 |
|
The Department of Energy plans to accelerate cleanup by abandoning millions of high-level radioactive waste in rusting storage tanks at sites in Washington, Idaho and South Carolina.
UPDATE
Thursday, June 3, 2004
Cantwell nuclear waste amendment fails 48-48
Jim Bridgman, Program Director, Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
The Senate has finished voting on the Cantwell amendment to strike sections 3116 and 3119 of the defense authorization bill to prevent DOE from reclassifying nuclear waste in South Carolina and hold funding for cleanup in Washington and Idaho hostage. Unfortunately, the amendment failed as the vote was a tie of 48-48. A majority was needed to pass the amendment.
Thanks to everyone who helped in this effort, signing onto the letters, sending the alerts and making personal calls. Please take some time now to politely communicate your thanks or dissatisfaction with your Senator’s office on their vote.
Of the key swings, we got Specter, McCain and Smith to come through, as well as Breaux and Lincoln. We lost Chafee and Snowe, two supposedly pro-environment Rs, and Collins. Senators who were absent included Kerry, Edwards (?), Campbell (?), and Baucus, who is forgiven as he just had heart surgery this week. Don Hancock of the Southwest Research and Information Service did a great job of capturing all of the votes and I’ve pasted his list below my signature.
While we lost, the narrow defeat sets us up pretty well for conference. The House bill does not include a similar provision but addresses the issue by calling for a study by the National Academy of Sciences. The earlier voice vote this morning freed up the $350 million in the DOE’s high-level waste fund so it can be spent on ongoing cleanup instead of restricted to activities to reclassify and abandon nuclear waste. We’ll need to work the conference so the Senate measure of freeing up the funds and the House provision on the NAS study survive while the Graham provision dies. This also sets us up well for the appropriations where there’s a chance some limiting language could be inserted into the Energy & Water Development appropriations bill.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| GROUPED BY VOTE POSITION | ||
|---|---|---|
|
YEAs – 48 Akaka (D-HI) Bayh (D-IN) Biden (D-DE) Bingaman (D-NM) Boxer (D-CA) Breaux (D-LA) Byrd (D-WV) Cantwell (D-WA) Carper (D-DE) Clinton (D-NY) Conrad (D-ND) Corzine (D-NJ) Daschle (D-SD) Dayton (D-MN) Dodd (D-CT) Dorgan (D-ND) Durbin (D-IL) Feingold (D-WI) Feinstein (D-CA) Graham (D-FL) Harkin (D-IA) Hollings (D-SC) Inouye (D-HI) Jeffords (I-VT) Johnson (D-SD) Kennedy (D-MA) Kohl (D-WI) Landrieu (D-LA) Lautenberg (D-NJ) Leahy (D-VT) Levin (D-MI) Lieberman (D-CT) Lincoln (D-AR) McCain (R-AZ) Mikulski (D-MD) Murray (D-WA) Nelson (D-FL) Nelson (D-NE) Pryor (D-AR) Reed (D-RI) Reid (D-NV) Rockefeller (D-WV) Sarbanes (D-MD) Schumer (D-NY) Smith (R-OR) Specter (R-PA) Stabenow (D-MI) Wyden (D-OR) |
NAYs – 48 Alexander (R-TN) Allard (R-CO) Allen (R-VA) Bennett (R-UT) Bond (R-MO) Brownback (R-KS) Bunning (R-KY) Burns (R-MT) Chafee (R-RI) Chambliss (R-GA) Cochran (R-MS) Coleman (R-MN) Collins (R-ME) Cornyn (R-TX) Craig (R-ID) Crapo (R-ID) DeWine (R-OH) Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM) Ensign (R-NV) Enzi (R-WY) Fitzgerald (R-IL) Frist (R-TN) Graham (R-SC) Grassley (R-IA) Gregg (R-NH) Hagel (R-NE) Hatch (R-UT) Hutchison (R-TX) Inhofe (R-OK) Kyl (R-AZ) Lott (R-MS) Lugar (R-IN) McConnell (R-KY) Miller (D-GA) Murkowski (R-AK) Nickles (R-OK) Roberts (R-KS) Santorum (R-PA) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Snowe (R-ME) Stevens (R-AK) Sununu (R-NH) Talent (R-MO) Thomas (R-WY) Voinovich (R-OH) Warner (R-VA) |
Not Voting – 4 Baucus (D-MT) Campbell (R-CO) Edwards (D-NC) Kerry (D-MA) |
To: Senator Arlen Specter
Subject:
Comments: (Sample included)
[Note: don’t “sign” your name in the box above. Your name, address and email will appear in the email below your comments. A valid email address is required. You will receive a copy of your email to Senator Specter.]
| Name: | |
| Group: | (use this if you’re representing an organization) |
| Address: | |
| City: | State: |
Pennsylvania Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island Saskatchewan South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington (State) Washington,D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming OTHER (please list in city field) |
| Zip: | Phone: | Email: |
Last modified: 4 June 2004