MONTPELIER, Vt. - Aug 4

 

Gov. Jim Douglas and some of his colleagues around the region are protesting a U.S. Senate proposal that they say could force their states to become storage sites for spent nuclear fuel.

Douglas and Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri signed a letter on behalf of the Coalition of Northeastern Governors protesting a spending bill that has won the unanimous recommendation of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

A provision in that bill would permit money paid into a fund for building a permanent centralized waste storage facility to be diverted to "a hastily created network of federal consolidated storage facilities," Douglas and Carcieri wrote to Senate leaders.

The Senate proposal could lead to long-term storage at consolidated local or regional sites in 31 states, the governors said.

"Congress appears to be on the verge of telling states it's their own problem," Douglas said of the waste disposal issue. "That is a breach of the deal we have had for some time."

Electricity ratepayers for years have paid into a fund that was supposed to help find, design and build a centralized nuclear waste disposal facility. A site has been proposed at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, 90 miles north of Las Vegas, but its construction has been delayed repeatedly and it is not expected to open before 2017. In the meantime, 50,000 tons of nuclear waste sits at nuclear power plants awaiting permanent disposal.

Some members of the Senate Appropriations Committee that approved the bill said they opposed the provision on nuclear waste and hoped to delete it before the legislation passes. It's not due before the full Senate before September and differences still would need to be worked out between it and a House version.

The House did not include the nuclear waste provision.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., voted for the bill in committee but will seek to deal with the nuclear waste in the meantime, said spokesman David Carle.

"Senator Leahy believes the best solution is to remove nuclear waste from Vermont and other locations. The national repository in Nevada is a better solution than opening the door to many new, temporary storage sites," Carle said.

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Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/