Editorial: Caving in would be bad policy

Wednesday, March 8, 2000 | 9:05 a.m.

Bob Loux, the head of Nevada state government's agency that conducts independent oversight of the federal government's studies of Yucca Mountain, has upset his share of lawmakers who want a repository built in Nevada. Loux, who has been in charge of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects since its creation in 1983, has pointed out the geologic dangers of burying nuclear waste here, something that congressmen who support the repository don't want the public to know.

So Loux's views have brought heightened scrutiny to his office, which receives federal funding. General Accounting Office audits in 1996 and 1998 concluded that his agency misspent some federal dollars, using them to lobby members of Congress and other states. In response, Congress has been reducing the amount of oversight funds given to Nevada, which totaled about $500,000 this fiscal year. At a meeting last week of Nevada's congressional delegation, which also included Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. Harry Reid provided Guinn with the political facts of life, saying he was unable to secure additional funding as long as Loux was in his current job. Reid, an opponent of the repository who sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, told the Sun after the meeting: "I don't want anybody blaming me for not getting more money. We get the money in the Senate, and the H ouse strips it away."

Guinn, though, is sticking by Loux, a gubernatorial appointee. This is the right decision by Guinn, despite the likelihood that this probably means continued retaliation by the Republican-led House. To remove Loux from his post might turn on the federal spigot again, but at what cost? The nuclear power lobby's supporters in Congress shouldn't dictate who hold independent oversight jobs. If Nevada was to back down on this point, what's next? Telling Nevada officials what views are acceptable?

It is unconscionable for high-ranking Republican House members to play these kinds of games with such an important issue, but Nevadans must face the prospect of what to do about the continued withholding of federal funds. Guinn, a Republican, said he would try to persuade key GOP committee chairmen to restore some funding. If that fails to materialize, though, Nevada should replace these monies with state funds. It is unfair for Nevada to be forced to do so, but the alternative -- bowing to the wishes of the nuclear power industry's followers in Congress -- is unthinkable.