Senate Cuts Spending for Nev. Nuclear Dump

[callady]

Senate Cuts Spending for Nev. Nuclear Dump


Monday November 14, 2005 11:46 pm

By ANDREW TAYLOR

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted Monday to cut significantly the budget for the troubled Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump as negotiators tried to finalize several other spending bills before stopgap funding expires.

The $450 million Yucca Mountain budget - down $127 million from each of the last two years - is included in a final bill funding energy and water programs for fiscal 2006, which cleared the Senate by an 84-4 vote. Senate negotiators immediately headed to a House meeting room for talks on two other bills.

The urgency comes as lawmakers try to wrap up work on the 11 spending bills comprising the approximately one-third of the federal budget that Congress passes each year. After years of consistent increases, the overall budget for domestic agencies - with the exception of the Homeland Security Department - is essentially frozen or even slightly below last year's levels.

The Senate vote clears the sixth of 11 spending bills for President Bush's signature. Lawmakers hope to complete action on remaining domestic bills by Friday, when a bill funding agency budgets on a stopgap basis expires. The temporary funding bill has been in place since the budget year began Oct. 1.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5415025,00.html

[silvershadow]

1. what is the current status of Yucca?

Sorry, I am not up to date. Are they still building the site, or is it already accepting waste?

The reason I ask is I am wonder how this budget cut will affect things. If it is still under construction, the budget cuts will surely delay it becoming operational.

If it is already up and running, I don't see how the budget cut could be a good thing.

[silverstateD]

2. Good thing.

No waste yet. Still time to stop the madness.

[enlightenment]

3. They have completed the first phase -- presumably it is

ready to receive waste.
A fascinating state of affairs, given that the site has not yet cleared the final environmental impact statement. According to the "rules" they were not supposed to START construction until that happened.
I teach Nevada History (required in the state). It's pretty stunning to watch my students come unhinged as they realize just what the government -- and, quite frankly, all the other nimby states -- have been trying to do with this project.

edited for sentence clarity (more or less)