AFTER RELINQUISHING MONIZ HOLD, GRAHAM TO TAKE MOX FIGHT ELSEWHERE

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) may have relinquished his MOX-driven hold on Energy Secretary nominee Ernie Moniz, but he’s not giving up his push to get the Obama Administration to move forward with the multi-billion-dollar project. Held up for weeks by Graham, Moniz’s nomination is likely to be voted on by the Senate today, and while it doesn’t appear that Graham won any concessions from the Administration, he has suggested that he will take the MOX battle to a different venue. He’s also enlisted several allies, and in a May 14 letter to President Obama obtained by NW&M Monitor, he and three other Republicans said it was “unacceptable” that the Administration planned to slow work on the MOX project because of massive cost increases and study the nation’s plutonium disposition options. “This is unacceptable and we will be looking to use the confirmation, authorization, and appropriations processes to ensure the program moves forward,” Graham and Republican Sens. Tim Scott (S.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.) and Johnny Isakson (Ga.) wrote in their May 14 letter to Obama. “While we would like to work with you and the contractor to reduce construction and operating costs at MOX, make no mistake; the decision to slow down the plutonium disposition project makes no sense from a national security or an economic point of view. Your decision violates the commitments that were made to South Carolina and jeopardizes the 60-year partnership between the Savannah River Site (SRS) and the state. We will not allow this ill-conceived plan to proceed.”