With speculation mounting that the Obama Administration will not release the Department of Energy’s overdue plan for implementation of the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future until after the November elections, DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Pete Lyons faced harsh questioning on the schedule for releasing the report at a Senate hearing yesterday. When questioned repeatedly by Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Lyons declined to specify what has been delaying the report—due to Congress July 31—or give any approximation as to when it might be released. “There has been substantial work within the administration and the Department toward developing a framework or strategy for the administration’s response to the Blue Ribbon Commission. That work continues and it’s nearing the conclusion,” Lyons said. When asked if he could specify a timeline, Lyons said, “I can’t provide a specific date other than that it is under careful review by the administration.”
Murkowski was frustrated by the delay, and the lack of answers from Lyons. “I don’t know whether it’s stuck at OMB or whether it’s elsewhere within the administration, but when you’ve got a report with a deadline that’s been put in place, everyone knows what the deadline is, and that deadline comes and goes, and all we get in response to the question is ‘We’re working on it,’ but they can’t even give an approximation as to when we might expect that, it’s frustrating," Murkowski told RW Monitor on the sidelines of the hearing. “If you knew it was due July 31 and it’s now September 12, you ought to at least be able to tell us where in that process it is. There’s a lot counting on this, and the administration keeps saying ‘We’re working on a framework.’ Well, we know you’re working on a framework, that’s what we told you to do, and we told you to have it by the end of July.” Though it may be too late in this year’s Congressional session to hold a hearing on the delay, “There are other ways to put a little pressure,” Murkowski said.
Other witnesses at the hearing—held to consider Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.) legislation aimed to jump start Congressional action on the Blue Ribbon recommendations—also voiced frustration at the DOE’s delay in issuing the report. Lt. Gen. Brent Scowcroft, who served as co-chairman of the Blue Ribbon Commission, said, “The report was due at the end of July, so we cannot say for certain whether the administration will demonstrate the same level of seriousness that is reflected in your draft legislation.”
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