The chairman of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee yesterday laid out an agenda for the year that includes a hearing next week on a presidential commission examining the nation's options for storing nuclear waste.

Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the Environment and Economy Subcommittee, told reporters his panel will hold a hearing Wednesday on President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission report on nuclear energy.

Holding an embargoed copy of the report, Shimkus said that while he was not familiar with the panel's recommendations yet, he anticipated a call for at least one interim storage facility and a permanent nuclear waste repository for the country's 104 operating plants. The panel included that recommendation in its July draft report.

Republicans are likely to key in on the report to voice their objections to Obama's abandoning of the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is also planning a hearing on the document next Thursday.

Shimkus, who is a staunch supporter of the Yucca repository, said the witnesses for his hearing were still being worked out. The Blue Ribbon Commission has taken "no position" on Yucca Mountain and was not instructed to review the suitability of the site.

Shimkus said that discussion will likely segue into another topic for his committee this year: dysfunction at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Shimkus said that relationships between commissioners and Chairman Gregory Jaczko have only gotten worse since their hearing last year.

"Even if you want to fake it," Shimkus said, "you could give the impression that you get along. ... We're concerned about the NRC and its ability to do its job."

A piece-by-piece look at EPA

Shimkus said his panel will continue to keep a close watch on U.S. EPA's regulations and how they affect jobs but said he did not expect any large overarching legislation to come about this year.

"I don't think we're going to do anything macro," he said.

He also appeared to indicate that the panel was finished with legislation targeting new EPA air pollution regulations. His subcommittee, as well as the full Energy and Commerce Committee, passed bills last year aimed at delaying or undoing new EPA rules to limit toxic air emissions from power plants, cement kilns and industrial boilers.

"We've done a pretty exhaustive approach" on air regulations, he said.

Nevertheless, Shimkus said he plans to take a close look at Obama's proposed budget for EPA next month and that will give committee members a good idea of the president's priorities for the year.

He also plans to hold "generic hearings" on the Superfund cleanup program, saying that "we should be able to do things faster than we are." He also wants to hold a hearing on the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which covers the generation, transportation and storage of hazardous waste.

An area of bipartisan agreement?

Hazardous waste is an area where Shimkus may be able to win bipartisan support this year. He said one "easy" piece of legislation he wants to move is a bill that would modernize how EPA tracks hazardous waste.

EPA currently requires carbon copies to accompany hazardous materials when they are moved for storage or disposal. The "cradle to the grave" documentation is seen as overly onerous and costly -- some estimates say it costs industry between $200 million and $500 million annually.

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) has introduced legislation the past two years that would create electronic manifests to replace the carbon copies. Last year, S. 710 passed the Senate unanimously.

The measure would likely draw significant support from Democrats. Energy and Commerce Committee ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) recently called for the panel to take up Thune's bill (E&ENews PM, Jan. 19).

However, Shimkus said he prefers the panel move its own legislation then reconcile it with Thune's bill down the road. But he thinks that won't be a hard sell.

"For the life of me," he said, "I don't know why we didn't do it last year."