David Cay Johnston: “This is sort of a version 2 of the Wellstone amendment, in that it seeks to take the rights of utilities and…”

“This is sort of a version 2 of the Wellstone amendment, in that it seeks to take the rights of utilities and, secondarily, the rights of ratepayers of utilities, and abolish those by legislative fiat--which simply cannot be done. The rights of utilities and, indeed, the rights of the ratepayers of those utilities, have been fixed by the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 as amended by amendments in 1987 and by contracts between the utilities and the Department of Energy. The contracts between the utilities and the Department of Energy contain two provisions in article IX which relate to delays: A, involve unavoidable delay by purchaser or DOE, and, B, involve avoidable delays by purchaser or DOE. And those sections, A, and B, are part of the contracts between the utilities and DOE, set out, in part, the relative rights in the event of those delays. What the Senator from Nevada would attempt to do is take those two existing provisions of contracts and state that those are the exclusive remedies, thereby leaving out another provision of those same contracts. Another provision of those same contracts in article XI says: Nothing in this contract shall be construed to preclude either party from asserting its rights and remedies under the contract or at law.”