Nuke waste issue on back burner, but not out

Wednesday, June 3, 1998 | 9:56 a.m.

The future of temporary radioactive waste storage in Nevada vanished this year as Congress refused to limit debate on the bill, but the legislation pushed by the nuclear industry is sure to come back next year.

"Regardless of what happened in Tuesday's vote, it's a scheduling procedure," said Scott Peterson of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear power industry.

The pressure on Congress and its summer schedule keeps growing, he said, with 13 appropriations bills, anti-tobacco and nuclear storage.

After the 56-39 Senate vote to limit debate, with 60 votes required for cloture, both houses of Congress pledged on Tuesday not to bring temporary nuclear storage at the Nevada Test Site back this year.

Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, who sponsored one version of the bill, said he would not return it for consideration this year.

Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, both D-Nev., credited "the unholy alliance" between two powerful industries -- nuclear energy and tobacco -- for the defeat of radioactive storage in Nevada. "The health and safety of millions of Americans won out today over a multi-million dollar industry who wants Congress to bail them out of their responsibilities," Reid said.

Reid and Bryan were armed with a promised veto from President Clinton on any temporary storage bill.

Asked about a renewed attempt by the nuclear industry to pass temporary nuclear storage in the future, Reid replied, "Wait until we get through this year."

In a surprise move on Monday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., pledged to Rep . John Ensign, R-Nev., who is challenging Reid for his Senate seat, that the nuclear bill was finished this year.

"Although I strongly support a legislative resolution to the nuclear waste issue , it is unlikely that such a bill will make it past the president's veto to become law this year," Gingrich said, praising both Ensign and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., for their efforts in fighting the legislation.

The last three congressional sessions have featured fierce debates on temporary nuclear storage legislation. This time leaders in both the House and Senate vowed not to bring any measure to the floor this year.

Nevada Resort Association Director Richard Bunker said Las Vegas hotel-casinos have opposed burying nuclear waste here for years.

Some 43 states on the way to either the Nevada Test Site or Yucca Mountain, under study as the permanent dump, have realized trucks and trains will bring the waste into their backyards.

"If nuclear waste comes, other jurisdictions will not escape unscathed, and I think they are beginning to realize it," he said.