Chenoweth Defends Nuke Deal Fights Back Against Criticism Directed At Her, Sen. Craig
Congressman Helen Chenoweth fought back on Tuesday against the unrelenting Democratic mantra that she and fellow Republican, Sen. Larry Craig, forced GOP Gov. Phil Batt into cutting a bad deal on resumption of nuclear dumping in Idaho.
“I am truly sickened by the blatantly politically motivated attacks on Larry Craig and myself by individuals who understand neither the background of the nuclear waste issue nor the steps that were taken to get Idaho this historic agreement,” Chenoweth said.
Chenoweth’s statement came after her likely re-election opponent, Democrat Dan Williams, dragged her into the increasingly politicized debate over the agreement Batt signed with the federal government on Oct. 16. It permits 1,133 new nuclear waste shipments to be dumped at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory in return for promises most of the waste at INEL will be removed by 2035.
Craig’s potential re-election challenger, Democrat Walt Minnick, began the attack two weeks ago. Minnick - and later former Democratic Gov. Cecil Andrus, the man who began the fight against Idaho becoming the nation’s nuclear dump - criticized the deal as potentially unenforceable and blamed the senior senator for failing to keep at bay a congressional mandate that Idaho take more waste.
Batt, whose handling of the waste issue over the past nine months has muted the direct criticism of him, has been trying to quell the political rhetoric. But even he acknowledged that Congress would have forced more waste on Idaho had he not made a deal to voluntarily take it.
No matter how effective members of the congressional delegation are on other matters, the governor said, they only have one vote and that was not enough to stop the congressional steamroller on waste shipments.
“I think they did the best they could,” he said on Tuesday as he prepared for an appearance today before civic leaders in Twin Falls, the one hotbed of resentment for the agreement.
“I know I have my critics, and I know I will have my critics,” Batt said. “I wish the critics would go away. And politics is involved in it now. But I know I did right.”
He has consistently maintained that the deal gives Idaho an advantage over the rest of the nation by assuring it will not be the dumping ground for even more atomic waste.