County wants DOE to redo Yucca impact study

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Feb. 2, 2000 | 10:57 a.m.

The federal government's use of outdated population numbers and its failure to communicate with local officials while drafting its environmental impact study for the Yucca Mountain project infuriated Clark County commissioners.

The commission voted unanimously Tuesday to request that the Department of Energy redo its study on the potential impacts of the proposed nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"DOE's attempt to come up with a draft EIS is thoroughly embarrassing," Commissioner Dario Herrera said. "Not to collaborate with the largest government entity in the state is ignorance and arrogance at its highest point."

Along with its request to research the impacts on the valley, the board voted to send a regional resolution to DOE reiterating local governments' opposition to the transportation of nuclear waste through the valley.

DOE spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said Tuesday that the board's request will be included in the agency's public comment file. The 180-day public comment period for the draft report ends Feb. 9.

"We will review all comments made," Fisher said. "Our response will come out in our comment response document. We are refraining from answering individual comments at this time."

Dennis Bechtel of the Clark County Office of Nuclear Projects told the commission Tuesday that the federal government used population projections from 1990 when it determined potential routes through the county.

Bechtel said some of the routes cut through densely populated areas and others use hazardous roadways.

More than 20 low-level waste shipments from Rocky Flats, a former Colorado nuclear weapons manufacturing complex, have already been routed through the Spaghetti Bowl on the way to the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

DOE identified U.S. 95, Interstate 15, the Las Vegas Beltway and the Union Pacific railroad as routes, Bechtel said.

"They did not provide an analysis of which would be the least hazardous," he told commissioners.

Bechtel said the report also fails to address how transporting nuclear waste through the valley might affect the economy or what damage the large trucks might do to roads.

"There are a whole lot of issues that need to be addressed that are not addressed," he said.

Commissioner Myrna Williams is all too familiar with the report's flaws.

Williams said she has attended DOE meetings during which an hour was dedicated to a question and answer period. None of the comments made by dozens of residents were put on record, she said.

Williams said the DOE intends to issue a request for proposals for the transportation of waste, and the lowest bidder will be rewarded the contract. She said the trucking company will be given the authority to determine which route to take to the Test Site.

"Some of the routes are positively beyond frightening," Williams said. "We need to send a message that we are not a desert wasteland."