John Ensign: “I want to point out one other item that is in this document to show what a conflict of interest we have. Winston &…”

“I want to point out one other item that is in this document to show what a conflict of interest we have. Winston & Strawn not only represented the Nuclear Energy Institute, but they also were representing a company that manufactured the nuclear waste containers. There is no company that would benefit more from having Yucca Mountain built than the company that builds these nuclear waste containers. If they are representing people who are going to benefit financially from this project going forward--obviously, the Nuclear Energy Institute does as well--clearly the people who make the casks to store the waste are going to benefit hugely financially. Those same lawyers representing this firm over here and also trying to give the Department of Energy unbiased information is so outrageous it is hard to even conceive. I hope all our colleagues will take a fresh look at this issue because the Senate is going to be dealing with some very serious issues when it comes to Yucca Mountain over the next 12 months. I hope, regardless of how people have voted in the past, that my colleagues will take a fresh look and say: Maybe we need a timeout on this issue. About $7 billion has already been spent on Yucca Mountain. We appropriated another couple hundred million dollars this year. We are talking a lot of money that is potentially being wasted, being put down a rat hole.”