June 13, 2017

Today Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada’s First Congressional District released the following statement after Rep. John Shimkus, Chairman of the Environment Subcommittee in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, noticed a hearing for this Thursday to markup the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, legislation to revive the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

“This legislation usurps the State’s water rights, removes the cap on the amount of waste originally allowed at the proposed Yucca Mountain facility, ignores the majority of Nevadans who do not want a repository in our state, and overlooks the 329 congressional districts that would be along the waste’s shipping route. This is another show of hostility toward Nevada by Republicans who want to shove this dangerous project down our throats. It’s bad science and worse policy.”

BACKGROUND

Rep. Titus testified against this bill at a hearing in April. She sponsored legislation for a consent-based approach to mandate that any community selected to store high-level nuclear waste must have the approval of state, tribal, and local governments. She sent a letter this week to members of the subcommittee, urging them to consider a consent-based approach as opposed to this unworkable proposal.

The hearing comes as the Trump administration simultaneously works to revive Yucca Mountain. The president requested $120 million in funding to re-start the licensing process and nominated a pro-Yucca Mountain advocate to be a new member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. After a visit to the Yucca Mountain site, Energy Secretary Rick Perry wrote to Rep. Shimkus to say that the importance of resuming the licensing process was “imprinted” on him.