It is not widely known by consumers, but North Carolina employs seven public officials to regulate utilities. The North Carolina Utility Commission has its hand in the regulation of everyday services like telecommunications, electricity and water.
Last week, Commissioner Jimmy Ervin testified before a House subcommittee on the inadequacies of current funding mechanisms for Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste depository. His testimony is clear and well reasoned. North Carolina is a payor state and consumers here have put more than $1.7 billion into the Nuclear Waste Fund. While I don?t agree with his advocacy to take the program ?off-budget?, I?m glad that he?s making the case for reform. Consider that nuclear waste is currently stored in 77 ?temporary? facilities around the country ? on the site where it is produced ? and it could be stored away from population centers in a facility designed for long-term storage.
