Gore stiffens Yucca stance

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2000 | 11:21 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- Vice President Al Gore has sent a strongly worded letter to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., stressing his concerns about a proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

At Reid's request, the presidential hopeful's letter, dated Tuesday, says that Gore, like President Clinton, would have vetoed a bill passed by Congress this year that would have speeded up shipments of the nation's highly radioactive nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

In the letter Gore says, "I would like to repeat my opposition to this legislation and promise you as president I would veto this legislation if it were sent to me."

Reid said through his spokesman, Mark Schuermann, that the letter was a "huge victory for Nevadans and Americans whose health would be put at risk if hundreds of thousands of tons of deadly nuclear waste were shipped to Nevada.

"Now we know unequivocally that in a Gore administration the health and safety of Nevada come first."

Reid was mum about his political coup on Tuesday, opting to discuss it at a press conference today at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Schuermann said.

"Nobody has been a bigger friend to Nevada than Bill Clinton and Al Gore," Schuermann said. "(Reid) thought it was important at this point to issue a statement and wanted it to come from Gore himself."

The letter's wording was worked out by Reid staffers and Gore campaign workers. A top Gore policy adviser, Elaine Kamarck, approved the language, Schuermann said. Reid's staff also contacted chief campaign manager Donna Brazille, Schuermann said.

Gore's letter represents an aggressive attempt by Reid to help the vice president win the state in November.

Gore will accept the nomination of the party during the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday. Some political observers say Nevada's four electoral votes could prove important in a close race.

Reid has been an outspoken Gore supporter for years, dating from when they served in the U.S. House together.

The issue of nuclear waste is the hottest political issue in the state.

Until now both Gore and Republican candidate George W. Bush have made similar statements about Yucca Mountain, stressing that science, not politics, should dictate whether it is ultimately approved as a waste site.

But Gore has upped the ante. His letter stresses two important points, Nevadans say.

Gore stresses that he would have vetoed a bill Congress passed earlier this year that would have speeded up shipments of nuclear waste to Nevada as early as 2007, three years ahead of schedule. Clinton vetoed the bill.

Gore also stresses that he favors radiation safety standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency, not the less strict standards recommended by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The standards dictate how much radiation could be safely released from the waste as it slowly decays in the man-made caverns.

Reid and Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., urged Bush to take a stand on those issues without success, they said. They sent Bush letters seeking more comment, but have never heard from the Texas governor, they said.

"Gore was definitive that he would veto legislation that would compromise the EPA's health and safety standards, in marked contrast to George Bush who, when asked the same question, remained voiceless," Bryan said.

Bryan and state Democratic Party Chairman Rory Reid said the letter should help Gore win Nevada.

"No one should be surprised by what Vice President Gore has to say about nuclear waste," Rory Reid said.

"For those who say there's no difference between the candidates this is further evidence of how wrong they are," he said.