Lots of letters protest nuke dump

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 10:15 a.m.

When Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., goes home after a Saturday fund-raiser for Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., he may need an extra bag to carry protest letters.

Concerned citizens and UNLV students launched a grassroots letter writing campaign Thursday to tell Ensign and Lott they don't want temporary high-level nuclear waste stored or dumped in Nevada.

Both the House and Senate have passed bills targeting the Nevada Test Site for temporary radioactive waste storage until studies at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, are completed.

"I plan to have a family someday and I don't want my children living close to nuclear waste," said UNLV Environmental Studies major Sarah Alonso, while working intently on her letters in the Moyer Student Union.

For Vickie Sessler, who moved to Las Vegas less than a year ago from Indiana, it was a chance to put into action beliefs she has held for a long time.

"I've always been interested in this issue," Sessler said. "You have to keep your eyes and ears open."

For UNLV Political Honor Society member Angel Robinson, it's a question of fairness.

"The nation is in this together, so why can't we share the responsibility?" she asked.

Robinson gathered names on a petition in addition to the letters which were taken to Ensign's Sahara Avenue office late Thursday.

Some of the letter writers stood in the cool wind with protest signs against nuclear dumping in Nevada.

For Leah Griffith, who organized the letter-writing drive and will continue to collect any messages from people who are concerned about radioactive waste coming to Nevada, this gives citizens an extra chance at stopping the nuclear threat.

Ensign has fought hard against any temporary nuclear waste storage in Nevada, as well as against a permanent dump at Yucca Mountain.

In addition to nuclear waste threatening the state's chief industry, gaming, it also hurts Nevada's chances to place alternative, high-technology industries at the Test Site.

"That's one good reason I'm so against temporary nuclear storage," Ensign said.