Sierra Club director: Reid best bet to prevent nuclear dump from coming to Nevada

Friday, Oct. 16, 1998 | 3:38 a.m.

The executive director of the Sierra Club on the national level says Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is the state's best weapon against federal plans to put a nuclear waste dump in the state.

Pope was in Las Vegas on Friday for meetings and a weekend rally with local Sierra Club members and spoke to the Sun about Nevada's biggest environmental threat -- the proposal by Congress to convert Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, into the nation's only high-level nuclear waste dump.

As long as Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., stays as majority leader, Pope said, Nevadans will need Reid. Pope said Reid's seniority and clout will be needed to counterbalance the influence of Lott, whose top agenda item is getting Yucca Mountain approved as the nation's waste dump.

"I met with Trent Lott a year ago and asked him his top environmental priority," Pope said. "And he said, 'Building that nuclear waste dump in Nevada.' "

If Rep. John Ensign, R-Nev., who is challenging Reid, wins the election, he can't override Lott's No. 1 priority, Pope said.

"If there is a Sen. Ensign from Nevada, there will be a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain," Pope said. "This guy can't stand up to Trent Lott."

Lott fears that if Nevada's Yucca Mountain is deemed unsuitable, the salt domes underlying Mississippi and Louisiana will become targets for burying more than 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from commercial reactors and defense sites, Pope said.

It was Louisiana Sen. Bennett Johnston who singled out Yucca Mountain as the sole site when he was a senator.

"And getting rid of Harry Reid is exactly what Lott needs," Pope said.

Ensign cancelled a fund-raising visit to Las Vegas by Lott and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who sponsored a temporary nuclear waste storage bill in the last two congressional sessions.

The two pro-nuclear dump senators were supposed to attend a "Singing Senators" event in Las Vegas Oct. 23, but Ensign said he asked them not to attend "because of their stance on the nuclear waste issue."

Lott has recently said he can push through nuclear waste legislation if he gets enough GOP seats in the Senate.

In turn, Ensign challenged Reid to return donations he got from former Sen. Johnston. Ensign said Reid got $3,500 from Johnston, his son and an employee, and another $1,000 from Bob Snow, head of a major nuclear plant.

Reid's camp countered that Ensign has received about $48,000 from the current Senate leadership that favors the nuclear dump in Nevada.