Bryan calls for dismissal of consultant heading growth debate

Larry Henry

Tuesday, Feb. 24, 1998 | 9:54 a.m.

U.S. Sen. Richard Bryan says a consultant guiding the growth debate in Southern Nevada should be fired for not disclosing that her company holds a contract to study the proposed nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Bryan sent a letter Monday to state Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, calling for the dismissal of Amy Dirks Stevens of San Diego-based Jason Associates Corp.

Stevens moderates meetings conducted by the 21-member Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority, which was created by Porter's legislation at the 1997 session.

"The planning authority should have been notified in the beginning about this (nuclear-waste) contract," Bryan, D-Nev., said. "You can't help plan for the future of Southern Nevada and at the same time help bring nuclear waste to Nevada."

Efforts to contact Stevens and Porter for comment were unsuccessful.

However, casino lobbyist Richard Bunker, who served on the subcommittee that selected Stevens, said the planning authority probably will discuss Stevens' contract at the next meeting on March 2.

"I'm sure if the senator feels that strongly, it will be discussed," he said. "I would be interested to see what the other folks think."

Bunker said Stevens has not tried to persuade the planning authority to support the proposed nuclear-waste facility.

"I have not heard any discussion vis-a-vis nuclear waste," Bunker said.

Last year, Jason Associates received a $238,219 contract to moderate the planning authority's twice-monthly meetings. That money was provided by six local governments, including Clark County, which contributed the largest amount at $150,000.

One year earlier, Jason Associates was awarded a five-year, $20-million contract to conduct an environmental impact statement on the proposed nuclear- waste burial site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Jason Associates is compiling the environmental study for the Department of Energy, which hopes to persuade Congress that Nevada is the safest place to store the nation's civilian nuclear waste.

An overwhelming majority of Nevadans oppose the DOE plan to store high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.

Bryan, who, like most federal-elected officials says he tries to steer clear of local-government issues, said he jumped into this one because of his longstanding opposition to the proposed nuclear repository.

"The planning authority deserves a moderator who is free from baggage," Bryan said. "You can't serve two masters."

In an earlier interview with the SUN, Stevens acknowledged that she didn't disclose to the hiring subcommittee that Jason Associates has a DOE contract.

She said the law that created the planning authority didn't require such disclosure.

Stevens said she doesn't work on the DOE contract in Nevada, but she has conducted DOE studies in Idaho, where she lives.

She also said she informed the subcommittee that she worked briefly at the nuclear-waste site three or four years ago for a different company, Science Applications International Corp.

Stevens said her job as moderator doesn't put her in a position to influence public policy.

"As a facilitator, we are expected not to take positions or sides," she told the SUN last week.

In addition to Bryan, Neal Siniakin, a planning authority member, has called for Stevens to be fired.