As those of you who have read my blog for a while know, I’ve written several times about the nuclear waste, ahem, problem, facing humanity (and especially America). There are no easy and permanent answers. One positive step MIGHT be to stop making the nuclear waste which we have no place to store. But no one thinks about those things. Anyway, without providing judgement, either for or against, the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository situation (above my pay grade), I’d like to use the following article to illustrate how things work vs. how they appear to work, in Washington.

I’ve already given too much away, but that’s alright. Please look at this article which appeared on The Hill website:

The reality of the matter is that a) President Obama is at the end of his tenure as President. He has, like all past presidents, favors to pay back (is the Trans Pacific Partnership one of them?), obligations and promises to keep, etc., b) Harry Reid is not in a good way, health-wise, and will be retiring soon. Reid fought for years against having Yucca Mountain, which is, of course, located in Nye county, be the eternal repository for the enormous, radioactive waste stockpile created by the nuclear industry.

This designation by the President may be the only thing (once Obama and Reid are out of office) that keeps the glowing goo out of Nevada. Again, I have no accolades or admonishments about this thing. It happens all the time. My only niggling little worry is about the broader picture here. I just don’t know, and only time will tell, if this attempt to safeguard what really matters to Reid is President Obama’s payback for promises he’s made and assurances given in the past, or if this relates to the Trans Pacific Partnership and Fast Track Authority, which Reid opposes and which Obama desperately wants passed in the coming weeks. We’ll just have to wait and see if Harry Reid softens his stance about the upcoming trade votes. If he does, well, we can connect the dots to see why the change of heart.

For more on Yucca Mountain, please use the tag cloud on the right and click “nuclear waste.”