By: Hannah Northey
GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan aligned himself with the Obama administration earlier this year and voted to protect millions of dollars for research at a controversial uranium enrichment plant in southern Ohio.
The Wisconsin Republican voted in May to defeat a proposal by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) aimed at stripping $150 million from the Defense Authorization Act for research at the $5 billion American Centrifuge Plant in the village of Piketon (Greenwire, May 18).
The amendment would have blocked funding for Bethesda, Md.-based U.S. Enrichment Corp. (USEC) to conduct uranium enrichment research at the federal facility. The company has threatened to close the facility if it loses federal support; it is pushing for a $2 billion DOE loan guarantee that is backed by the Obama administration.
The company says it will have a gas-centrifuge demonstration ready to produce low-enriched uranium by the end of next year, making it the first domestic model to do so. But critics say the plant is beset by technical problems, running out of money and about to enter a market that will be flush with supply.
Ryan's congressional office and the Romney campaign did not respond to repeated requests for an explanation of his votes.
Ryan also voted against an amendment in June that Markey and Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) introduced to strip $100 million from the House's fiscal 2013 energy and water spending bill to support research at the Ohio plant (E&E Daily, June 7).
Finally, Ryan voted against an amendment that Rep. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) floated to limit uranium sales or transfers.
Lummis has repeatedly expressed concerns that DOE would upset the U.S. uranium market and miners in her state if the agency were to enrich depleted uranium from the federal stockpile.
Steve Ellis, vice president of the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense, said Ryan's votes for USEC are surprising in light of the congressman's criticism of the federal loan guarantee given to the bankrupt solar manufacturer Solyndra in his speech at the Republican National Convention last week.
Slashing money for USEC is "low-hanging fruit as far as wasteful spending" because the company has been riddled with financial problems and technical setbacks, Ellis said.
"The USEC plant has the potential of being a much bigger loss than Solyndra was, at least in the Title 17 money," Ellis said. "You would think that Congressman Ryan would be trying to cut everything in sight."
Ryan was joined by other top House Republicans in defeating the amendments, including Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa of California.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and Ohio and Kentucky lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have also joined in support of USEC, arguing the plant provides a domestic source of uranium enrichment to support nuclear weapons production.
Ellen Vancko, nuclear and climate project manager at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Ryan may have fallen in line with Boehner, who has publicly endorsed the uranium enrichment plant for his home state (E&E Daily, Oct. 27, 2011).
"Republicans are often against subsidies and loan guarantees unless they support projects they like, and nuclear happens to be one of those technologies," Vancko said.
Budget cutter Ryan opposed bids to slash spending on Ohio uranium facility (E&E Daily)
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