Porter at odds with speaker over Yucca nuclear waste issue

Jace Radke

Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and state Sen. Jon Porter, who is running for Congress, agreed on Tuesday to disagree over the proposed storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

"The speaker believes as my opponent (Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev.) does that science should be used to decide where nuclear waste is stored," Porter said at a press conference at the Catholic Charities child care center on Twain Avenue. "I think that Nevadans should be the ones to decide on Yucca Mountain.

"We don't agree on one major issue, but we agree on many others, like helping America's families, following through on taking care of our veterans and getting our seniors the prescription drugs that they need."

Hastert said that he believes Porter, R-Henderson, will be a strong advocate on keeping nuclear waste out of Nevada but said he has not been convinced to change his pro-Yucca Mountain viewpoint.

"I think Jon is very energetic and will try to help find alternatives to dealing with nuclear waste," Hastert said. "There are new ideas and technology that could take care of it, and we're looking at a lot of different programs."

Porter said he plans on bringing the members of Congress to Nevada to learn about the state and its issues including nuclear waste.

"We can't fall into the old blame blame politics," Porter said. "We need to lay down partisanship and our weapons. My style of leadership is to bring the Congress members into Clark County so they can see how we live. That door has been closed in the past, and that's why $9 billion has been spent on Yucca Mountain."

In a prepared statement, Nevada's Democratic Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan ripped Hastert for his stance on nuclear waste.

"I am surprised at the nerve of Speaker Hastert as he continues to visit our state and ask for political contributions, while at the same time he is attempting to bury us in nuclear waste," Bryan said.

Hastert and Porter, along with Gov. Kenny Guinn and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., went from the child care center to a second press conference Tuesday afternoon in front of the Little Church of the West on the south end of the Strip.

Hastert took the opportunity to attack President Clinton's veto of a tax cut for married couples.

"The president said the cut was for rich people, but he was either misinformed or wasn't telling the truth," Hastert said. "That fact is that he vetoed a bill that could help American families, and one of the first orders of business when we're back in session will be to override that veto."