Fw: (CMEP-list) Yucca Mountain Recommendation Tainted by UndueInfluence of Nuclear Industry Lobbyists

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----- Original Message -----

From: " Noel Petrie " <npetrie@...>

Sent: Monday, April 01, 2002 2:41 PM

Subject: (CMEP-list) Yucca Mountain Recommendation Tainted by UndueInfluence

of Nuclear Industry Lobbyists

April 1, 2002

Yucca Mountain Recommendation Tainted by Undue Influence of Nuclear Industry

Lobbyists

Science Smothered Under a Mountain of Lobbyists, Report Says

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Nuclear industry money and lobbyists may have biased

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's controversial recommendation that a

nuclear waste dump be developed at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, according to a

report released today by Public Citizen.

The report, which analyzes nuclear industry campaign contributions to

Abraham and the lobbying expenditures of top contributors, concludes that

Abraham's site recommendation is not a responsible, science-based policy

assessment but " a bill of sale to the well-funded nuclear industry lobby. "

Last month, Abraham formally recommended that the proposed nuclear waste

dump be built and President Bush concurred. (Bush himself received nearly

$300,000 from the nuclear industry for his presidential bid.) Nevada's

governor has pledged to veto the plan, but Congress could override the veto.

A congressional vote is expected late this spring.

" We urge Congress to reject this industry-puchased proposal in order to

protect the integrity of the democratic process, " said Wenonah Hauter,

director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program.

" Responsible energy policy, public health and environmental safety must not

be sidelined by the influences of the well-heeled nuclear industry lobbyists

who stalk the halls of Congress. "

The report discloses that the nuclear industry contributed $82,728 to

Abraham during the 2000 election cycle, when he was a U.S. senator, and

spent even more money lobbying on issues dear to the industry's bottom line,

including the ill-conceived nuclear waste dump proposal. In 2000 alone,

leading nuclear energy interests that helped bankroll Abraham's unsuccessful

Senate campaign spent more than $25 million to hire some of the

highest-powered lobbyists in Washington, D.C., including top officials from

the Reagan and Clinton administrations, records show. Eight of the lobbying

firms hired made Fortune magazine's recent list of the 20 most influential

firms in Washington.

The nuclear industry is doling out so much cash because it is itching to

build new power plants and needs a place to store nuclear waste. But Yucca

Mountain, the only site under consideration for the proposed repository,

lies in an earthquake zone and atop a drinking water aquifer. Also, storing

waste there would require shipping it through almost every state, creating

rolling radioactive hazards for communities everywhere and creating a

network of vulnerability amid heightened national security concerns.

" This unsafe project cannot be justified, " said Joan Claybrook, Public

Citizen's president. " It is unconscionable that the money the nuclear

industry is spending to lobby in support of this dangerous dump comes from

the working families who pay power bills and whose communities may be

jeopardized when this deadly waste goes rolling through. "

Public Citizen's report, " Yucca Mountain Bought and Sold " shows that:

·The pro-repository nuclear power interests that bankrolled Abraham's 2000

campaign spent $25 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies in 2000 -

nearly a half-million dollars every week.

·In addition to their in-house lobbyists on staff, Abraham's close nuclear

friends employed 53 independent lobbying firms, for a combined total of 199

individual lobbyists. More than 80 percent of those lobbyists reported on

disclosure forms that they were lobbying on nuclear waste legislation, Yucca

Mountain appropriations or closely related issues.

·Some of the lobbyists themselves contributed to Abraham's 2000 campaign,

including Winston & Strawn, the firm that had to withdraw as a consultant to

the U.S. Department of Energy Yucca Mountain project last year when it was

revealed that the firm was lobbying for the Nuclear Energy Institute in a

blatant conflict of interest.

·Nearly half the lobbyists hired by Abraham's top nuclear contributors

previously worked for the federal government. The roster includes seven

former members of Congress; former acting Energy Secretary Moler,

who also was former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;

Simon, the chief domestic advisor to former Vice President Al Gore;

Haley Barbour, political affairs director in the Reagan White House and

former chair of the Republican National Committee; and Curtiss, who

served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

" Abraham attributed his Yucca Mountain recommendation to compelling national

interests, but he should have said compelling special interests, " Hauter

said. " No wonder they call it nuclear power. "

A copy of the report is available at

http://www.citizen.org/documents/yuccamtbands.PDF

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