Spending on Yucca lawyers criticized

Spending on Yucca lawyers criticized

Apr 02 - Las Vegas Review - Journal

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Wednesday criticized Energy Department spending on Yucca Mountain lawyers, saying attorneys must be slapping "high fives" at the prospect of a government payday.

At a Senate budget hearing, Reid said he plans to ask the DOE to detail a contract awarded last week to Hunton & Williams, a Richmond, Va., law firm that will shepherd the department's license application for a nuclear waste repository at the Yucca site.

The firm would be eligible to earn up to $45 million over the next five years based on the time its lawyers spend performing the government work, DOE officials have said.

Reid also noted the DOE has agreed to pay $4.5 million to another firm, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, to settle a related nuclear waste contract lawsuit.

"Having been a lawyer, I'll bet they are giving high fives every morning," Reid said of Hunton & Williams partners. "Forty-five million for a license application? What a soft deal that is. And then they're paying a firm $4.5 million to do nothing."

At the meeting, Reid told Margaret Chu, the director of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, that the size of the Hunton & Williams contract seemed excessive to him.

The Energy Department has handled license preparations in-house so far, Reid said.

"Given the incredibly technical nature of the application, how is it possible for a bunch of attorneys, even ones with knowledge of the regulatory process, to add $45 million in value to the process?"

DOE spokesman Joe Davis said the contract reflects the department's "thorough understanding of the work entailed and the likelihood that the licensing will be one of the most contentious that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ever conducted."

Hunton & Williams was hired to replace Winston & Strawn LLP, a Chicago-based firm that worked on Yucca Mountain licensing matters for two years before leaving the program and a $16.5 million contract in 2001 amid conflict allegations.

Nuclear industry executives reportedly were urging DOE to hire new outside counsel with experience in handling complex cases before the NRC.

Nevada has paid its nuclear waste law firm, Virginia-based Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Cynkar, between $4 million and $6 million since 2001 to handle Yucca-related litigation, according to Bob Loux, director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects.

Loux estimated Nevada's legal bill for Yucca licensing matters could range between