Growth panel guide criticized for conflict of interest

Larry Henry

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998 | 10:04 a.m.

A consultant guiding Southern Nevada's growth debate is under fire for not disclosing that her company has a federal contract to study a proposed nuclear- waste repository in Nevada.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said the nuclear-waste contract poses a potential conflict of interest.

Titus said the moderator, Amy Dirks Stevens of Jason Associates Corp., could influence whether the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority takes a stance on nuclear-waste storage.

In theory, some panelists on the 21-member authority -- especially those representing labor unions and construction trades -- would agree that a radioactive dump benefits their industries by providing jobs.

"To guide the discussion about growth without revealing you're working in favor of a nuclear repository seems fraught with peril," Titus said.

Stevens said her job as moderator is to keep the planning authority meetings moving along, not to steer discussion.

"As a facilitator, we are expected not to take positions or sides," she said. "There's a misinterpretation that I have more power and decision-making ability than I do."

Meanwhile, Neal Siniakin, a planning authority member, said Stevens should be fired from her job as moderator.

"The fact that (the nuclear-waste contract) wasn't made public, coupled with her inexperience, is ground for dismissal," Siniakin, a property manager who represents Boulder City on the authority, said.

Stevens, 32, said she has been a moderator for seven to 10 years. She said Tuesday she would call Siniakin and discuss that with him.

The likelihood of Stevens being fired is seen as remote. She was chosen by a four-member subcommittee that included Richard Bunker, a casino lobbyist who perhaps is the planning authority's most influential behind-the-scenes member.

Last year, Jason Associates, a San Diego company, was awarded a $238,219 contract to moderate the planning authority meetings. In October 1996, the company received a $20 million, five-year contract with the Department of Energy to conduct an environmental impact statement on the proposed nuclear-waste site at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Stevens conceded that she didn't tell the hiring subcommittee that Jason Associates has a contract with the DOE.

But she said the 1997 legislation that created the planning authority doesn't require that disclosure.

Stevens said she informed the subcommittee that she worked briefly at the proposed nuclear-waste site "three or four years ago" while employed by a different company, Science Applications International Corp.

She stressed that she is not involved in Jason Associates' contract at Yucca Mountain. But she has conducted DOE studies in Idaho, where she lives.

Clark County Commissioner Lorraine Hunt, a planning authority member, said Stevens has not discussed the nuclear-waste site.

"If she brought that up, I would be taken aback," Hunt said.