Democrats say Bush dodging nuclear issue

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Nov. 3, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Four days before the election, Republican George W. Bush has yet to visit the largest city in battleground Nevada and has yet to field a question from local media, Democrats charge.

"The one reason for that is nuclear waste," Democratic Party chairman Rory Reid said. "He doesn't want to talk about it. He's an absentee candidate."

That's ridiculous, Republicans said. Bush showed an interest in the state when he visited Lake Tahoe in June, Bush backers said. What's more, the GOP is going to deliver Nevada to Bush, they said.

"We're seven points up in our tracking right now," Nevada Republican Party director Ryan Erwin said today. "I don't see any way the state will go Gore, unless something dramatic happens."

Bush raised $210,425 from Nevadans in June, fueled by the fund-raiser at Tahoe. Gore raised $9,250 in Nevada in October, despite a trip to Las Vegas Oct. 11 that included a fund-raiser at Harrah's hotel-casino. Gore raised about $200,000 a year ago in a campaign visit to Las Vegas. Gore running mate Joe Lieberman visited Las Vegas once; GOP vice presidential candidate Richard Cheney visited the state twice, once in Las Vegas and once at Reno.

As Bush and Gore sprint through the final few days of their campaigns, the two remain close in Nevada, where nuclear waste storage is the most politically charged issue in the state. Most Nevadans oppose the congressional plan, first established in 1987, to bury the nation's 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

State Republicans and Democrats have jockeyed to establish their candidates as solid friends of the state on the issue.

But neither Bush nor Gore has voiced outright opposition to permanent waste storage at Yucca Mountain.

The biggest difference between the two in this final weekend before Election Day still centers on a proposal to store waste temporarily at the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, until nearby Yucca is ready to accept the hazardous material in 2010 at the earliest. Congress has scrapped the plan for now, but Democrats say it could resurface.

Gore opposes temporary storage in Nevada in all cases. Bush has said he opposes it -- because scientific studies have never proven it safe.

"What we have said is that if you asked them both the question: would you support interim storage at the Test Site if it were proven safe -- Bush would say yes and Gore would say no," said David Cherry, spokesman for the Nevada State Democratic Party.

But the Bush campaign hasn't answered that question directly.

Bush's statement on the issue came in a September letter to Republican ally Gov. Kenny Guinn. Bush wrote he would oppose temporary waste storage at "Yucca Mountain."

Democrats dissected the missive. The Test Site -- not Yucca -- has been the only spot considered for temporary storage of the nation's high-level nuclear waste. So the statement was meaningless, Democrats said. Either Bush is misleading people or he doesn't know any better, they said.

Republican officials have not clarified if Bush meant to refer to the Test Site, not Yucca. They stress their opposition to temporary storage absent scientific tests.

"We were not in a position to pick apart every word in the statement," Guinn spokesman Jack Finn said.

After several phone calls to Bush's campaign headquarters in Austin, Texas, this week, Bush spokesman Andrew Malcolm responded in e-mail Wednesday to the Sun, but he did not answer whether Bush was adamantly opposed to temporary storage under any circumstances. He did not clarify if Bush meant the Test Site when he said "Yucca Mountain."

"It's not the location of any site that affects approval or not," Malcolm wrote. "It's the principle of the process -- sound science must rule regardless of any location in Nevada or anywhere. Absent sound science, there is no approval for anywhere."

Pressed further to answer the questions, Malcolm responded, "Thank you for your interest in our views. We'll be sticking with the complete answer I provided."