Rep. Carl Holmes On Federal Blue Ribbon Commission

Representative Carl D. Holmes took part in a meeting in
Minneapolis on October 28 being sponsored by the federally chartered
Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC), in
cooperation with The Council of State Governments’ Midwestern Office.
Representative Carl D. Holmes is a member of the Council’s Midwestern
Legislative Conference Energy Committee.

The commission met with regional stakeholders – including state
officials, legislators, nuclear utility representatives, citizen and
tribal organizations – and the general public to gather comments on
draft recommendations contained in a new report on managing the
nation’s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.

The commission was established in January 2010 by Secretary of Energy
Steven Chu acting at the direction of President Barack Obama after the
administration cancelled the project to build a national repository at
Yucca Mountain in Nevada. The commission is charged with conducting a
comprehensive review of policies for managing the “back end” of the
nuclear fuel cycle. The group will release its final report by January
29, 2012, which will provide advice, evaluate alternatives and make
recommendations to the Obama administration and U.S. Congress for an
improved management strategy covering the disposal, storage and
transportation of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste,
as well as advanced-management technologies.

The workshop in Minneapolis is the last of five public meetings that
have been held across the country since the release of the commission’s
draft report. The agenda included formal presentations in the morning
followed by an afternoon of facilitated discussion in small breakout
groups.

The Blue Ribbon Commission submitted its draft report to U.S. Secretary
of Energy Steven Chu on July 29. The report is available at
http://www.brc.gov.