Thursday, June 06, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Senate panel's Yucca vote advances plan

Reid, Ensign hope parliamentary moves can block resolution
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The Senate's energy committee voted Wednesday to authorize the Yucca Mountain Project, setting the stage for a final showdown in Congress over plans for a nuclear waste repository in Nevada.

The 13-10 vote by the Energy and Natural Resources Committee sends a Yucca Mountain resolution to the Senate floor under a fast-track process.

The resolution would override a veto that Gov. Kenny Guinn cast in April and allow the Energy Department to continue forward with the program once President Bush signs it.

In their most candid assessment to date, Nevada's senators said afterward they see slim chance of attracting 51 votes to kill the nuclear waste project outright despite months of lobbying colleagues and an anti-Yucca campaign waged in various parts of the country.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., instead announced they will try to block the Yucca Mountain bill on procedural grounds and possibly utilizing other parliamentary maneuvers.

"We have a better chance of getting Republican (support) on a procedural vote than on an up-or-down vote," Ensign said. Only one Republican so far, Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado, has declared he will vote against Yucca Mountain.

Reid has said he has lined up 30 to 35 Democrats to support the state's official opposition.

Together they are short of 51 votes, and published vote counts have indicated that close to a majority of the Senate already supports the Bush administration's call that nuclear waste be buried at the site 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Reid said the Senate might get to the Yucca Mountain bill within several weeks. The House passed the measure in early May.

Outlining their plans, Reid and Ensign said they, along with ally Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., will challenge any senator who tries to call up the Yucca Mountain bill for debate.

The challenge would force a vote, not on Yucca Mountain directly, but on whether senators want to buck long tradition that invests power in the majority leader.

The tradition holds that only the majority leader calls up bills for debate, and Daschle has said he will refuse to call for the Yucca Mountain bill.

Research by Ensign's staff found five instances since 1987 when the Senate had an opportunity to buck tradition on fast-track issues such as Yucca Mountain but declined to do so.

Breaking tradition "would set a dangerous precedent. It literally could send the Senate into chaos," Ensign said.

Ensign conceded if the Nevadans lose that procedural vote, "it will be very difficult" to hold off pro-Yucca senators.

A Nevada win on the procedural fight wouldn't kill the Yucca resolution, but would throw the Senate into uncertainty.

It also probably would increase pressure on Daschle. Republicans have accused the majority leader of being an obstructionist on other issues important to President Bush.

On the other hand, Daschle has pledged to help Reid, his leadership deputy and personal friend.

Daschle spokeswoman Ranit Schmelzer said Wednesday that Daschle "has been very clear on this issue. He opposes Yucca Mountain. He has said for some time he has been urging his colleagues not to bring the legislation to the floor. If it does come to the floor, he's working hard to make sure there are Democrat votes against it."

A spokesman for Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., did not return a call for comment.

Senators readily acknowledge the institution places a premium on custom and tradition.

"We work hard not to (set precedent)," said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, a pro-Yucca senator who has considered the implications of challenging the majority leader.

"When (Republicans) have the leadership we don't want the minority doing that to us and when (Democrats) have it, they don't want the minority doing that to them," he said.

Craig said he didn't think a Yucca Mountain vote would set a dangerous precedent, but "all of us are hopeful we can work out a reasonable timeline" for a vote.

Another pro-Yucca senator, Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, said he has suggested Lott work something out with Daschle to smooth the Senate's debate.

"I think the leadership should address how this is brought up," he said. "It saves a lot of needless posturing."

Craig and Murkowski predicted the Yucca Mountain measure will pass the Senate if brought to a vote. Neither ventured to predict the vote margin.

The 23-member energy committee conducted brief discussion on the bill before passing it early in the day.

Ten Republicans and three Democrats voted for the repository program to proceed. Nine Democrats and one Republican, Campbell of Colorado, voted against the project.

Democrats voting for the repository were Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Bob Graham of Florida and committee chairman Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.

Bingaman said he heard nothing in three days of hearings last month that told him the Department of Energy should not be allowed to continue the nuclear waste project. If approved by Congress, the next step is for the DOE to prepare a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"The Department of Energy needs to do more to resolve remaining design issues, improve its performance assessment, strengthen transportation planning to ensure the safety and security of waste shipments, but the various technical experts we heard from all indicated they believe the department can do that," Bingaman said.

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., said he was anguished between his support for nuclear power and his friendship with Reid. He ended up voting against Yucca Mountain, but said he may change his vote later.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said she opposed the Yucca Mountain project because it does not go far enough to remove more waste from the government's nuclear reservation at Hanford, Wash.

"I can't support a resolution that is not comprehensive," she said. "I don't want to see this issue come back to us."