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Deseret News | Bennett seeks to stall bill to ban nuclear waste
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said Friday he will seek to stall in the Senate a bill that the House passed this week to block Energy?Solutions from importing 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste to Utah.
"I believe the legislation is premature," Bennett said in written statement.
He has accepted $49,300 in campaign donations from EnergySolutions and its employees since 2005, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. In fact, that group says Bennett has accepted more donations from the waste industry than any 2010 congressional candidate in the nation.
House says no to foreign N-waste - Salt Lake Tribune
One hurdle down, opponents of Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions' plan to bring foreign radioactive waste to Utah are now bracing for a tough fight in the Senate over a proposed ban on the stuff.
The U.S. House overwhelmingly passed legislation Wednesday that would bar low-level radioactive waste from being brought from foreign countries into the United States for disposal. The measure is aimed squarely at EnergySolutions' efforts to bring 20,000 tons of Italian waste to Tennessee for processing, then ship some 1,600 tons of radioactive leftovers to the company's Tooele County site for burial.
Bill supporters cheered Wednesday's 309-112 vote. But they know they face a bigger challenge in the Senate, where companion legislation hasn't moved nor attracted a single co-sponsor since it was introduced 11 months ago.
Deseret News | Ban on foreign waste from Italy to Utah gets OK
The U.S. House voted Wednesday to ban importing foreign low-level radioactive waste and block an attempt by EnergySolutions to bring tons of it from Italy to Utah.
It voted 309-112 for a bill pushed by Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., to bar such foreign waste, which includes lab coats, shoe coverings and cleaning cloths from nuclear power plants. EnergySolutions has proposed to process 20,000 tons of Italian waste in Tennessee and dump it in Utah. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Matheson and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, voted for the bill. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, was with Utah students touring Virginia and missed the vote but has spoken against it previously. He was once a state lobbyist for EnergySolutions and received about $26,000 from the company's political action committee and employees for his 2008 election and $5,000 this year.
State rep. questions radioactive waste in landfills - Oak Ridge, TN - The Oak Ridger
Tennessee lawmakers want more information on a state program that allows low-level radioactive waste into regular landfills around the state.
State Rep. Brenda Gilmore of Nashville told The Nashville Tennessean that she plans to push a bill to restrict the practice.
A similar measure ground to a halt last year. Gilmore says a strong lobbying effort from the industry stopped it.
State officials say Tennessee's program was developed because of its proximity to so many nuclear facilities and doesn't handle cases individually.
Instead it has a licensing process that makes disposal more economical and quicker here.
Nuclear power as an answer to climate change? - washingtonpost.com
Despite a renewed interest in nuclear power around the world [front page, Nov. 24], nuclear power remains a dangerous distraction from real solutions to the climate crisis. The fundamental problems of nuclear power plants have not changed. The plants are risky, expensive and dangerous, and they are vulnerable targets for terrorist attacks.
After decades and billions of dollars of public money wasted, there is no solution to the problem of radioactive waste. Instead of pouring billions of taxpayer dollars into subsidizing a mature and dangerous industry that will leave a toxic legacy for future generations, policymakers should stay focused on getting our energy from clean sources that will last forever.
Kyle Ash, Washington
The writer is senior legislative representative for the Greenpeace USA's Global Warming Program.
No new nukes -- plants, that is -- latimes.com
Nuclear power plants are being pushed as part of climate-change legislation. But the focus should be on renewable power sources, which are getting cheaper and don't produce radioactive waste.
As the Senate debates climate legislation that could reinvent the country's energy infrastructure, it is richly ironic that lawmakers who consider themselves rock-ribbed fiscal conservatives are among the strongest backers of nuclear plants -- a vastly expensive, inefficient and dangerous source of energy that requires massive taxpayer bailouts.
Senate Republicans and many moderate Democrats are seeking to lard up prospective climate and energy bills with billions of dollars in loan guarantees and other subsidies for nuclear power, even though it makes no sense as a solution to climate change and is a terrible option from an economic, environmental and national-security standpoint. Sens. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), whose bipartisan effort to restructure the cap-and-trade climate bill (which Republicans like to deride as "cap and tax") offers its only hope of passage in the Senate this year, signaled their intent to add more nuclear pork to the bill in a recent Op-Ed article. Meanwhile, Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) recently introduced their own alternative climate bill calling for up to $100 billion in clean-energy loan guarantees, most of which would end up going to nuclear plants.
The Associated Press: Minnesota tribe to rally against nuclear expansion
A Minnesota Indian community with a nuclear power plant as its neighbor is holding a rally to voice opposition to a utility's expansion plans there.
Friday's rally by the Prairie Island Indian Community is the latest step it has taken to sound off against Xcel Energy Inc.'s plans for the Red Wing plant.
The utility plans to spend $600 million to upgrade the plant so it can handle higher pressure and temperatures that could add 164 megawatts to its output. Regulators have also signed off on expanded waste storage.
Tribal members say they are concerned about health and safety risks from the plant.
Bipartisan duo pushes more nuclear power in Minnesota | StarTribune.com
Talk about lessening the world’s dependence on greenhouse gas-emitting fossil fuels, and increasingly, nuclear power comes up. Now if only the world could figure out what to do with all those spent fuel rods.
The proposed national nuclear waste repository in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain seems a long-shot as long as Sen. Harry Reid, of Senate Majority Leader fame, remains a force to be reckoned with in Nevada and Democratic politics.
Nuke critics renew campaign against re-licensing
Vermont Yankee critics are gearing up for another campaign aimed at persuading state lawmakers to turn thumbs-down on the plant's request for a 20-year license extension.
A coalition of groups including Vermont Public Interest Research Group and former Gov. Phil Hoff are announcing the campaign Thursday. It's aimed at getting more Vermont towns to pass resolutions on Town Meeting Day opposing Vermont Yankee's bid to remain operating past its scheduled 2012 closing.
Last year, 36 towns passed such a measure.
Nuclear waste bill passes house, threatens Energy Solutions' controversial plans for Utah
t's a hot issue in Utah, and its final outcome may be decided in Washington. On Thursday, the House of Representatives voted a bill through that would block any import of foreign nuclear waste into the United States. Support for the measure was largely by Democrats, with only four House Republicans voting "yea."
The bill will likely face a more difficult battle in the Senate. If passed, it would thwart waste treatment company Energy Solutions' plans to import 20,000 tons of Italian nuclear waste and bury some of it (about 1600 tons, according to the company) in Utah's soil.
Gordon foreign waste ban to get committee vote on The Murfreesboro Post
Tomorrow (Nov. 19), the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee will consider Congressman Bart Gordon’s bill concerning foreign radioactive waste. Gordon’s bipartisan legislation, the Radioactive Import Deterrence (RID) Act, H.R. 515, would prevent foreign-generated radioactive waste from being processed in Tennessee and disposed in the U.S.
The full committee markup of the RID Act will begin at 8:30 a.m. CST. A live webcast can be viewed on the E&C’s website when the hearing begins http://energycommerce.house.gov/.
Tomorrow’s markup comes after the E&C’s Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment held a legislative hearing on October 16 and passed the RID Act on November 3.
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Background:
U.S. Senators unveil bill to double nuclear power | Reuters
Two U.S. Senators on Monday unveiled bipartisan legislation aimed at doubling nuclear power in 20 years and increasing funding for research into low carbon sources of energy.
Sponsored by Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander and Virginia Democrat Jim Webb, the bill would provide $100 billion in loan guarantees for carbon-free electricity projects, adding to the existing $47 billion loan guarantee program.
Although the additional loan guarantees would not be limited to nuclear power, the nuclear industry would likely be the major recipient of the extra money because it is one of the most established low carbon energy sources.
AFP: Key US Senate panel clears climate bill
US Senate Democrats on Thursday pushed a sweeping climate change bill through a key committee, shrugging off a boycott by Republicans who oppose the measure and mostly shunned the debate.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee approved the legislation by an all-Democratic 11-1 vote that forecasts a long, hard, road before the bill can clear the US Congress and President Barack Obama can sign it into law.
"Today?s step in the process sends a clear message to the world that the United States is serious about tackling climate change and securing our clean energy future," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, the measure's lead author.
Deseret News | Salt Lake County opposes importing N-waste
A resolution backing a federal effort to block the importation of radioactive waste from foreign countries found unanimous support from the Salt Lake County Council and attracted the attention of two Utah congressmen.
Reps. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican, and Jim Matheson, a Democrat, noted their appreciation of Councilwoman Jani Iwamoto's resolution to support a U.S. House bill, and companion Senate bill, aimed at stopping low-level radioactive waste from outside the U.S. being imported and stored in domestic repositories.
Chaffetz, who phoned into the council meeting, and Matheson, who sent a representative, are supporting the bill scheduled to go before a U.S. House committee Thursday. Iwamoto told the council she was concerned not only with Utah becoming the world's nuclear waste dumping ground, but also about the numerous risks that come with transporting the potentially harmful material.
Deseret News | House panel OKs bill to ban importing foreign N-waste
A House subcommittee endorsed Tuesday a bill to ban importing foreign, low-level radioactive waste — which would block an EnergySolutions proposal to import 20,000 tons of it from Italy, process it in Tennessee and dump it in Utah's western desert.
EnergySolutions conceded after the vote that the bill pushed by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Bart Gordon, D-Tenn., likely will soon pass the full House, but said the Senate may block it.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., chairman of the House Commerce Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, said before his panel passed the bill on a voice vote, "We on the committee will not allow the United States to be the world's dumping ground."
Boxer-Kerry Cap-and-Trade Bill's Nuclear Provision Won't Fuel a Nuclear Revival
Abstract: America needs a clean, safe, and sustainable energy source. Nuclear power could be part of the solution -- with the right set of free-market reforms. Congress, the nuclear industry, and many Americans agree that reform of U.S. nuclear policies is necessary, but cannot agree on what those reforms should look like. The nuclear provision in the Senate's new Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is a nice nod to nuclear power, but leaves the waters muddied. Heritage Foundation energy experts Jack Spencer and Nicolas Loris provide some clarity.
AFP: US Senate Republicans skip open of climate change talks
Republicans on a key US Senate committee were absent Tuesday as debate opened on a Democratic proposal for sweeping climate change legislation.
The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee opened its critical debate on the plan at 9:00 am (1400 GMT) without its Republican members, despite last-ditch efforts to avert an opposition boycott from Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the committee.
Republican Senator George Voinovich did show up soon after the meeting opened, but only to deliver a statement opposing the measure.
Supporters of the climate change legislation are pushing hard to pass it ahead of December's make-or-break global summit in Denmark.
In a statement, the Republicans said they would oppose the bill until they had a "comprehensive analysis" of the economic impact of the legislation from the federal watchdog agency, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Ban on importing foreign nuclear waste advances | tennessean.com | The Tennessean
Legislation that would ban the importation of foreign radioactive waste took a small step forward on Tuesday when a House subcommittee signed off on the bill.
The legislation, co-authored by Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Murfreesboro, was proposed in response to an application by EnergySolutions Inc. to bring in 20,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from Italian nuclear facilities to the U.S. The material would be processed at a company plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and then shipped to Utah for storage.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee's Energy and Environment subcommittee passed the bill onto the full committee by a voice vote.
Senate climate bill faces challenges - washingtonpost.com
DEMOCRATS DEEPLY SPLIT
Deal on nuclear plants offered to court Republicans
The climate-change bill that has been moving slowly through the Senate will face a stark political reality when it emerges for committee debate on Tuesday: With Democrats deeply divided on the issue, unless some Republican lawmakers risk the backlash for signing on to the legislation, there is almost no hope for passage.
Republicans move to delay climate bill progress | U.S. | Reuters
All seven Republicans on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee plan to boycott next week's work session on a climate-change bill, an aide said on Saturday, in a move aimed at thwarting Democratic efforts to advance the controversial legislation quickly.
"Republicans will be forced not to show up" at Tuesday's work session, said Matt Dempsey, a spokesman for Republican senators on the environment panel.
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