Trump: I want alternatives to Yucca Mountain
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he has listened to Nevadans’ concerns on Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste facility and is committed to find alternatives, the Review-Journal has learned. “Nevada, I hear you on Yucca Mountain and my Administration will RESPECT you! Congress and previous Administrations have long failed to find lasting solutions – my Administration is committed to exploring innovative approaches – I’m confident we can get it done!” Trump tweeted. “The president changed his mind,” a senior administration official familiar with the matter told the Review-Journal “because he heard from Nevada” and “because Congress has refused to fund the current path forward.” “It’s been going on for, you know, 20 years and we haven’t been able to get a solution” for a stalemate that has gone on for too long, the official added.
The amount for a Yucca alternative, not yet disclosed, would be “substantial.” It is not clear where the new approach under an interagency task force coordinating with states will lead or how it will affect whether nuclear waste is stored in Nevada, but it will reflect a belief in “doing things where people want them.” Asked if nuclear waste will be stored in Nevada under this approach, a senior administration official responded, “That’s unanswerable at this time, because when the competition begins, a whole bunch of states may say, ‘OK, this is an interesting situation. Let’s see how we all feel about it.’ Nevadans, I guess, may also have a developing point of view as the conversation matures. But right now every knows this is a stalemate. It’s time to fix that.”
Trump never has made a definitive public statement on his personal position on this most controversial of issues in Nevada politics. Asked about Yucca Mountain in October 2016, the GOP candidate and namesake of Las Vegas’ Trump International Hotel told KSNV-TV he would “take a very strong look at it and the next time you interview me, we’ll talk about it for five minutes.” By Election Day, Trump had not released his position on Yucca Mountain.
In 2017, however, Trump’s first spending plan included $120 million to restart licensing for a Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository and other interim storage — which was stalled under President Barack Obama in a move largely seen as a favor to then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. But Congress failed to approve funds for re-licensing Yucca Mountain. In October 2018, as Trump stumped for Republican candidates in Elko, Nevada, Trump signaled that he was reconsidering his decision to include funding to start re-licensing the facility. “I think you should do things where people want them to happen. So I would be very inclined to be against it and we will be looking at it very seriously over the next few weeks. And I agree with the people of Nevada,” Trump told Reno station KRNV News.
In November 2018, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., lost his seat and the GOP lost the governor’s seat and most statewide offices in Carson City. Trump and his 2020 re-election campaign have maintained that they believe that Nevada, which Hillary Clinton won by some two points, is winnable in November. During his “victory” speech in the East Room Thursday, Trump said he thought he could do well in Arizona in 2020, and added, “Nevada is really looking good,” he said. “This isn’t about about politics,” said an administration official, “this is about good policy and finding a solution.”
The “skinny budget” will allocate “significant” funds for an inter-agency working group to develop a plan in consultation with states and prioritize spending for research and development on storage, transportation and disposal of the nation’s nuclear waste. “I think this is an opportunity to provide leadership in a space that quite frankly there hasn’t been leadership that has worked for a long time,” a senior administration official explained.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/politics-and-government/nevada/trump-i-want-alternatives-to-yucca-mountain-1952376/