Editorial: Nevadans should have dumped party

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 9:31 a.m.

Nevada Democrats showed poor judgment in allowing themselves to be feted at a Democratic National Convention party hosted in part by Bechtel, a corporation that wants to build a high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sees nothing wrong with his attendance at the event, noting Congress isn't involved in the selection process. "Somebody is going to do the work, and we have no control over who does the work," Reid told Sun reporter Benjamin Grove. But that's an exercise in hairsplitting by a senator who has helped lead Nevada's opposition to the federal government's misguided actions to designate Yucca Mountain as a repository, opposition that naturally would extend to the construction of a dumpsite.

The DOE hasn't selected the contractor yet -- the federal agency has not determined whether Yucca Mountain is suitable to host a repository -- but Bechtel is among several firms that have submitted bids to do so. Bechtel has been a good corporate citizen in this state -- it helped build the Hoover Dam, for instance -- but now the company wants to build a project that has been deemed the No. 1 threat to Nevada.

Reid passionately has championed Nevada's opposition to a nuclear waste repository, and no one has suggested he has weakened the slightest in this regard, but it is remarkable he would take such a chance to send the wrong message. Was it really that important to participate in a soiree hosted by the company that is willing to build the repository that would hold 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste?