Senator Pete V. Domenici
Photo by Katie Cannon /
MSNBC.com
Sen. Pete Domenici presides over a September hearing on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Water and Energy.
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Senator Pete V. Domenici
Sen. Pete Domenici presides over a September hearing on the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Water and Energy. |
Since 1989, Domenici has received $1.2 million in campaign donations from individuals and political action committees in the energy and natural resources sector, well over a tenth of the total $10.8 million he has raised for his Senate campaigns in that time, according to federal election records. Electric utilities, with big stakes in the future of nuclear power and government subsidies for it, kicked in $384,923. The list of Domenici’s campaign donors includes at least three dozen firms on the membership roster of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry’s main lobbying arm.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15922365/
Domenici's proposal is likely to be controversial because it would give the Energy Department authority to build a waste facility within a state even if a state or local authorities objected.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/27/ap/politics/mainD8IGPIB80.shtml
5/24/07 Domenici Reintroduces Legislation to Accelerate Nuclear Waste to Yucca Mountain
Senator Pete Domenici (NM) and 11 cosponsors reintroduced a bill to accelerate the movement of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) to Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
The "Nuclear Waste Access to Yucca Act" (NU-WAY), S.37, is the same bill Domenici introduced last year, which never made it out of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources that he chaired. The senator acknowledged the tough road ahead for this bill given the fact that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hails from Nevada and has been steadfast in his commitment to block any legislation that would lead to the development of a repository in his state. Domenici nevertheless emphasized the importance of the repository to the growth of nuclear power, which he believes could provide much greater capacity of clean and affordable energy to people across the country.
The bill addresses several components to progress action on the project which are supported by the Bush Administration and particularly the Department of Energy (DOE), who is responsible for taking ownership of SNF and HLW and disposing of them at Yucca Mountain. S.37 would dramatically change current law regarding the management of nuclear waste by requiring the establishment of an on-site surface facility at Yucca Mountain for interim storage. This surface facility could potentially begin accepting defense waste upon completion of an environmental impact statement, and commercial waste from nuclear reactors after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issues a construction permit. This could occur by 2011, six years before DOE's "best achievable" projection of 2017 for permanent waste emplacement in Yucca Mountain.
The urgency for such legislation has grown as utility lawsuits against DOE for breach of contract in failing to take nuclear waste from their sites by 1998 are beginning to require significant payouts. Utility ratepayers have met their side of the obligation under federal law to pay fees into a Nuclear Waste Fund for over 20 years, but DOE's lack of receipt has required power companies to personally finance the installation and operation of waste storage facilities on their own commercial sites. Domenici supports interim storage as a way to remove the waste from reactor sites and limit DOE's liability.
The proposal outlined in Domenici's bill would require DOE to submit a License Application to the NRC for the surface storage facility in 2008, along with the application for the permanent repository. The NRC would have 18 months from that date to decide on the surface facility application, and four years for the permanent repository. Domenici's legislation also contains elements addressing reprocessing of spent fuel under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). DOE would determine how much waste would be sent to reprocessing plants for recycling, which Domenici believes is an integral part of waste management if a nuclear renaissance takes root.
Although S.37 includes many provisions of the
Administration's Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act, also reintroduced
this year, such as: land withdrawal, dismissal of the 70,000 metric ton
statutory limit for the amount of nuclear waste that may be disposed at Yucca
Mountain, authorizing DOE to begin construction of some non-nuclear related
infrastructure ahead of an NRC license, Nuclear Waste Fund budgetary changes,
and congressional waste confidence - several controversial provisions were
omitted. In particular, Section 7 of the Administration's original bill,
which would have preempted state, tribal, and in some cases Department of
Transportation requirements for the shipping of nuclear waste, is not explicitly
addressed in Domenici's NU-WAY bill.
Source: https://www.ncsl.org/programs/environ/cleanup/newsmenu.htm
At the September hearing on GNEP, Lyman and Bunn's objections were quickly brushed aside by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., one of the biggest backers of the nuclear industry in Congress and the fuel reprocessing program's chief proponent.
Domenici, then chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, charged that Bunn “isn't living in the same age I am with reference to support for nuclear power. He's still talking about things like we need (political) support for certain things, where I already think the nation is far ahead of that.”
Domenici's staff refused MSNBC.com's requests for an interview with the senator.
But GNEP has not been as warmly embraced by other members of Congress, and the $250 million sought by the Bush administration to begin work on the program is snarled in an appropriations battle.
Nor has the nuclear industry been a strong supporter, though that could be changing because of the program’s perceived potential to solve some of the issues surrounding nuclear waste disposal.
“I support GNEP as a responsible solution to addressing our spent fuel needs,” Domenici said at the outset of the September hearing. He has since introduced legislation that would “integrate” Yucca Mountain and GNEP to allow waste to bypass Yucca and be sent to a holding facility if “the secretary of energy determines if it can be recycled within a reasonable amount of time.”
Domenici Like
Progress on GNEP Initiative With Eddy/Lea & Roswell Sites in Running
from the Office of Senator Pete V. Domenici
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Pete Domenici today applauded an announcement by the U.S. Department of Energy that it is moving forward with plans to select suitable sites for spent fuel recycling as part of its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), including two potential locations in New Mexico.
Domenici, who chairs the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee with funding jurisdiction over DOE programs, has been a major proponent of the GNEP program. DOE today announced that 11 sites will receive up to $16 million to conduct studies to determine their suitability to house a fuel recycling facility. Among the sites selected were those proposed by the Eddy/Lea Energy Alliance in Hobbs and EnergySolutions, LLC in Roswell.
The funds awarded by DOE will be used to perform detailed studies related to hosting one or both of the Consolidated Fuel Treatment Center and the Advanced Burner Reactor. Domenici included $20 million for site studies in the FY2006 Energy and Water Appropriations Bill.
“I have long believed that nuclear energy must be a major part of the long term solution to our nation’s energy needs. As we proceed with a nuclear energy strategy, we must include careful consideration of how to address waste. GNEP will provide us with a mid-term solution which will give us a way to reuse the energy not consumed in spent fuel and reduce the toxicity of the material that needs permanent disposal in Yucca Mountain,” Domenici said.
“I’m particularly pleased to see two New Mexico sites among the 11 that will be studied. Our state is a leader in energy production, and our national labs and others are developing the best technology that will help solve our problems. Placing a facility in New Mexico would make a lot of sense and is a natural partner for our facilities in our state, including the new WIPP plant near Carlsbad,” he said.
Domenici has advocated a three tiered policy for dealing with short, middle- and long-term strategies for waste from nuclear power.
The Senator has said that the federal government must honor its obligation to take control of waste stored at more than 60 sites around the country until a spent fuel recycling facility or Yucca Mountain is ready.
Source: http://domenici.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?ref=1&id=266172
The two links below are the same web page; the first in pdf and the second in htm. It is appears to be a record lawyers bribing their way into being appointed as judges. A bunch of them involve Pete V. Domenici.
http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/files/MoneyTrails_FullReport.pdf
www.frankmckinnon.com