Ralph Hall: “Let me say, this amendment would delete the 1 mill cap and permit the Secretary of Energy to assess a fee on existing…”

“Let me say, this amendment would delete the 1 mill cap and permit the Secretary of Energy to assess a fee on existing nuclear energy plants to reflect the amount of funding needed in a given year to cover the cost of operations. Basically, that is what it does, but let us really analyze it. First, they suggested to let the governor have veto power. That will flat kill it. Next, they are going to let FERC make some decisions that could cancel it. And now they are going to let the Secretary of Energy assess a fee, not only an illegal delegation of fees and of congressional authority. It is not only an illegal delegation of fees and the congressional authority, the facts are hard and clear that sufficient funding exists already under H.R. 1270. The annual contribution of nuclear generated electricity consumers to the Nuclear Waste Fund would be based on the annual amount spent by the government to build storage and disposal facilities for used nuclear fuel. This amendment, so far as I read it, says, 'We gotta collect more money because there isn't enough money to finish the program 30 years from now.' The key argument against that is that we have collected over $13 billion since 1983. We have spent $6 billion, diverted it elsewhere. I think by 2010 the Nuclear Waste Fund balance is projected to be $20.9 billion.”