February 26, 2009

Washington, D.C. – The Nevada Congressional Delegation today spoke enthusiastically about the federal budget cuts to funding for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, which were unveiled by President Obama today. The budget outline released today makes it clear that the federal government is moving away from Yucca Mountain and looking for better solutions to dealing with nuclear waste.

For years the Nevada Delegation has been working together to fight the dump and cut Yucca’s budget to historically low levels.
 
The language in the president’s budget outline is below:

“Focuses on the Cleanup and Management of Radioactive Waste and Nuclear Materials.”
The Budget focuses on improved performance and accountability for the environmental legacy of the Nation’s nuclear weapons program by addressing health and safety risks across the country. The Yucca Mountain program will be scaled back to those costs necessary to answer inquiries from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal.”

“It was very easy working with the Obama Administration to bring about these cuts,” said Senator Harry Reid. “In the future people will say that President Obama kept his promise to the people of Nevada.”

“The president’s budget cuts to Yucca Mountain are a positive step for Nevada,” said Ensign.  “The Nevada Delegation has been united in its fight to kill Yucca and have said all along that a new strategy is necessary.  I’m hopeful that a ‘scaled back’ Yucca is a Yucca that never happens.  This project is dead, and this announcement is another indicator that our efforts are paying off.”

“The president’s commitment to further slash future funding for Yucca Mountain -- combined with a $100 million cut in the dump’s current budget -- will enable Nevada to land the knockout punch we need against this failed project,” said Congresswoman Shelley Berkley.  “Rome was not built in a day, and Yucca Mountain will not close tomorrow, but this brings closer than ever before to permanently eliminating this threat to Nevada’s future.  Yucca Mountain is twenty years behind schedule, its $100 billion budget is bloated and support for this pile of radioactive pork has never been lower.  We can safely store nuclear waste at reactor sites, go back to drawing board, and find a real solution that does not involve burying this radioactive menace in the Nevada desert for the next one million years.”

“The Nevada delegation has worked for decades in a bipartisan manner to stop the Yucca Mountain Project,” said Congressman Dean Heller. “The president’s budget recognizes that this project is a waste of taxpayer’s dollars and a threat to the health and safety of all Nevadans. While this is a positive step forward, we need for President Obama to go further.   I call on the president to fully eliminate funding for Yucca Mountain by 2011.”

“I applaud President Obama for drastically cutting funding for Yucca Mountain.  For years, we have fought against this disastrous plan to store nuclear waste in our backyard,” Congresswoman Dina Titus said.  “The president’s budget is a significant step in the right direction.  I have been opposed to Yucca Mountain from day one and I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Nevada delegation to kill this project once and for all.”