Re: Reid vows to block possible energy pick

["ruth_weiner" <ruth_weiner@email.msn.com>]

In this vein (and I hope it is OK to put this on RADSAFE):

The Bush transition team has asked me for (and received) my resume.  The
position I am apparently being considered for is one of the Assistant
Secretary of Energy positions, or maybe EPA.  If (and only if) any RADSAFERs
think I would be a good choice, please write your Members of Congress on my
behalf (I would need Congressional support).  If anyone wants my resume,
please write me privately.

I certainly hope this request is not offensive to anyone.  If it is, please
accept my apologies in advance.

Ruth Weiner
ruth_weiner@msn.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Mercado, Don <don.mercado@lmco.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Wednesday, December 20, 2000 10:20 AM
Subject: Reid vows to block possible energy pick


>Here's how we can make a difference. Call/write/email Bush and urge him to
>appoint J. Bennett Johnson.
>
>> December 20, 2000
>> Las Vegas Review-Journal
>>
>>  YUCCA MOUNTAIN: Reid vows to block possible energy pick
>>  Louisiana Democrat proponent of nuclear power industry
>>
>>
>>  DONREY WASHINGTON BUREAU
>>
>>
>>  WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday he would try to
block
>>
>>  Senate confirmation of J. Bennett Johnston, the former Louisiana senator
>> and
>>  nuclear power champion who is being mentioned as a possible energy
>> secretary
>>  under incoming President George W. Bush.
>>
>>  When Reid saw Johnston mentioned in a newspaper report as a possible
>> member
>>  of the Bush Cabinet, "the name leaped out so hard I couldn't wait to get
>> to
>>  the office this morning to call him to see if this was a serious
matter."
>>
>>  "He told me he was thinking about it," Reid recalled. "I told him, `I
>> like
>>  you a lot, but I'm going to do everything I can to prevent it.' "
>>
>>  Johnston, 68, a Democrat who served in the Senate from 1973 to 1996, was
>>  closely associated with energy interests and was the major booster of
>> plans
>>  to locate a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles
>> northwest
>>  of Nevada.
>>
>>  As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, he was
>>  considered the engine behind what came to be known as the 1987 "Screw
>>  Nevada" bill that designated Yucca Mountain as the only site the
>> government
>>  would study for a repository.
>>
>>  Reid said he put his staff to work on the matter, put in calls to other
>>  lawmakers and began Tuesday to build a coalition of environmentalists
who
>>
>>  share his view of Johnston.
>>
>>  "We want to nip this one in the bud," Reid said.
>>
>>  "I'm very distressed to hear that Bennett Johnston is a candidate for
>> energy
>>  secretary. It would be a declaration of war on the environment and
>>  environmentalists across the country," said Michael Mariotte, executive
>>  director of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service.
>>
>>  Johnston is partner of a Washington lobbying firm, Johnston and
>> Associates,
>>  whose clients include the Nuclear Energy Institute, Entergy Corp., SBC
>>  Communications, Northrop Grumman and the University of New Orleans,
>>  according to Washington Representatives, a lobbyist guidebook.
>>
>>  Johnston did not respond to calls for comment on Tuesday.
>>
>>  Bush has said he plans to have Democrats in his Cabinet, and last week
>>  discussed the energy post with Sen. John Breaux, D-La. Breaux turned him
>>  down but recommended Johnston, according to the New Orleans
>> Times-Picayune.
>>
>>  "If (Bush) is responding by appointing Bennett Johnston, we should all
be
>>
>>  afraid," Reid said.
>>
>>  Others who have been mentioned as possible energy secretaries include
>> Sen.
>>  Slade Gorton, R-Wash., who was defeated for re-election last month, and
>>  Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat who supports drilling in the Arctic
>>  National Wildlife Refuge.
>>
>>  But on a radio talk show on Tuesday, Knowles laughed at the idea and
said
>> he
>>  has plenty of work to do in Alaska, according to his spokesman Bob King.
>>  Knowles said on the radio program he had not been contacted by the Bush
>>  transition team.
>>
>>  Reid said he believed Gorton is not interested in the job.
>>
>>  Another person mentioned was Don Evans, a Bush friend, his presidential
>>  campaign manager and chief executive of Tom Brown Inc., a Denver-based
>> oil
>>  and gas company with an office in Midland, Texas. But Evans was expected
>> to
>>  be named head of the Commerce Department.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  This story is located at:
>>  http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2000/Dec-20-Wed-2000/news/15073682.html
>>
>>
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