A candidate for Nevada’s first congressional district got two endorsements from environmental groups this week as she seeks to unseat one of the Silver State’s staunchest Yucca Mountain opponents.
The Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund gave its support earlier this week to Amy Vilela’s primary campaign against incumbent Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.).
“Amy has a laser focus on stopping the fossil fuel industry and passing a Green New Deal, two essential measures in combating the climate crisis,” Patrick Donnelly, the Center’s Nevada political director, told RadWaste Monitor via email Thursday. “Her opponent has failed to endorse either of those policies, clearly not meeting the urgency of the moment.”
The Nevada chapter of the Sunrise Movement, another environmental advocacy group, publicly backed Vilela on social media Wednesday.
Vilela ran for Congress in the 2018 midterms for Nevada’s fourth congressional district, finishing in third place.
Titus is perhaps best known to nuke-watchers for her opposition to the moribund Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The congresswoman in March sponsored the House-side version of the Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act, which would bar the Department of Energy from spending any money to develop the proposed Nye County, Nev. geologic repository. The measure was referred to the House Energy and Commerce Committee in March and at deadline Friday for RadWaste Monitor there hadn’t been any new developments.
Vilela’s team didn’t return a request for comment by deadline Friday about her stance on Yucca Mountain.
Congress has ensured that Nevada can rest easy on the Yucca issue — at least for this fiscal year. The government’s 2022 budget doesn’t include any money to develop the site, only a small chunk of cash for physical security. The spending plan, which is in the reconciliation process on the Hill, does include around $20 million for DOE to pursue an inquiry into siting a federal interim storage facility for the nation’s spent nuclear fuel.
