Editorial: Nevada survives — once again

Sunday, Feb. 13, 2000 | 8:58 a.m.

What a week it was. It began ominously enough, with Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, scrambling to see if he could find a way to pass legislation that would make it easier to send high-level nuclear waste to Nevada. Murkowski, the nuclear power industry's go-to guy in the Senate, was advocating legislation that would certainly result in nuclear waste being stored at Yucca Mountain. In an acknowledgment that his original bill -- which would severely weaken health and safety standards that the government was using to evaluate Yucca Mountain's suitability -- would not get enough votes to override a veto by President Clinton, Murkowski started talking within the past week with Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to see if there was any room for compromise. If Bingaman, who some Democrats look to for guidance on this issue, were to side with Murkowski, that could mean t rouble for Nevada.

These negotiations between Murkowski and Bingaman quickly expanded to include the Clinton administration's point man on nuclear waste, Energy Secretary Bill Richardson. Ironically, some of Murkowski's concessions to gain votes ended up creating more problems for him. For instance, Murkowski tried to get the vote of Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., by amending the bill so that no nuclear waste would travel through Colorado on its way to Yucca Mountain. Murkowski, however, had to drop this amendment from the bill after other senators obviously objected to Colorado getting special treatment while their states didn't. Murkowski's attempts to strike a compromise showed again what a folly this whole process has been. The fact is that on this issue there shouldn't be compromises. Science, not politics, should win out.

Nevadans waited anxiously as these talks moved along. In the end, though, Murkowski's attempts were in vain, as both Bingaman and the Clinton administration announced that they couldn't support the legislation. They noted, for instance, that the legislation set unreasonable deadlines for waste shipments. Murkowski irresponsibly set a target date of 2007 for the waste to be sent to Yucca Mountain, even though the DOE doesn't believe a repository would be ready until 2010. Although the Senate on Thursday passed the bill 64-34, it fell short of the two-thirds necessary to override a presidential veto.

One interesting development in recent years has been the shift in party attitudes. During the 1980s both Democrats and Republicans almost equally supported efforts to send nuclear waste to Nevada. But of the 34 senators that voted Thursday against Murkowski's bill, 32 Democrats stood with Nevada and just two Republicans did so: Ben Nighthorse Campbell of Colorado and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. The doggedness displayed by Nevada's two Democratic senators -- Harry Reid and Richard Bryan -- paid off, and Reid's elevation this year as the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate also was crucial. But without President Clinton's unwavering support on behalf of Nevada's bid for fairness, nuclear waste would have been headed to this state long ago.

Murkowski, too, noted Clinton's importance. "It's clear this matter will not be solved on the watch of the Clinton administration," Murkowski said. "This bill is dead until we get a new president." Nevadans should heed carefully Murkowski's words, especially since this is a presidential election year. Vice President Al Gore, who likely will be the Democratic presidential nominee, has repeatedly affirmed his support of Clinton's vow to veto legislation that would unfairly target Nevada. On the Republican side the two leading candidates -- Texas Gov. George Bush and Sen. John McCain -- have been noticeably silent on the nuclear power lobby's fast-track push to bring nuclear waste to Nevada (McCain was campaigning so he didn't cast a vote on the bill last week). Their silence, though, should let everyone know where they stand on this issue -- and that's with the nuclear power lobby.

Murkowski claims the legislation is dead this year, but the House could take up the Senate's version or even try to pass its own bill. As Reid told Gannett News Service last week: "It's hard to kill something that's so full of the devil." The nuclear power industry and its allies in Congress have shown no shame so far in their ruthless efforts, and they certainly will continue to do so until enough Americans wake up to the twin dangers of transporting 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste across the nation and storing man's deadliest waste in a geologically unsafe location in Nevada.