Rural county rethinking acceptance of nuke waste

Thursday, April 6, 2000 | 11:26 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Lincoln County Commission may be rethinking its 1995 position that invites the federal government to bring nuclear waste to Nevada.

The commission, meeting Wednesday in Pioche, named a five-member committee to take a new look at the issue and report back by May 5. The committee is headed by Lincoln County Commission member Paul Donohue.

At the last meeting of the County Commission, a petition was presented by the Citizens Nuclear Information Committee, suggesting that Lincoln County oppose any waste being shipped to Nevada.

Kristin Thomas, a member of the information committee, said Lincoln County -- due north of Clark County -- should join the rest of Nevada in opposing a high-level nuclear dumpsite at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The County Commission was faced with two issues Wednesday -- whether to rescind the 1995 resolution or adopt the resolution submitted by the information committee.

County Clerk Corrine Hogan said the commissioners, none of whom served in 1995, wanted to take a deeper look at the issue and the safety concerns around transportation of nuclear waste.

The Donohue committee will draft its own resolution and attempt to have it ready by April 25 for presentation to the Caliente City-Lincoln County Impact Alleviation Committee. The issue would then come back to the Lincoln County Commission next month.

But commissioners stressed they did not want to rush the Donohue committee in making its recommendations. Others on the study committee are Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips, Pat Kelley, Victoria Gilpatrick and Hal Keaton.

In 1995 the County Commission and the Caliente City Council passed a joint resolution asking that the Department of Energy ship any spent nuclear fuel through Nevada on rail and that a transfer station be located in Lincoln County for the waste to be unloaded from the trains onto trucks for transport to the Nevada Test Site.

The resolution called for the federal government to pay $1 million a year to Lincoln County before the first shipment, then $2 million annually when the shipments began. It asked for a $100 million trust fund to cover these costs.

The two elective bodies also wanted the Department of Energy to build and operate a cask maintenance plant in Lincoln County for the canisters that would contain the nuclear waste. And it supported a plan to allow the shipments to go through the Desert National Wildlife Range and the Nellis Air Force Range in Lincoln County to gain access to the Test Site for burial.

The Nevada Legislature had previously passed a law outlawing the shipment of nuclear waste in Nevada.

After Lincoln County's action in February 1995, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa filed suit against those who had approved the resolution. She initially sought removal from office of those who backed the plan. But nobody was ever recalled.

The Legislature then passed resolutions condemning Del Papa for her actions.