Politico: Ugly divide at NRC pits Jaczko vs. fellow commissioners

[Patricia M. McBride]

Obama is at it again.  He is putting our safety at risk this time by not doing his job.  He is too busy campaigning and obvious thinks he can ignor his other duties.  He has known there was a problem for 2 months and no action taken.................apparently voting present again.

 

By DARREN GOODE | 12/9/11 9:29 PM EST

A war among the five commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission broke into the open Friday night when Republican Rep. Darrell Issa released a letter in which four of the commissioners said they have “grave concerns” about NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko.

In the letter — which was sent to the White House in October but not made public until Friday night — the four NRC members say Jaczko, a former aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is a bully who is “causing serious damage” to the commission with “increasingly problematic and erratic" behavior.

The letter from Democratic Commissioners William Magwood and George Apostolakis and Republicans Kristine Svinicki and William Ostendorff says Jaczko "intimidated and bullied" staff, told staff to withhold information and ignored the views of the other members of the five-person commission.

In turn, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released a report late Friday — originally set for a rollout Monday — charging that those four commissioners had “conspired to delay and weaken nuclear reactor safety” after Japan's Fukushima disaster in March, including by resisting Jaczko's efforts to implement new safeguards.

“The actions of these four Commissioners since the Fukushima nuclear disaster has caused a regulatory meltdown that has left America’s nuclear fleet and the general public at risk,” Markey said in a statement. “Instead of doing what they have been sworn to do, these four Commissioners have attempted a coup on the Chairman and have abdicated their responsibility to the American public to assure the safety of America’s nuclear industry.”

Markey’s report cites thousands of pages of emails, meeting minutes, voting records and other documents in charging that Magwood, Svinicki, Ostendorff and Apostolakis attempted to delay or undermine creation of the commission’s Near-Term Task Force on the Fukushima disaster.

But a statement from Issa's office laid the problems clearly at Jaczko's feet.

“Congressman Markey's report is an obvious retaliatory move against commissioners — three of whom were appointed by President Obama — for their efforts to raise concerns about abuse and mismanagement to White House officials," an Issa committee spokesman said.

Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, wrote a letter Friday to White House chief of staff Bill Daley saying: “The President has the authority to take action to address these concerns. The White House has now been aware of the Commissioners concerns for nearly two months, and the public deserves to understand what actions have been taken and whether the President still believes that Chairman Jaczko is capable of leading the NRC.”

Issa asked the White House to send a representative to a hearing Issa’s panel is hosting Wednesday regarding leadership at NRC. All five commissioners have confirmed they will appear before Issa's committee Wednesday.

In a response letter dated Wednesday, Jaczko said the problems are not his fault and are a result of a "lack of understanding" from the other four commissioners.

The fractured relationship on the commission has been long simmering. Commissioners complained about Jaczko’s decision last year to shut down a technical review of the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, which Reid and other Nevada officials have long opposed.

An NRC inspector general report in June said that Jaczko intimidated staff who disagreed with him and withheld information from other commission members to gain their support.

In contrast, Markey defended Jaczko as keeping the other four commissioners in the loop regarding the Japanese emergency despite the claims of the commissioners.

Darius Dixon contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70228.html#ixzz1g8e2WTd5