Gibbons praises plan on nuclear storage

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1999 | 9:42 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Rep. James Gibbons, R-Nev., has praised the Clinton administration for its policy to keep nuclear waste temporarily stored where it is generated rather than shipping it to Nevada but criticized the president for offering clemency to 16 Puerto Rican terrorists.

At a town hall meeting attended by about 60 people Tuesday night, Gibbons also pushed the GOP tax plan, which he said would save Social Security forever.

Gibbons said the proposal by the Department of Energy to keep the nuclear waste stored in dry casks at its present locations "took the wind out of the sails" of the bill in Congress to designate Nevada as a temporary dump site.

"The interim storage bill has been derailed," he said.

If ever a temporary repository was established at the Nevada Test Site, Gibbons said, the waste material would never be moved out of the state, even if Yucca Mountain was found not to be suitable as a permanent burial grounds.

"I hope Yucca Mountain is never found suitable," he said, but he expressed fear the safety standards may be changed to heighten the possibility that site may be approved.

The 54-year-old Republican said there "should be an outcry" to Clinton's offer to free the Puerto Rican terrorists. He said this pardon comes at election time. Critics have said the president is taking the action to woo Hispanic voters in New York to further the Senate campaign of his wife, Hillary, a charge the administration denies.

Gibbons said this sends the wrong message that terrorists can expect to get leniency even "if they do dastardly things. ... This has got to be disturbing to anyone."

On the tax plan, Gibbons said it is estimated the federal government will collect $3 trillion more than needed over the next 10 years. Republicans, he said, want to take $1.8 trillion of that and buy back the treasury notes in Social Security.

The government borrowed money from the surplus in Social Security, which is holding the notes as security. By paying off these notes and preventing the government from ever borrowing from the Social Security surplus, Gibbons said, "We have saved Social Security for all time."