Energy & Water Bill Passes Congress

The Senate on Thursday approved a bill to basically freeze spending on energy and water projects next year after pouring tens of billions of dollars into them as part of last winter's economic stimulus plan. The 80-17 vote on the compromise House-Senate plan cleared the measure for President Barack Obama's signature. The bill is just the third of 12 annual spending bills to clear Congress for the 2010 budget year that began Oct. 1. The popular $33.5 billion measure funds renewable energy research, Army Corps of Engineers water projects, nuclear weapons safety and security and environmental cleanup. That's more than the $33.3 billion a year earlier and less than the $34.4 billion the White House requested. The measure cleared after Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., held up action for more than a day. He was protesting a decision by Democrats to kill his provision to require that reports that agencies send to the appropriations panels be made available to all lawmakers and the public. The measure also fulfills a campaign promise by Obama to close the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility in Nevada, which was 25 years and $13.5 billion in the making. The Yucca Mountain project has long been opposed by powerful Nevadans such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The $197 million for the program, down $92 million from last year, is primarily for looking into alternatives. The move would leave the country without a long-term solution for storing highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The measure also contains a provision authored by California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer to allow for water transfers to help farmers in California's Central Valley suffering from severe drought conditions...read more