WASHINGTON, April 25 (UPI) -- The full House will have the chance to override Nevada's objections to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository following Thursday's 41-6 vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee approving such action.
Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., the committee chairman, said he intends to report the bill, House Joint Resolution 87, to the full chamber on May 1. The House is expected to take up the measure the week of May 6, he said.
Nevada's veto of the Yucca project must be overruled by Congress within 90 legislative business days of April 8 in order for the site licensing phase to begin. Yucca is vital to continuing the nation's use of nuclear power, which provides about 20 percent of U.S.-generated electricity, Tauzin said.
"Whether we like nuclear power or not, we can't do without it," Tauzin told a news conference following the vote. "If we didn't have this 20 percent, we'd all be in the situation California found itself in last year."
Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who originally submitted the bill to the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee he chairs, said the Yucca debate is not about technical issues.
"I'm a registered professional engineer, and I can assure you we can build the repository and manage it safely," Barton told reporters. "What we need to do is convince the undecided out in the public that it is safe; (the vote shows) we're beginning to win that political issue."
When he introduced the bill, Barton said he was aiming for 300 "aye" votes on the House floor. The only prediction he would make Thursday was that the measure will easily garner more than the 218 votes needed for passage.
Continuing the project is in the nation's best interests, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said at the news conference. If the House passes the resolution, the ball then lands in the Senate's court, where the same measure must pass by a simple majority.
"We know there's going to be opposition (in the Senate), but I think the actions here in the House demonstrate the broad bipartisan support we have to move ahead with this process," Abraham said. "At the end of the day, the Senate will follow the House's lead."
Yucca's opponents are not conceding the issue, however. During the committee's discussion before the vote, Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., said more than 200 technical issues would remain unresolved when DOE submits a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"Can you imagine the preposterousness of us being given a degree in that subject, with an 'A' for a grade, subject to handing in the final answers over the next four years?" Markey said. "But for the state of Nevada to raise questions about this ... they're being recalcitrant? I don't think so."
Representatives Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., Diana DeGette, D-Colo., William Luther, D-Minn., Lois Capps, D-Calif., and Jane Harman, D-Calif., joined Markey in voting against the resolution.
