Lawmaker urged to cancel Yucca trip due to costs

WASHINGTON -- A U.S. House committee chairman who was planning to lead a delegation of lawmakers to Yucca Mountain later this month is being urged to call off the trip as a waste of taxpayer money.

Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., told Energy Secretary Steven Chu late last month he wanted to take a dozen House members to the shuttered site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas as part of an investigation by the House environment and the economy subcommittee.

But on Friday, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., urged Shimkus to cancel the trip after learning from the Department of Energy what it would cost to transport the group to Yucca Mountain and show them around.

"According to the department, since Yucca Mountain has been closed for nearly two years, preparing the site for your tour would take significant resources," Waxman, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, told Shimkus in a letter.

DOE said it would cost $175,000 to prepare for visitors at the site where government agencies had conducted 20 years of studies on whether nuclear waste could be safely stored and ultimately buried in tunnels carved throughout the mountain ridge.

Fencing would have to be removed from an exploratory tunnel that at 25 feet in diameter is the dominating feature of the Yucca site. Further, equipment would need to be restarted and the tunnel would need to be tested for silica and radon, the department said. If air quality did not meet safe levels, the tour would have to be rescheduled or canceled.

The department added it would need to supply three helicopters to ferry the contingent from Las Vegas to the site and also vehicles on either end of the trip, at a cost of at least $25,000. Or the visitors could travel by bus, several hours each way.

"At a time when the government is facing a shutdown over funding, it seems completely inappropriate to incur these needless expenses," Waxman told Shimkus. "I hope you will reconsider and announce the cancellation of the site visit."

Neither Shimkus nor a spokesman for committee Republicans could be reached late Friday for comment .

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.