Cool down, Bryan says

Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1999 | 11:24 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., suggests "turning down the jets and cooling the rhetoric" in the escalating battle between Elko County and the U.S. Forest Service over repairing a road into the remote Jarbidge area.

Bryan said Tuesday he has tried to play a role in defusing the conflict and he supports the efforts of U.S. District Judge David Hagen to get both sides to mediate the dispute.

Asked if he thought recent comments of Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Reno, that were critical of the federal government were adding fuel to the controversy, Bryan said, "He's choosing a different course of action."

Bryan, who is leaving office in January 2001, refused to criticize Gibbons but he said, "There are others who seek to use the issue for a broader agenda ... ownership of the public lands."

Both sides of the controversy have legitimate issues, Bryan said, such as the ownership of the road and whether the bull trout is endangered.

The U.S. Forest Service will not allow rebuilding of a road in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, suggesting it will jeopardize survival of the threatened bull trout in an adjacent stream. The road was washed out by a 1995 flood. Elko County officials say the Forest Service has no jurisdiction because the road was built before the national forest was established in the 1990s.

The senator, who is in his second term, told reporters at the state capital that among his priorities for his final year in office is defeating a bill that would lower the standards for siting a high level nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain; stopping Internet gambling; and passing legislation to protect boxers who are taken advantage of by shady promoters and to protect those who have debit cards.

Some protection already exists, Bryan said, for those who might lose or have their credit cards stolen from somebody ringing up big debts. But there is nothing in the federal law to protect those who have debit cards who find themselves in similar situations.

Bryan said he supports Vice President Al Gore in the upcoming presidential election because Gore has experience on the international level and because he has sided with the state in its battle against nuclear waste.

Bryan said Gore has committed to veto any legislation to lower the health and safety standards for Yucca Mountain. A similar veto threat by President Bill Clinton has been instrumental in defeating legislation to temporarily store high-level nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site. Bryan said former Sen. Bill Bradley stood by Nevada in its fight to stop the nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain. But he has not sought a commitment from Bradley to veto any Yucca Mountain bill. The GOP presidential candidates should voice their positions as well, Bryan said.

On a personal note, Bryan said he has not decided what he will do when he will return to Nevada, or even whether he will live in Las Vegas or Reno.