At a Senate Environment Committee hearing last week, Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) questioned David A. Wright, nominee to be a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
00:04President Trump has ordered the destruction of offshore wind
00:08all along the East Coast of the United States. That was going to be
00:1230,000 megawatts of electricity coming in. He's ordered the destruction of it,
00:16which is a tragedy. He's ordered the
00:20destruction of the tax breaks for wind and solar in the
00:24bill that's going to come before Congress. That's a tragedy. We have a dramatic rise
00:28in AI consumption of electricity, and the President is destroying
00:31President Trump is destroying our ability to have an
00:35all-of-the-above strategy. And as a result, it's going to put more pressure
00:39on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to press forward faster
00:43to license new nuclear power plants. It's going to give the natural gas
00:47industry an opening to come in where there was no opening, in terms of
00:51the construction of new plants, because Trump is killing the electrical
00:55generation capacity that was the plan, you know, for much of the country, but
01:00especially the East Coast. 94% of all new electrical generating capacity in the
01:05United States installed was wind, solar, and battery. Let me say that again. 94% of
01:10all new installed electrical generation capacity in the United States last year
01:15was wind, solar, and battery. Trump has declared war on that. Now, that puts
01:19pressure on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. And that's a danger to me, a real danger,
01:25you know, for you to move faster than otherwise you would, as historical legacy,
01:32be moving forward. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is facing strange and
01:38unprecedented times. This independent agency was created by Congress to do one
01:43thing, to regulate civilian nuclear activity with public safety as a first
01:49priority. Independent agencies hold a unique role in our federal government.
01:53They're supposed to act free from influence by financial or political
01:58interests. Commissioners of independent agencies who are confirmed by the Senate
02:03are statutorily protected from removal without cause. This is a precedent that the
02:09Supreme Court has respected for 90 years. Yet over the past five months this
02:14administration has fired Commissioner and former NRC Chair Hanson without cause.
02:20Fired safety focused staff for no good reason at the behest of Doge. Forced
02:27Commission rulemakings which are supposed to be independent to go through
02:31executive branch policy review to ensure alignment with Trump's agenda, which of
02:36course is to absolutely crush the clean energy revolution for the benefit of the
02:43nuclear and natural gas industries. Just to crush this all of the above strategy.
02:49And pressured the NRC to accelerate license reviews and cut corners while ignoring
02:54community concerns. So Mr. Chairman, if reconfirmed, how will you protect the NRC from
03:00attacks that jeopardize its independence and ability to protect public health and safety?
03:08Thank you, Senator Markey, for the question. And I did enjoy our visit back in March with you and
03:14your staff. And I bought your book too, by the way. Found it at an old library that had closed down.
03:19So to answer your question, you know, we're accountable. We're an independent agency. We're in the executive
03:26branch. That's where we're housed. We're accountable to both to Congress and the administration. Safety is our strike zone over home plate. It is our North Star.
03:38And it will continue to be that. Nothing that has happened so far. Nobody's asked us to compromise safety in any way.
03:47Nothing has touched safety. We know-
03:49It's coming your way, Mr. Chairman. It's coming your way. They're destroying-
03:54I do know-
03:54They're destroying entire industries with no regard, ultimately, for the safety of the American people from pollution.
04:02Yeah, keep going. I'm sorry.
04:03Yeah, to me, what I've seen so far and have been involved in with my colleagues, it's been about process more than anything else.
04:14And trying to align our stuff within the agency so that we can be more efficient, which was the goal of the ADVANCE Act, and it's aligned as well.
04:23Well, let me then turn. Let me turn to this alignment. I'd like to turn to the issue of public engagement.
04:28And today, I'm reintroducing my NRC Office of Public Engagement and Participation Act, a bill that would establish an office dedicated to keeping communities informed and involved in what's happening in their backyard.
04:43Communities deserve a chance to weigh in on the issues that directly affect their health and safety, and there's nothing like a nuclear power plant coming into your neighborhood that raises safety and health issues.
04:55And over the years, I've learned a great deal from the communities next to the decommissioning of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Massachusetts.
05:03They have fought for transparent, accountable, and community-led decision-making when it comes to nuclear safety.
05:09Unfortunately, NRC's failure to meaningfully engage these communities has eroded trust in the Commission.
05:16So, Mr. Wright, if reconfirmed, how do you plan to maintain strong public trust and confidence in the NRC's ability to responsibly and independently regulate civilian nuclear activity through public engagement in hearings and proceedings?
05:31Well, thank you for the question. You know, I'm not sure that I totally agree with everything, the comments,
05:38but I will tell you that it's my belief, personally, that the NRC on public engagement does as good, probably does the best job than any agency in the federal government, including my colleague here to the left.
05:50You know, we have public meetings, federal register notices, we have website announcements, email listservs, social media posts, and the tribal areas.
06:00We will go to, into the community, do potluck dinners, go to the community, we'll translate into native languages and print, do radio, do, if they don't have broadband, we go to them to seek their input.
06:13So, I believe that we, and there's a lot more that we do, as well, on top of that.
06:20And I will say this, Trump has issued executive orders to threaten open and transparent public hearings, license reviews, rulemaking process.
06:27You're going to be under pressure. You're going to be under a lot of pressure, Mr. Chairman.
06:30Yeah, and I appreciate the concern, Senator, and, you know, I will tell you that I look forward to reading your legislation.
06:38I just heard about it this morning. Thank you.
