Editorial: Character that really does count

Sunday, Oct. 17, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

Nearly all presidential candidates who visit this state for political fund-raisers can be counted on to say that science should be followed when determining whether a high-level nuclear waste repository should be built at Nevada's Yucca Mountain. But ask them specifics and they will avoid providing straight answers.

Privately most of them believe the waste should come to Nevada because no other state wants it. Yet not seeking to offend their Nevada hosts, who have just given them generous contributions, they offer vague platitudes about scientific solutions. For those seeking the presidency, there is no political advantage in advocating evenhanded treatment for Nevada when so many large states that have nuclear power plants want to rid themselves of deadly waste.

And it is no coincidence that the state's small population also has played a huge role in leading to a number of decisions by Congress -- and agreed to by the Reagan and Bush administrations from 1981 to 1993 -- that led to Nevada being targeted as a repository. Initially three states were under consideration -- Nevada, Washington and Texas. But in the 1980s this quickly changed as politics trumped science, with Democratic leaders and Republicans in Congress changing the law so only Nevada would be studied for its suitability.

That is why it is remarkable the current administration has reversed this trend. There are no political pluses for President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to stand by Nevada. Yet Clinton and Gore have rebuffed big states, powerful members of Congress and the influential nuclear power lobby. Vows of a presidential veto stopped efforts to bring a so-called "temporary" nuclear waste repository to the Nevada Test Site, just 65 miles from Las Vegas. Now the administration is fighting the latest congressional efforts to weaken the radiation standards of a permanent repository proposed for Yucca Mountain.

Gore, who is seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, visited Las Vegas last week for a political fund-raiser. While here he made clear his opposition to legislation in Congress that would strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its power to establish radiation standards for a permanent repository and instead place this authority with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an agency that has been cozy with the nuclear power industry. "If you are going to take the EPA out of the process and give it to a group that doesn't have the environment as its principal focus, then you might as well expect a different kind of analysis that tries to push forward without giving careful attention to the facts that need to be looked at," Gore said. No fuzziness, no ambiguity, just a clear message that fairness is the top priority.

As the 2000 presidential campaign unfolds, not only will issues such as education, foreign policy and health care reform be important to Nevadans, but so too will the candidates' stands on Yucca Mountain. So as the campaign unfolds listen carefully to what the candidates have to say about nuclear waste storage. A true test of character for a president is not how he plays to the selfish desires of the majority, but how he respects the rights of a small state threatened by a heavy-handed federal government.