U.S. Sen. David Vitter (R-La.), top Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW), today made the following statement on the ongoing delay of a vote on the nomination of Allison MacFarlane to head the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) has said she is still awaiting information she requested about a nuclear facility in California.

"It's my understanding that Chairman Boxer is delaying the nomination mark-up of Allison MacFarlane until she receives the nearly 70,000 documents she requested from the NRC. I can only hope that she will now respect our own Republican requests for agency transparency at the EPA," said Vitter. "While her voluminous requests focus on one particular facility, our more targeted transparency requests relate to the actions of a cabinet-level agency, which employs about 17, 000 people and issues regulations affecting the entire economy."

In April, the EPW Republicans did not object to Chairman Boxer's decision to delay the NRC hearing and sent a letter requesting the same courtesy while they worked through getting their questions for Gina McCarthy, nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, answered as well as the information and document they requested. Click here to read their letter.

Following the nomination hearing for Gina McCarthy in April, the EPW Republican Senators reiterated five concerns they have with the Agency and the expected responses, in order to ensure transparency. Click here to read all five initial requests. Boxer has said the demands to get answers and documents on the transparency requests of the EPA are the "poster child of Republican obstructionism."

 

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