GOP Seeks DOE Legal Justification For Plan To Close Nuclear Waste Office

832 words/5 April 2010/Superfund Report/SUFR/Vol. 24, No. 7/English/Copyright (c) 2010 Inside Washington Publishers. All Rights Reserved. Also available in print and online as part of www.InsideEPA.com.

Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee's energy panel are pushing the Energy Department (DOE) to provide a legal justification for its proposed closure of its civilian nuclear waste office that manages the Yucca Mountain repository program, warning that the department first needs congressional approval to scrap the office.But DOE, which outlined the closure plan in its fiscal year 2011 budget request, claims that its general counsel believes the department has existing authority to restructure and shut down the office.
The Republicans are now trying to form a bipartisan group of lawmakers to meet with the department's general counsel to resolve the issue ideally before they consider DOE's pending FY11 funding bill, though congressional sources say that the GOP lawmakers are not looking to block DOE's budget bill over the issue.DOE is proposing to close its Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) and fold some of its duties into the nuclear energy office run by Assistant Secretary Warren Miller.

OCRWM was established in 1982 under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, and its mission is to manage and dispose of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel "in a manner that protects health, safety, and the environment; enhances national and energy security; and merits public confidence," according to the office's Web site. The office also oversaw the proposed Yucca Mountain repository for radioactive waste.
But following the Obama administration's decision to close the Yucca Mountain project and withdraw its license application for the project from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), DOE argues in its FY11 budget request to Congress that it should now close OCRWM and reassign key office duties.
But lawmakers already riled by the closure of Yucca Mountain are seizing on the proposed office closure, challenging DOE's authority to shut down the office. The congressional sources say that lawmakers would have to amend the Nuclear Waste Policy Act to give DOE authority to shut the office.
One congressional source says that House Republican lawmakers on the appropriations panel's energy and water development subcommittee are now trying to organize meetings with DOE's general counsel on the issue, which they hope will include both Democrats and Republicans from the subcommittee. Sources say that subcommittee member Mike Simpson (R-ID) is among the GOP members pushing for the meetings.
The source says these discussions must happen before lawmakers give any consideration to inserting legislative language in DOE's FY11 budget bill that could block the office closure.
A DOE source says Secretary Steven Chu sent a March 26 letter to Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN), chairman of the energy funding subcommittee, assuring him that according to the DOE general counsel the agency does have the authority to restructure OCRWM, closing it and folding some of its outstanding duties into the nuclear energy office headed by Miller.
"My general counsel has studied this matter closely, and has advised me that we do have the authority within the law to take the reprogramming actions that we have planned," said Chu in the letter.
"I assure you that my staff and I will keep you better informed of the process as we move forward in the coming weeks and months with more significant steps toward shutting down the Yucca Mountain project," Chu wrote.
The DOE source could not say if lawmakers have scheduled a meeting with Chu's staff or the general counsel on the matter. In the letter, Chu says that any meetings between DOE and lawmakers on this matter would likely occur after the April recess. "These are complex issues, and I would like to visit with you in person soon after the recess to discuss them in more detail," wrote Chu. The letter is available on InsideEPA.com.
Chu also says that funding OCRWM would not be prudent given the administration's plan to shut down Yucca Mountain. DOE "is taking action to shut down the program in light of the NRC's decision to grant our motion to stay the license application process. In short, I do not believe we should spend money on a licensing process that has been suspended, especially given the Administration's intention to pursue alternatives to Yucca Mountain," Chu wrote.
The office of Rep. Edward Pastor (D-AZ), vice chairman of the energy and water development appropriations subcommittee, would not respond to repeated calls for comment on how he intends to proceed in addressing the legality of DOE reprogramming. Nevertheless, Pastor in hearings last month came out strongly in support of Yucca Mountain as an alternative that must be considered in the blue ribbon commission's deliberations.
Pastor and subcommittee ranking member Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) pressed Miller at a March 23 DOE budget hearing to advise the blue ribbon commission on nuclear waste to consider Yucca Mountain as an option in forming its recommendations on a new nuclear waste strategy.
Document SUFR000020100405e64500011