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After 35 years, New Mexico's senior senator - Pete Domenici - is retiring for health reasons. Domenici was a power broker in Washington who got results for Clovis and New Mexico. He was instrumental in stopping Defense Department plans to close Cannon Air Force Base in 2005 and in landing a new mission with Air Force Special Operations Command. Domenici sits on the powerful Defense Appropriations Commitee and is the ranking member for the Senate's Committee on Energy and Nautral Resource.

Sen. Pete Domenici, who is retiring after 36 years in the Senate, has packed up his office and said goodbye to most of his staffers. But with only days left in office, it seems the thought of retirement is still unreal to him. "I love the job too much," Domenici said. "I feel like I'd like to have the job tomorrow and the next day." Domenici is known for his work on crafting a national energy policy, budget reforms and his support for New Mexico's national laboratories, military installations and other projects his earmarks helped create.

"At first glance, the agenda for last week's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future looked pretty mundane. Who knew that former Sen. Pete Domenici - fresh from cataract surgery and sporting dark sunglasses - would bring the fireworks. The New Mexico Republican lobbed plenty of them at Ron Curry, New Mexico's secretary of environment, during a hearing to examine the Waste Isolation Pilot Project. First, a little background. The commission, appointed by President Obama earlier this year, met in Washington last Wednesday to consider best practices for disposing of high-level nuclear waste. Among those invited to testify were Curry; state Rep. John Heaton, a Carlsbad Democrat; and Don Hancock, director of the Albuquerque-based Southwest Research and Information Center. Domenici, a New Mexico Republican, is a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission."

New Mexico's longest-serving senator, Pete Domenici, talked of his work on nuclear power, the budget process and mental health parity as he reminisced about 36 years in Congress in a farewell speech on the Senate floor Saturday. Domenici decided not to seek re-election after being diagnosed with an incurable brain disease. Congressmen Tom Udall, a Democrat, and Steve Pearce, a Republican, are battling to replace him in the Nov. 4 election.

Bidding farewell to 36-year New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici, Alamogordo's Committee of 50 had some kind words and gifts for the senator as he moves into retirement. During a luncheon event Friday, multiple community members stepped up to thank Domenici for the work he has done on behalf of Alamogordo and New Mexico.

Former Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, who served as New Mexico's senator for decades before retiring due to health problems, has landed a new gig. He is now a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) according to a press release from the Washington D.C.-based think tank. The BPC was created in 2007 by former Sens. Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole and George Mitchell. The BPC, according to its About Us page, "was formed to develop and promote solutions that would attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress." The BPC currently is focused on five issues: national security, health care, energy, agriculture and transportation.

WASHINGTON - In another sign of Congress' increasing frustration with the slow pace of the Yucca Mountain project, a longtime nuclear advocate today announced an effort to have the private sector help the Energy Department develop interim nuclear waste storage sites separate from Nevada. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, has put forward a bill that would allow $1 billion annually from the fund designated for Yucca Mountain to instead go for developing nuclear recycling and interim waste storage sites run by public-private ventures.

"Secretary of Energy Stephen Chu named former U.S. Senator Pete Domenici to a panel to study alternatives for nuclear waste disposal. The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future "will provide recommendations for developing a safe, long-term solution to managing the Nation's used nuclear fuel and nuclear waste" according to Peter St. Cyr. The panel will be co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former Deputy National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft."

The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant's efforts toward solving the secrets of the universe will be acknowledged next week. The WIPP site's Enriched Xenon Observatory Project will hold a ribbon cutting Wednesday at the WIPP underground. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., will be the VIP guest at the invite-only kickoff. Domenici will also appear in Carlsbad this week at a CARC Inc. event. The project, a particle physics collaboration led by Stanford University, has developed what's called an EXO-200 detector. The device is being set up within WIPP's underground because of the low background radiation levels at the underground nuclear waste repository. Those invited to next week's event will get a chance to see the equipment up close.

DOE announced today that a group of buildings at Los Alamos National Laboratory will now be known collectively as the Pete V. Domenici National Security Science Complex. "The honor acknowledges Senator Domenici's long and distinguished career as a U.S. Senator from New Mexico and is a testament to the vision and leadership of a great public servant," DOE said in the announcement.

An outline to fund the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant was part of a funding package signed by President Bush Tuesday night, according to a news release from the office of Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. Article Launched: 10/01/2008 09:05:09 PM MDT WIPP is a U.S. Department of Energy facility designed to safely isolate defense-related transuranic waste from people and the environment. Waste temporarily stored at sites around the country is shipped to WIPP and permanently disposed of in rooms mined out of an ancient salt formation 2,150 feet below the surface. WIPP, which began waste disposal operations in 1999, is located 26 miles outside of Carlsbad.

WASHINGTON -- A new nuclear waste strategy that would partner the government with industry to develop privately owned storage sites and recycling factories was announced on Friday. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., unveiled a bill as an alternative to storing 77,000 tons of used nuclear fuel in a long-delayed Yucca Mountain repository. The bill would not end the Yucca project, but could alter its purpose.

A legislative provision that would have linked US import limits on Russian low-enriched uranium to additional downblending of Russian high-enriched uranium was not included in a funding bill passed by the House of Representatives late Thursday. The provision, which was written by Pete Domenici, a Republican senator from New Mexico, was included in the Senate version of the bill.