Heller on Bipartisan House Vote to Revive Yucca Mountain: "This Bill is Dead on Arrival"

Statement

U.S. Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) released the below statement today after the U.S. House of Representatives approved on a bipartisan vote the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act, H.R.3053, legislation to jumpstart Yucca Mountain and direct the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to decide whether to approve construction of the waste repository within 30 months.

"The U.S. House of Representatives bipartisan approval of a bill to revive Yucca Mountain reinforces exactly what is at stake for the state of Nevada: without my leadership in the United States Senate, Yucca Mountain will get the green light. That's because no one else can stop this; the House of Representatives has repeatedly attempted to bring nuclear waste to Nevada, but each time they've hit a brick wall only because I've stonewalled their action. Today's stunt is no different -- this bill is dead on arrival to the U.S. Senate. Plain and simple. Not only will I place a hold on the bill immediately, I will object to the motion to proceed and stop this proposal at every procedural turn," said Heller. "The U.S. House of Representatives can continue to exhaust themselves with these futile exercises, but it's a waste of time and does nothing to solve the nation's nuclear waste problem. Instead, Congress should consider the consent-based approach that I've been championing because it is the only viable path forward."

Earlier this year, Heller successfully ensured that the $150 million requested by the Department of Energy (DOE) and the NRC to support and fund licensing activities at the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository was excluded from the FY2018 government spending bill.

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