Emailed summary:
In an Al-Monitor exclusive this week, Bryant Harris reports that Saudi Arabia and US energy groups are on the same side of a high-stakes push to secure US support for the kingdom’s nuclear industry. And they’re making headway.
... several Republicans are holding up a bipartisan resolution that calls on the administration not to allow the Saudis to start a nuclear weapons program on their soil. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., supports the bill from Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
...the [*rump regime] has made clear its desire to strike a deal that could shore up the US nuclear industry. Energy Secretary Rick Perry told reporters this week [WaPo “U.S. Makes Shortlist for Saudi Nuclear-Plant Deal” 26Sept] that it’s difficult to persuade the Saudis to accept an agreement that would preclude them from using US technology to enrich uranium and reprocess plutonium, which are possible precursors to a nuclear weapons program.
Riyadh hired four law firms earlier this year to lobby on the issue. The Saudi Energy Ministry hired Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, King & Spalding and the office of David B. Kultgen in February before adding Canada-based Gowling WLG to its roster in March. Interestingly, Saudi rival Qatar also hired Pillsbury in March. That same month, Pillsbury met with met with senior officials at the National Security Council, State Department and Energy Department.
...The US nuclear industry is also weighing in. Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse, which is hoping to build some of the 16 planned Saudi reactors, has shelled out $540,000 so far this year lobbying on the Senate resolution as well as legislation from Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., intended to strengthen regulations on civil nuclear agreements. Al-Monitor has learned that the Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association, also lobbied the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the Merkley resolution before it cleared committee earlier this month.
Revolving Door: Kultgen stepped down as the general counsel for Saudi Aramco, Riyadh’s state-run oil firm, in 2016. And Gowling’s Paul Murphy previously served on the Commerce Department’s Civilian Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee. He is now a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Technical Cooperation Program Team, which oversees the development of civilian nuclear programs. Another Saudi lobbyist, Pillsbury’s Jeffrey Merrifield, served as the commissioner of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the US agency overseeing nuclear safety, from 1998 to 2007.
Opening paragraphs of the article by Harris:
Republican rebels block restrictions on Saudi nuclear deal
A handful of Senate Republicans are bucking their leadership by holding up a resolution calling on the Donald Trump administration to refrain from reaching a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia that falls short of America's so-called gold standard.
Al-Monitor has learned from congressional sources that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., wants to unanimously pass a nonbinding resolution on the floor urging the Trump administration to “prohibit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from enriching uranium or separating plutonium on its own territory.” But several Republicans are objecting, casting doubt on Congress’ determination to weigh in on the Trump administration’s nuclear negotiations with the Saudis.
Because senators object to unanimous consent requests anonymously, it's not known who has concerns. McConnell’s office did not respond to inquiries about how many lawmakers have objected.
“This blocks both the plutonium and the uranium route to civilian nuclear energy being converted into a potential bomb,” the resolution's sponsor, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., said at a July markup. “This is a standard that we are trying to establish everywhere in the world, and it is so important in the context of the Middle East and the dynamic in Saudi Arabia and Iran.”
Congress and the Barack Obama administration dubbed the domestic enrichment prohibition and other transparency measures as the “gold standard” in a civil nuclear agreement with the United Arab Emirates in 2009. But the Trump administration’s handling of the negotiations — and its rumored willingness to consider anything less than a gold standard agreement as it seeks to promote the US nuclear industry — have generated bipartisan concern in Congress.
“They’re keeping everything very close to their vest,” Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., told Al-Monitor. “In fact it’s like glued to their vest, so we have no ability to have any idea what’s going on.”
A week after Energy Secretary Rick Perry met with his Saudi counterpart Khalid al-Falih…..
Some Al-Monitor articles (possibly most) might only be accessible to registered users, but so far they haven’t charged me for being one, FWIW. Wikipedia article about Al-Monitor for reference.
