AU.S. House subcommittee has eliminated all funding -- $368 million -- for the plutonium project at the Aiken-area Savannah River Site. U.S. Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, called the project "unnecessary."

He's wrong: The project certainly is necessary and will ensure that South Carolina doesn't become a dumping ground for nuclear waste. It also could mean thousands of jobs for South Carolinians. The state's congressional delegation should work aggressively to restore full funding.

A few years ago, the Bush administration persuaded South Carolina officials to accept 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium at the Savannah River Site. In return, the government would build a plant to convert that plutonium into mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for use in commercial nuclear reactors. In an arms control initiative, Russian officials also committed to converting 34 tons of plutonium into MOX.

Now, however, Russia appears to be abandoning its program, prompting Hobson to call the U.S. program "unnecessary." But the MOX program was not only an incentive to get Russia to reduce its plutonium stocks, which can't be allowed to fall into the hands of terrorists. It also was a way to use America's own deadly surplus plutonium for positive purposes -- fueling commercial nuclear reactors. It would be safer than burying the waste.

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The Bush administration assured this state's residents that the plutonium would not be stored here permanently. Our congressional delegation must make sure the administration lives up to its commitment.