As many of you know, I have sent a letter to the President and Administrator Whitman informing them that I intend to hold Administration nominations until the radiation standard for Yucca Mountain, including the groundwater standard, is published in the Federal Register.
The proposed Yucca Mountain Repository would be located approximately 90 miles from Las Vegas, Nevada's largest and expanding city. In addition to being home to more than 1.3 million Nevadans, Las Vegas and its neighboring communities draw more than 30 million visitors each year. Contamination of groundwater or the surrounding environment from radiation would create an unacceptable human health risk and would threaten the tourism and recreation-based economy, which provides jobs and important tax revenue to Nevada and its communities.
The NRC must determine whether Yucca Mountain will meet radiation release standards established by the EPA under authority granted by the 1992 Energy Policy Act. The Act requires EPA to set the standards based on, and consistent with, the findings and recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences' "Technical Bases for Yucca Mountain Standards" report. EPA not only considered the report but also public comments received on the report from public hearings as well as additional written comments. EPA also considered previous applicable regulations such as the generic standards for radioactive wastes used at the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in New Mexico.
EPA held public hearings in Nevada and Washington, D.C. in October of 1999 and had a 90-day comment period in late 1999.
Although the EPA submitted a final rule to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in late January 2001, the standards have not been published.
I am concerned that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy are attempting to weaken the provisions of the EPA standards through the interagency review. The DOE and NRC are legally responsible for site recommendation and licensing respectively, NOT radiation standards.
There is a clear separation of authority. Through their actions, the DOE and NRC may give the impression that they are seeking to establish limits they believe Yucca would satisfy. This would undermine the public's confidence in the objective, scientific nature of the site recommendation and standard setting processes and set a worrisome precedent for EPA's ability to conduct its statutory responsibilities using sound science.
This standard is not only important to the citizen's of my state of Nevada, it is important for all of us because, under the law, EPA - the agency responsible for protecting our environment - should be allowed to do just that - protect the environment.
The Chairman and I have talked and, at this time, I will not object to reporting nominees from the EPW Committee.
I have also talked to Administrator Whitman. I have agreed to support the nomination of Ms. Fisher, who is nominated to be Administrator Whitman's Deputy, because the Administrator agrees with me and has assured me that she will do everything she can to get the EPA standard for Yucca Mountain published.
However, until the standard for Yucca Mountain that represents the best judgment of the EPA -- not the NRC or DOE -- is published in the Federal Register, I will hold other Administration nominees from moving out of the Senate.
I would like to thank Mr. Holmstead for responding to questions I had before this hearing and would like to ask unanimous consent that the questions and his responses appear in the hearing record at the appropriate place.
We also have some additional infomration that we have requested Mr. Holmstead to supply to the Committee and hope that we can get that information soon and review it expeditiously.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I look forward to hearing from the nominees here today.