and could leave a hole in the Yucca Mountain budget, Hobson said. He expressed doubt that Congress would be willing to approve such a change in an election year.

"The configuration of the Senate is not going to do that," Hobson said. "Now, unless you all are willing to take a hit somewhere, I don't know where that money is going to come from."

Last week, the Senate Budget Committee voted to slash the department's budget request for Yucca Mountain from $880 million to $577 million.

"I think somebody played Russian roulette with what I consider a huge problem in this country that was on its way to being solved," said Hobson, who is an ardent supporter of a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and has a large picture of the mountain framed in the subcommittee hearing room.

Abraham brushed off Hobson's concerns. The secretary said he has been told political resistance would prevent progress on Yucca Mountain ever since he took office.

In the meantime, Abraham said, President Bush has accepted his recommendation to designate Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for nuclear waste storage and Congress overwhelmingly approved the president's decision by overriding a veto issued by Gov. Kenny Guinn, R-Nev.

"People who are sending money to Washington through their utility companies to take care of this mess ought to have that money segregated and used for the project instead of going into a general fund situation and used for other things," Abraham said.

Hobson remained unconvinced, telling Abraham, "You are risking, in an election year: Yucca Mountain."

The subcommittee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Peter Visclosky of Indiana, said he shared Hobson's concerns. Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., said the department's budget request "sort of lost the momentum on Yucca."

Hobson also expressed dismay at the department's request for $27.6 million to continue studying the development of a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. The program received just $7.5 million in this year's budget.

Over the next five years, the study of the so-called bunker-buster is projected to total $485 million. If completed, the weapon might be tested at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"This kind of money-is-no-object thinking might have been the norm for the nuclear weapons complex during the Cold War years, but I think it's completely out of touch with the political and fiscal realities that we face today," Hobson said.

While Abraham acknowledged the U.S. should reduce its nuclear weapons stockpile, he defended the bunker-buster program.

"The value of a nuclear deterrent remains as strong as ever," Abraham said.