JESSICA EBELHAR/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FILES Members of the U.S. House energy and commerce subcommittee on environment and economy tour the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository April 26, 2011 -- ironically enough, the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.As reported by Steve Tetrault in the Las Vegas Review Journal, Republican U.S. Senators have threatened Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) with making the resurrection of the canceled Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump one of their top priorities, should he use the "nuclear option" to eliminate the age-old Senate filibuster rule. Reid has -- successfully -- devoted his career to fending off the Yucca dump, targeted at the Silver State. The "nuclear option" means requiring only a 51-vote majority in the U.S. Senate to do away with the filibuster, rather than the current 67-vote two-thirds majority. Reid is considering doing this in order to clear an unprecedented logjam on presidential nomination approvals, as for Labor Secretary, currently blocked by Republicans.
Republicans in the U.S. House have also not given up on their long-held dream of burying high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, despite adamant opposition by the vast majority of Nevadans. These stubborn pro-dump efforts are led by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), who has three atomic reactors in his district, and House Subcommittee on Environment and Economy Chairman John Skimkus (R-IL), who state has more atomic reactors than any other.