Editorial: It’s folly to strike this deal

Thursday, June 1, 2000 | 9:49 a.m.

Recently there have been suggestions that Nevada should consider negotiating for federal benefits if a nuclear waste repository is built at Yucca Mountain. Not only are such ruminations absurd, but they also send a signal -- a misleading one at that -- that this state has relinquished its fight against federal efforts to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in Nevada. As Sun columnist Jon Ralston first reported Wednesday, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said last week that while he opposes a repository, if it becomes a "done deal," Nevada officials may want to consider negotiating for benefits. "We really have to consider if we can't do anything about it, if in fact it is going to be there, we can get a lot of dollars from the federal government," Goodman said.

To even contemplate negotiating, though, makes no sense. First, the federal government isn't about to provide financial benefits to Nevada if the government decides to send nuclear waste here. Elected officials in Washington have been ruthless in their campaign to send this poison to Nevada, ignoring the mounting evidence that shows how unsafe it would be to bury nuclear waste here. So why would they suddenly show generosity now? Second, negotiating for benefits sends mixed signals. This is tantamount to a U.S. president saying that he opposes terrorism, but once an American is kidnapped abroad, he agrees to negotiate with terrorists for the hostage's release. In Nevada's case, you either are opposed to nuclear waste, which precludes negotiations with the federal government, or you are not. It's that simple.

Early in the 1990s the nuclear power industry hinted that if Nevada would roll over and allow the construction of a nuclear waste repository, this state could expect federal largesse. A few elected officials supported this view, but the overwhelming majority of Nevada's elected officials rejected the preposterous idea of negotiating. At that time the nuclear power industry also claimed that unless the state was quick to act, Nevada could expect to see nuclear waste in a few years without any money to show for it. Well, guess what happened? The federal government still hasn't finished its suitability study and, as each year has passed, more information has surfaced as to how unsafe Yucca Mountain is. Negotiation would undermine Nevada's cause, not strengthen it.