July '08 Nevada Government—Shelley Berkley Column

Berkley Applauds Vote To Axe

$100 Million From Yucca Mountain Spending

Senate Energy & Water Subcommittee Slashes Funding

for Bush-McCain Nuke Dump Plan

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley applauded a vote to axe $100 million in funding from the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump 90 minutes outside Las Vegas. The Senate Energy and Water appropriations Subcommittee voted this morning to slash the project’s funding from $495 million to $387 million for 2009.

“The good news is that the subcommittee slashed $100 million from the bloated Yucca Mountain budget. The bad news is that we are still spending even one nickel on a hole in the Nevada desert that has as much chance of opening as I do of winning a gold medal in the Olympics,” said Berkley. “The $80 billion dollar Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan will endanger the lives of 50 million American living along proposed transportation routes. These families and small business owners will have to live in fear from decades of toxic radioactive waste shipments headed to Nevada if the Bush-McCain plan is not halted. I am still hopeful that we can trim even more radioactive pork from next year’s Yucca Mountain budget and I applaud this $100 million cut in funding as a good start,” Berkley said.

Yucca Mountain Price Swells

to More Than $90 Billion And Counting

Berkley Testifies at House Hearing Against Proposed Dump

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley testified before a House Commerce subcommittee looking into the failed Yucca Mountain project. In her testimony, Berkley stressed Nevada’s continued opposition to housing toxic radioactive waste and pointed to the danger to more than 50 million Americans that would accompany decades of these shipments. New figures provided by the Energy Department following the hearing also show that the cost of the proposed dump 90 minutes from Las Vegas has swelled to more than $90 billion.

“When it comes to the Yucca Mountain dump two things are certain, the cost only goes up and the delays only grow longer. Now the price tag for the Bush-McCain Yucca Mountain plan has swelled to more than $90 billion, a double digit increase from last year’s estimate,” said Berkley. “Even without this additional cost, Yucca Mountain already qualifies as grade ‘A’ radioactive pork. We could spend a tiny fraction of that amount to pay for keeping waste safely on-site at existing plants for the next 100 years. That would also avoid the danger to 50 million Americans from decades of nuclear waste barreling down our nation’s roads and railways. I am amazed at the willingness of Yucca Mountain’s supporters to spend record sums on this failed effort, including the billions that have already been wasted with nothing to show but a hole in the Nevada desert,” said Berkley.

In her testimony before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality, Berkley emphasized Nevada’s long standing opposition to Yucca Mountain because of safety concerns and a long list of unanswered scientific shortcomings, including the threat from earthquakes and volcanoes.

“Nevada families remain overwhelmingly opposed to our home state becoming this nation’s nuclear garbage dump. Over the past 25 years, we have been fighting Yucca Mountain for one simple reason -- it’s not safe,” said Berkley.

The Congresswoman also challenged false claims that Yucca Mountain would somehow eliminate all nuclear waste now being kept at nuclear power plants operating nationwide.

“We are not creating one repository to hold all waste for all time; we are just creating one more place where toxic nuclear waste will be stored. That is the dirty little secret that the nuclear power industry does not want you to know – Yucca Mountain will not eliminate nuclear waste from any plant where energy is still being made,” Berkley said.

White House Veto of Medicare Bill Threatens

Patient Access to Vital Doctor Care

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley warned Nevadans that President Bush’s expected veto of legislation restoring reimbursement rates could limit the ability of Medicare patients to see their regular physician. The legislation, passed by both the House and Senate, would eliminate a drastic 10.6% cut in the amount paid to doctors who treat patients covered under Medicare. The White House has signaled the President will veto the package, despite broad support from the medical community, senior advocacy organizations and millions of Americans covered under Medicare who are calling for the bill to be signed into law.

“Nevadans are right to be concerned that this drastic cut may limit the ability of Medicare patients to see their regular doctor, and I strongly oppose President Bush’s decision to block passage of this vital bill,” said Berkley. “We still have the chance to protect seniors on Medicare by restoring physician payment levels and that is why I will vote to override the President’s veto. No one benefits when a doctor has to lose money in order to treat a Medicare patient, and I fear that is exactly the impact this cut will have in Nevada and across the nation. The bill Congress sent this week to the White House protects seniors and addresses the concerns of our doctors, so I do not understand why the President opposes our effort to protect patient access. President Bush should do what is right for Medicare patients and the physicians who keep them healthy and that is to sign - not reject - this urgently needed fix.”

As a Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Berkley helped to craft the package eliminating the mandatory 10.6% cut in Medicare reimbursement rates and voted in favor of the legislation when it came before the House last month.