Wyden joins three senators in nuclear waste policy group

Wyden joins three senators in nuclear waste policy group
By Zack Colman - 01/23/13 03:57 PM ET

Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) will participate in an ad hoc Senate nuclear waste management group, signaling the topic could get attention this Congress.

Wyden will join committee ranking member Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) in the group. He replaces retired former Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.)

Murkowski had hoped Wyden would fill Bingaman’s vacancy. She expressed optimism that earlier negotiations, combined with Wyden’s interest, portend positively for nuclear waste management legislation.  “I’m hoping that we will resume kind of where we left off at the end of last Congress, where we were having some kind of regular meetings to discuss the next set of ideas,” Murkowski told reporters Wednesday.

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