Editorial: Bush gets another chance

Wednesday, May 31, 2000 | 9:06 a.m.

On Thursday George W. Bush will be at Lake Tahoe, where he will hold a fund-raiser and give a speech about the environment. These two events will mark Bush's first visit to Nevada since announcing his presidential bid. While in our state, though, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee also should take time to address the most pressing issue facing Nevada: efforts by the federal government to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, despite evidence showing how dangerous this would be to public safety and the environment. The likely Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Al Gore, already has made his views known, supporting President Clinton's veto of Republican-sponsored legislation that not only would have weakened radiation standards for Yucca Mountain, but also would have guaranteed that nuclear waste would be sent to Nevada by 2007.

Nevadans have reason to be wary of Bush on this matter. One of his biggest campaign fund-raisers is Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, which just happens to be the lobbying arm for electric companies that want to send nuclear waste to Nevada. And don't forget that the Republican governor, whose home state of Texas was once considered for a nuclear waste repository, has been as slow-moving as a glacier when it comes to talking about nuclear waste.

While President Clinton vetoed the Republican leadership's nuclear waste bill on April 25, it wasn't until more than a week later -- when it was safe to wade into the tricky waters of nuclear waste politics -- that Bush issued a terse statement regarding the issue. He wrote a letter to Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, saying that he believes "sound science, and not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository. As president, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site unless it's been deemed scientifically safe. I also believe the federal government must work with the local and state governments that will be affected to address safety and transportation issues."

Even that statement, though, was ambiguous and didn't specifically address whether Bush would have vetoed the legislation drafted -- and strongly pushed -- by the Republican congressional leadership. And it's not just Democrats who want Bush to elaborate. John Ensign, the GOP's nominee for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Richard Bryan, has said Bush should clarify his position. But if Bush fails to offer specifics in his brief foray into Nevada, it only will serve to confirm where his true sympathies lie -- with the nuclear power lobby.