This bill would change the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Land Withdrawal Act so that economic assistance payments continue past the original 14-year period. It amends Section 15(a) by removing the phrase that limited payments to "each of the 14 fiscal years beginning with" a start year and by adding language that extends payments "and each fiscal year thereafter through the fiscal year during which transuranic waste shipments to or from WIPP have been terminated." In plain terms, the payments would continue each year until shipments of transuranic waste to or from WIPP have stopped.
If you are in a community or local government area that receives WIPP economic assistance, those annual payments would continue until the fiscal year in which transuranic waste shipments to or from WIPP end. The bill text provided does not change payment amounts or eligibility rules; it changes how long payments can be made.
The bill text does not include dollar amounts, budget estimates, or specific fiscal impacts. No publicly available information on costs is provided in the materials supplied.
No publicly available explanation of proponents' arguments is included in the provided materials. The bill was introduced by Senators Martin Heinrich and James Risch.
No publicly available explanation of opponents' arguments or objections is included in the provided materials.