The White House threatened late Monday to veto the House’s version of the Energy Department’s 2017 budget over $170 million the bill would provide to begin licensing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository — something the Obama administration unequivocally opposes.
“The Administration objects to the funding provided in the bill for Yucca Mountain and is disappointed with the rejection of the strategy proposed in the FY 2017 Budget request on nuclear waste,” reads a statement of administration policy posted online Monday. The strategy incorporates important and practical solutions for a successful waste program, such as consent-based siting, interim storage of waste, and program funding reforms that are essential to the success of a Nuclear Waste Program.”
The veto threat arrived just before the House was set to begin floor begin consideration of its 2017 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act late Tuesday. Debate on amendments will continue through Thursday, after which the House will vote on the bill.
Assuming the measure passes the chamber, it must be reconciled with the Senate’s version of the 2017 Energy and Water appropriations package before it can be sent to the president for his signature.
The Senate’s version of DOE’s budget, passed May 12 with overwhelming support, includes no money for Yucca Mountain and $60 million for early work on the White House’s preferred consent-based siting program, in which nuclear waste repositories would be built only in locations where locals welcome them.
