“So here came the greatest nation on Earth, suffering for energy, and by an accident of intervention of scientists, who were working on drills to drill better holes to get natural gas and crude oil out of the ground, they found that all over America there was a source of energy called natural gas that we had not even looked for because we said, ‘It’s there, but we can’t get it.’”
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the practice of injecting a mixture of water and chemicals into the ground at extremely high pressure to crack open shale formations. The result is the release of massive amounts of natural gas, as well as the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment. Some states have issued a moratorium on the controversial practice, citing the unknown environmental dangers of natural gas drilling.
Washington DC—Former Senator Pete Domenici took a moment during last week’s Blue Ribbon Commission hearing to praise the discovery of the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing. Mr. Domenici claimed that the discovery of hydraulic fracturing has affected the economic competitiveness of nuclear power in the United States.
“So here came the greatest nation on Earth, suffering for energy, and by an accident of intervention of scientists, who were working on drills to drill better holes to get natural gas and crude oil out of the ground, they found that all over America there was a source of energy called natural gas that we had not even looked for because we said, ‘It’s there, but we can’t get it.’”
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is the practice of injecting a mixture of water and chemicals into the ground at extremely high pressure to crack open shale formations. The result is the release of massive amounts of natural gas, as well as the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment. Some states have issued a moratorium on the controversial practice, citing the unknown environmental dangers of natural gas drilling.
Mr. Domenici went on to describe the need for new storage and recycling solutions for nuclear energy, proposing more temporary storage solutions that would allow the U.S. to more easily reuse nuclear waste.
“[W]e have to ask ourselves the question, ‘Do we want to use it someday?’ It’s got ninety-seven ninety eight percent of the energy it started with still in it.”
Mr. Domenici served as the senior Senator from New Mexico before he decided not to seek re-election in 2007. He served as the ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources at the time of his retirement. His fairly conservative stance on environmental issues earned the ire of numerous environmental organizations, especially his attempts to expand oil and gas drilling into environmentally sensitive areas [see S. 3711 and budget FY 2007 effort to include “speculative revenues from oil drilling in the ANWR”]. From 1989 to his retirement, Mr. Domenici is estimated to have received $1,580,380 in contributions from the energy and natural resources sector.
The former Senator now works as a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he gave a speech in entitled, “Has America’s Nuclear Renaissance Stalled?” in December of 2009.
“More than 12 years ago, at Harvard University, I proposed a new energy paradigm: resurgence of nuclear power. At that time, interest in nuclear power in the United States was stagnant. That is no longer the case. Both the American people and the international community show renewed interest in nuclear energy. This is a tremendous opportunity — and represents a crucial challenge. As the global renaissance takes shape, we must ensure that America doesn’t fall behind.”
In his speech to the Bipartisan Policy Center, Mr. Domenici spoke of the relative safety of temporary nuclear storage at nuclear reactor sites, an issue the Wall Street Journal explored in June of this year.
“[C]asks, originally intended for transporting waste and not permanently storing it, aren’t an ideal solution, say industry experts and advocacy groups. One major concern is the adequacy of security to protect them from potential attacks,” the Journal reported. The article went on to state: “Nobody really knows how long casks can keep radioactive waste safely isolated, but casks are licensed for 20 years. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission now is considering upping the basic license to 40 years and allowing a 20-year extension. Fearing that 60 years may not be enough, the NRC recently asked staff to think about how utilities could manage waste safely for up to 120 years.”
Mr. Domenici’s speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center also extolled the virtual perfection of the Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP), a project of the Department of Energy that “safely disposes of the nation’s defense-related transuranic radioactive waste.”
“WIPP has suffered no failures of any kind, no accidents, and has received recognition for the extraordinary engineering used in the project.”
This statement neglects to mention the 89 minor violations found in WIPP vehicles in 2002, including “[a] drunk driver crashed into a truck in southern New Mexico that was hauling 28 55-gallon drums of nuclear waste…” and the driver of another truck that was carrying waste to WIPP blacking out and “…hurtling across an interstate median in Idaho.”
The Western Governors Association also concedes that accidents have occurred.
“Unfortunately, there have been a few [accidents] since shipments began in March 1999, however, none of the incidents to date has resulted in serious injury or the release of radioactive material into the environment. Additionally, all transuranic waste delivered to WIPP has been safely disposed of.”
Mr. Domenici is a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission’s Transportation and Storage Subcommittee and the Reactor and Fuel Cycle Technology Subcommittee Co-Chairman.
