By Wayne Barber
The Trump administration’s remaining two nominees to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were approved Wednesday, with significant Democratic resistance, by the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
David Wright, an energy consultant and former head of the South Carolina Public Service Commission and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, squeaked by on an 11-10 party-line vote. Longtime Senate EPW Committee policy staffer and nuclear engineer Annie Caputo was confirmed by a wider 15-6 margin.
Panel members did not discuss the reasoning for their votes during the business meeting, and a number of Democratic senators this week did not respond to requests for comment on their stance regarding the nominees.
However, Nevada lawmakers in both houses of Congress have suggested resistance to Wright and Caputo over their apparent support for licensing the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in their state. Neither of Nevada’s senators, Dean Heller (R) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D), serve on the Environment and Public Works Committee.
In December 2009, Wright wrote a commentary for the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition that urged then-President Barack Obama not to halt the regulatory review for the Yucca Mountain facility.
“If President Obama plans to live up to his promise of ‘science over politics’ in determining policy, he will not discontinue funding for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada,” Wright wrote.
Power Magazine has reported that then-Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), an ardent Yucca opponent, might have maneuvered to keep Caputo off the commission in 2015 due to her backing for the project.
Provided that both nominees win approval from the Senate, the commission would return to its full five-person membership. The new members would fill out terms in spots that are currently vacant: Caputo to June 30, 2021; and Wright until June 30, 2020.
Last month, the Senate committee expedited the nomination of current NRC Chair Kristine Svinicki to another five-year term, to June 30, 2022. Svinicki won easy approval for a third term from the Senate on June 27, ensuring the commission did not lose its three-member quorum.
The other commissioners are Jeff Baran, whose current terms ends on June 30 of next year, and Stephen Burns, whose terms ends one year later.
“As I said during my floor speech in support of Chairman Svinicki’s nomination, I hoped we would see Commissioner Jeff Baran, who is currently serving on the NRC, renominated and paired with the two other NRC nominees. Unfortunately, that has not yet happened,” said the committee’s ranking Democrat, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.).
“I believe it is critical for the independent Commission to have consistent leadership from both political parties, especially as the industry faces an uncertain future,” Carper added.
