The White House nomination of Bill Richardson, U.S. ambassadorto the United Nations, to head up the Department of Energy (DOE) islikely to come under heavy fire once it gets to Capitol Hill.

Sens. Larry Craig (R-ID) and Rod Grams (R-MN) are gearing up tooppose the nomination when it reaches the Senate Energy and NaturalResources Committee. Craig said he will staunchly oppose Richardson- or any other candidate – until the Clinton administration givesDOE the authority to negotiate a solution to the problem of storingnuclear waste.

Grams’ office indicated the senator intends to also ask some”very pointed questions” about the White House’s intentions onnuclear waste storage and streamlining the DOE during Richardson’sconfirmation hearing. If Grams doesn’t like the responses, he mightvote against the nomination, said Steve Behm, the senator’s pressaide. Grams, he noted, voted against or “present” for thenominations ofEnergy Secretary Federico Pena and his predecessor,Hazel O’Leary.

Despite their protests, neither Craig nor Grams will be able tohold up the vote on Richardson at the committee level, saidcommittee spokesman Derek Jumper, adding that Chairman FrankMurkowski (R-AK) has indicated he plans to move forward on this.But the two lawmakers could block a vote on Richardson’s nominationon the Senate floor, he noted.

The nomination also is expected to come under “intense mediascrutiny” because of the alleged part that Richardson played intrying to get Monica Lewinsky a job. Lewinsky has been the focus of an investigation since early this year into allegations that shehad an affair with President Clinton and obstructed justice tocover it up.

Derek said the committee hopes to hold a confirmation hearingfor Richardson prior to the Senate recess on July 31st for thesummer. He noted the committee still has to receive the officialnomination papers from the White House and conduct a backgroundcheck of Richardson before it can schedule the hearing.

In the interim, he said Deputy Energy Secretary Elizabeth Moler,who also was in the running to be named DOE secretary, will act asDOE chief following Pena’s departure at the end of the month. “Ithink she’s been running it the whole time anyway,” remarked aCapitol Hill source.

©Copyright 1998 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. Thepreceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, inwhole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent ofIntelligence Press,Inc.