Democrats unveil new nuclear waste television ad

Lisa Snedeker

Monday, Oct. 16, 2000 | 5:18 a.m.

Democrats introduced a television ad campaign Monday designed to boost presidential candidate Al Gore's chances of winning the state's four electoral votes by capitalizing on Nevada's opposition to nuclear waste storage.

The ad says there are significant differences between the presidential hopefuls on the issue and charges that Republican Texas Gov. George W. Bush sides with the nuclear industry. It says Bush would weaken safety standards, paving the way for a nuclear waste dump to be located in Nevada.

"Al Gore will veto it and protect Nevadans," the ad declares.

Nevada Republicans immediately cried foul. They said the presidential candidates do not differ on the nuclear waste storage issue and called the ad an act of "desperation."

"They're losing and they're scared to death," said Ryan Erwin, Nevada GOP executive director. "Bush has stated his position and it's exactly the same as Al Gore."

Nevadans should see that as a positive, Erwin said.

"We have two candidates saying let's take the politics out of it and let science decide. We're big enough to see that as a victory for Nevada. They (Democrats) are more worried about Al Gore and Ed Bernstein."

Bernstein is the Democratic candidate running for retiring Democratic Sen. Richard Bryan's seat against former Republican Congressman John Ensign.

Nevada Democratic Chairman Rory Reid, son of Nevada's longtime Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, said that with the presidential race in a dead heat in Nevada, voters need to be informed. "It's not fear," he said.

The most recent state poll by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in September shows the presidential race is a statistical dead heat, with 46 percent favoring Bush and 42 percent for Gore. The poll had a margin of error of four percentage points.

Bryan said Monday that if the Republicans win the White House, nuclear waste will begin being stored at the Nevada Test Site within eight months of Bush taking office.

"His statement (about nuclear waste storage in Nevada) doesn't address interim storage," Bryan said referring to a letter Bush wrote to Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn stating that he would not support storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain permanently until it was deemed safe by scientists.

"Vice President Al Gore will protect Nevada," Bryan said. "The most important thing is that Nevadans understand they have a clear choice. The Republicans have tried to 'fuzzy up' the issue."

Erwin countered that the Republicans believe they can win by telling the truth rather than distorting it.

"Nobody in Nevada wants nuke waste in Nevada," he said. "To say it is a partisan issue is flatly untrue. It's a Nevada issue."

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the only site being studied by the federal government to permanently entomb the nation's high-level radioactive waste - 77,000 tons of mostly spent fuel pellets from commercial power reactors.

Gore-Lieberman campaign officials said a "substantial" amount is being spent on the television ads that are scheduled to begin airing Tuesday.

Erwin, who had not seen the ad, said he did not know whether the Bush campaign would produce a counter ad.