The Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition (NWSC or Coalition) announces the election of Michigan Public Service Commissioner Greg White as its new chairman. Chairman White succeeds David Boyd, whose term on the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission recently expired.
A credentialed expert on nuclear waste policy issues, Chairman White is well-equipped to lead the Coalition. In numerous roles over the course of 28 years at the Michigan Public Service Commission, he has demonstrated a commitment to the quest for federal government action to remove and ultimately dispose of nuclear waste from utility sites in Michigan and beyond. Chairman White was involved in the NWSC’s formation in late 1993, has served on the NWSC Executive Committee since 2010, and has served as Chairman of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues – Waste Disposal since 2013. He continues to raise awareness of these issues by appearing before Congress, federal agencies and boards, the Michigan Legislature, and numerous stakeholder groups.
“This is an exciting time for the NWSC, and I am deeply honored to lead the organization as we relentlessly pursue performance that was promised by the federal government decades ago. We stand ready to work with bipartisan leadership in both houses of Congress to carry out existing law regarding Yucca Mountain and to authorize and fund additional actions supporting the timely removal and ultimate disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste,” said Chairman White. On the outgoing chairman, he added, “I would like to recognize and thank David Boyd for his tremendous leadership. David immediately recognized the injustice of the federal government’s delay, particularly given electric consumers’ substantial and timely payments into the Nuclear Waste Fund, and he stepped up to fight it.”
David Boyd served as Chairman of the NWSC from June 2013 until his departure from the Minnesota PUC at the end of January 2015 and had been a member of the Executive Committee since 2008. In addition to his duties as a Minnesota Commissioner, David actively engaged on a number of energy issues at the state, regional, federal, and international levels, but making progress on nuclear waste policy issues was always a priority. Notably, David testified before the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee in July 2013 regarding nuclear waste policy reform legislation. He also chaired the NARUC Subcommittee on Nuclear Issues – Waste Disposal from 2010 until 2013 and the NARUC Electricity Committee from 2013 through last month.
NWSC Vice Chairman and DTE Energy’s Director of State Affairs Renze Hoeksema added, “The progress achieved in the last year is a credit to the work of public servants like Chairman White, our former Chairmen David Boyd and David Wright, Commissioner Bubba McDonald, and other NARUC leaders involved in pursuing court action that directly resulted in both the NRC staff’s completion of the Yucca Mountain Safety Evaluation Report and the suspension of consumer payments into the Nuclear Waste Fund. We owe them our gratitude.”
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