Columnist Jeff German: Growth Panel sends mixed signals in Yucca Mountain battle

Tuesday, March 3, 1998 | 10:06 a.m.

THERE'S A REASON why Sen. Richard Bryan has been regarded as a leader in the fight against bringing the nation's radioactive waste to Nevada.

Bryan, who's been at the forefront of the battle for more than 15 years, understands the big picture.

He knows that an overwhelmingly majority of Nevadans do not want the proposed dumpsite at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Bryan understands the importance of not sending mixed signals about the strength of that opposition to Congressional leaders looking to kiss up to the powerful nuclear energy lobby and dump on Nevada.

The Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority -- which is supposed to provide direction in the search for growth solutions -- apparently doesn't understand the big picture when it comes to Yucca Mountain.

The 21-member panel, which includes some of the valley's most influential elected and civic leaders, displayed its ignorance Monday, when it gave an overwhelming vote of confidence to Amy Dirks Stevens, the consultant it hired at more than $238,000 to guide the growth debate.

The vote was a direct snub to Bryan, who had called for Stevens' ouster because of her San Diego-based company's ties to the dreaded Yucca Mountain project. The company, Jason Associates Corp., has a $20 million contract to conduct environmental impact studies at the proposed dumpsite for the Department of Energy.

Panel members, such as Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and Terry Wright of the Nevada Development Authority, made a strong case that Stevens has done a fine job of moving the growth debate along.

Gibson, Wright and others insisted after the 17-1 vote that they haven't seen any pro-nuclear bias on her part.

That may be the true.

But as Neal Siniakin, the lone vote against Stevens, pointed out, the potential for conflict exists when the panel takes up transportation issues. The trucking of nuclear waste to the state is bound to come up at that time.

Gibson and company, it seems, have failed to see the ramifications of allowing someone with strong ties to the Yucca Mountain project to play a key role in the valley's growth debate.

Last week, Bryan summed up the predicament the panel has created for itself and the community by hiring Stevens.

"You can't help plan for the future of Southern Nevada and at the same time help bring nuclear waste to Nevada," Bryan said.

By their very nature, growth related issues are controversial.

The Strategic Planning Authority, in hiring Stevens and then keeping her on board once the possible conflict was pointed out, has added more baggage to whatever report the panel ends up making.

But more importantly, it has undermined Nevada's opposition to bringing high-level nuclear waste here and put Clark County residents back in harm's way.

In the interests of the safety and well-being of its citizens, all of the major municipalities in Southern Nevada have passed resolutions condemning the Yucca Mountain project.

All have members on the planning panel. There's Gibson from Henderson, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, North Las Vegas Mayor Mike Montandon, Boulder City Mayor Bob Ferraro and Clark County Commissioners Yvonne Atkinson Gates and Lorraine Hunt.

Jones and Gates, two of the more vocal anti-dump panel members, weren't at Monday's meeting, but the other elected leaders were.

What is Congress supposed to think about Nevada's resolve to fight the dump when it sees a vote like this?

Even Richard Bunker, president of the Nevada Resort Association, the casino industry's political arm, voted to retain Stevens. The NRA, aware that a radioactive garbage dump in Southern Nevada's backyard isn't good for tourism, is on record against Yucca Mountain.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce also knows the dump isn't good for business here. But that didn't stop Pat Shalmy, the chamber's executive director, from introducing the motion to give Stevens a vote of confidence.

How well Stevens has performed in her job so far really doesn't matter when you consider the big picture.

Not sending mixed signals to a Congress that wants to make your state a nuclear waste dumping ground is what counts.

That's what matters to Bryan, and it should matter to the people planning our future.

The fight against Yucca Mountain just got a little tougher thanks to the members of the Strategic Planning Authority.