Rulings on Yucca favor Nevada in fight against fed plan

Friday, Sept. 10, 1999 | 10:45 a.m.

Nevada's state government won two victories Thursday in its battle against federal plans to open a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

The first victory came in the form of a promise from the Department of Energy that there will be an extra public hearing in Carson City regarding the proposed facility's environmental impacts.

The second triumph on nuclear waste issues came when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed to review the state's concerns over terrorist attacks against high-level nuclear waste shipments. The notice for the commission's action is expected to be published Monday in the Federal Register.

The state Commission on Nuclear Projects ambushed DOE officials on Thursday in Las Vegas when commission Chairman Brian McKay argued for another hearing on top of 16 others set in Nevada and nationwide through January.

The hearings are scheduled to allow people to comment on the 1,400-page draft environmental impact statement measuring the effects of burying 70,000 tons of highly radioactive waste on water, air, people and ancient cultural sites near the mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

McKay said all of the state's regulatory agencies, environmental protection bureaus and the governor are located in Carson City. He asked why the capital had been ignored.

DOE officials replied that there were no facilities large enough to hold a hearing in Carson City, so Reno was substituted.

"If you're saying there are no available facilities, that's simply not true," McKay replied, noting that the Legislature is not meeting and the Capitol is available.

DOE spokesman Allen Benson said the department will add another hearing.

But the commission still wasn't satisfied. When DOE official Kent Skipper explained that hearings will begin with a DOE presentation on the impact statement, followed by an unrecorded question-and-answer session for the public, followed by formal comments for the record at the end of a three- or four-hour meeting, commissioners erupted again.

"I can't believe (Energy) Secretary (Bill) Richardson is aware of the way the hearing has been set up. The whole process is a sham," McKay said.

Commissioner Myrna Williams, a Clark County commissioner, urged the DOE to record the entire hearings. "Why wouldn't you want the public's comments on the record?" she asked. "Doesn't anyone at the DOE think of these things?"

The issue was not resolved Thursday. Department of Energy officials said they would review the concern.