Council approves ordinance despite legality questions

Thursday, Feb. 3, 2000 | 9:20 a.m.

The Las Vegas City Council has approved an ordinance banning shipment of nuclear waste through city streets, despite questions about the legality of the measure.

The ordinance is being pushed by Mayor Oscar Goodman, who has vowed to try and block shipment of the waste through the city.

Councilman Michael McDonald voted against the measure, saying he was opposed to nuclear waste, but believes the ordinance is unconstitutional.

The Clark County District Attorney's office agrees. In a memo last month, the office said the measure violates the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution and several federal laws governing the tansportation of hazardous waste.

Goodman admitted Wednesday there are questions about the legality, but said the ordinance sends a "powerful message" to Congress that Las Vegas wants no part of the nuclear "garbage."

The ordinance passed on a 6-1 vote.

Opponents of the nuclear waste bill have used transportation of the radioactive waste as a key argument, with Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., calling the plan a "mobile Chernobyl." The nuclear waste bill is currently being revived in the Senate.

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been targeted as the site of a repository that would store up to 77,000 tons of radioactive waste from the nation's nuclear power plants.

The waste would be shipped from nuclear facilities nationwide, with the shipments moving through Southern Nevada.

In other action Wednesday, the city council approved a resolution reaffirming the city's opposition to neighborhood casinos. The resolution came in response to the Clark County Commission's approval last month of a neighborhood casino in southwest Las Vegas.