Senate panel restores funds for nuclear waste cleanup

 

Jun 29 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Jerry Zremski The Buffalo News, N.Y.

A key Senate committee Thursday restored more than $20 million in 2008 funding for the West Valley Demonstration Project that the Bush administration had proposed cutting from the Cattaraugus County nuclear waste cleanup site.

Under a spending bill approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, West Valley would receive $78.9 million in federal funding for the year. That's up from $76.3 million last year -- and far more than the $54.4 million that President Bush had suggested for 2008.

While the Senate spending bill will have to pass the full Senate, be reconciled with a House version of the measure and then signed by the president, the Senate committee's action dramatically reduces the odds of a big funding cut that local officials had been dreading.

"This is great news for Western New York," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. "The funding for the West Valley Project will provide the resources necessary to accelerate the cleanup at this toxic site."

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., agreed.

"The president's budget cuts would not only have jeopardized local jobs but would have hindered the cleanup work efforts at the site," Clinton said. "I will continue to press the administration and DOE to fulfill their responsibilities to fully remediate this site for the people of Western New York."

When Bush's proposal was announced in February, Terry Dunford, communications administrator for West Valley Nuclear Services Co., said the funding cut would most likely slow down the cleanup process and result in layoffs.

Dunford said at the time that Washington Group's West Valley Nuclear Services Co., which manages the facility, had 312 employees at the site. An additional 113 employees work for the federal and state governments as well as subcontractors at the site.

jzremski@buffnews.com