Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer said the committee is trying to move forward on the nominations of two women to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“Its another one of those examples of my being extremely disappointed in the way you answer me, and it goes back to Yucca,” Boxer said. “Its one of the reasons I am not supporting your re-nomination.”
Sen. James Inholfe (R-Okla.), ranking member of the panel, praised Svinicki, whom he knows from when she was a GOP staffer on the Senate Armed Services Committee for Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.).
“The nomination of Kristine Svinicki to continue to serve on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is crucial; especially as the Commission enters a tumultuous time with a lack of transparent leadership while continuing to make important decisions regarding nuclear safety,” Inhofe said.
On Macfarlane, Inhofe said he had concerns about her previous research and publications.
Nevertheless, he said he hoped that these would “not inhibit her ability to be a fair judge of the licensing of a nuclear waste repository,” Inhofe said.
Sessions, who is also a member of the panel, said he does not plan to block Macfarlane’s nomination, but told her, “Your background is not the type of background I would look for in a chairman.”
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