Washington, D.C. – Making the best of a bad set of options, Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson courageously saved American taxpayers at least $5 billion by choosing on December 22 to produce tritium in the cheapest and most flexible way, according to a letter sent today to all Members of Congress by a national taxpayer organization.

“Secretary Richardson should get the Santa Claus medal for saving American taxpayers at least $5 billion three days before Christmas,” said Ralph DeGennaro, Executive Director of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a national budget watchdog group in Washington, D.C. “TCS thinks the best alternative would be for the U.S. to reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal so it doesn’t need more tritium. But Congress didn’t give Richardson that choice, and he made the right decision.”

Richardson announced Dec. 22 that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) would produce tritium at the Watts Bar and Sequoyah nuclear power plants in Tennessee. Under current law, Richardson is required to select by Dec. 31, 1998 a way to produce tritium for U.S. nuclear weapons. Richardson was under enormous pressure from pork barrel lobbying for alternative sites that would be far more costly. Political support in Congress is particularly strong for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

“Richardson also announced almost $1 billion in projects for the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, but they’re so spoiled-rotten that they’ll whine that $1 billion for Christmas isn’t enough,” said DeGennaro.