Senator Reid Statement on Energy Department Announcement on Yucca Mountain

DOE to Miss Important Deadline

January 14, 2008 -- Las Vegas, NV -- Nevada Senator Harry Reid issued the following statement after news that the Energy Department expects to miss its deadline to file a license application for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. For months the DOE has said the dump would be dead if it didn't file its license application by this summer. Today the agency announced it probably won't meet its own deadline because of budget cuts Reid engineered in the Senate.

"This is excellent news for Nevada and the nation. Nevada should not be the nation's nuclear dumping ground nor should millions of Americans be put at risk to ship tons of nuclear waste here. While I know the DOE will continue to try to limp forward, it is clear they are wasting their time and valuable taxpayer dollars hoping to build a dump that will never see the light of day."

Source: Senator Harry Reid