Guinn moves to cut off feds’ water

Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- To head off an "end run" by the Department of Energy to get water to build the nation's nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain, Gov. Kenny Guinn is proposing a fine of $1 million a gallon if the federal government tries to truck in water from out of state or other parts of Nevada.

"We will do everything in our power to see that the Yucca Mountain project dies of thirst," he said at a news conference. He said water was the "life blood" of this construction project.

Nevada officials are using the water issue to move the battle against the dump to another front. The Yucca project, which would house 77,000 tons of the nation's high-level radioactive waste, will now be fought in the courts in addition trying to block congressional efforts to establish the site.

The DOE applied to the state for rights to 430 acre feet of water a year -- 140 million gallons -- to build and operate the underground repository. State Conservation Director Michael Turnipseed, who was then water engineer, denied the application.

The DOE sued in federal and state courts, and a federal judge ruled last week the issue should be decided in Nevada courts.

The case now switches to District Judge John Davis of Tonopah. Guinn called the ruling last week a major victory for Nevada and complimented Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and her staff for their legal work.

Both Guinn's and Del Papa's offices expect the government to appeal the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And they expect any ruling by Davis in the state court would be appealed to the Nevada Supreme Court.

Guinn conceded the proposed $1 million fine per gallon for trucking water into Nevada might run afoul of federal interstate commerce law. But he said that would be another court battle.

One strategy of the state is to tie the issue up in court as long as it can to prevent the nuclear dump from going forward.

The DOE, Guinn said, wants to go ahead with construction even before the site is approved.

The Guinn proposal also received the backing of Assembly Speaker Joe Dini, D-Yerington, who called it a good idea.

"If they can't get water, maybe we can stop them," Dini said.

Neither Congress nor the scientific community has approved Yucca Mountain as a high-level nuclear waste repository.

And because Yucca Mountain has not passed scientific muster yet, the DOE has no comment, DOE spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said.

"There's been no discussion about it," Fisher said. "We would only be speculating about something that hasn't happened yet."

Guinn's $1 million fine proposal is also meant to send a message to other states. If a repository is located in Nevada, 50 million people in other states would be within a mile and a half of truck routes that would be used to transport the dangerous materials to Yucca Mountain, Guinn said.

"If they can come in and take our water, they (the federal government) can come in and take water in other states," he said, including Tennessee, the home of Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic presidential nominee, and Texas, the home of Gov. George W. Bush, the GOP nominee.

Nevada, the governor said, has been cooperating with the DOE during its study of the site. But he particularly objected to the "cavalier" statement by an unidentified federal official who said the agency would truck the water into the state if the courts did not allow water rights for the energy department.

While the remark may have been flippant, Guinn said he took it seriously.

"My message to the Department of Energy is very clear: As long as I'm governor, I will explore every option and use every tool at my disposal to prevent a single drop of Nevada's water being used to create a nuclear waste dumping ground in our state."

Sun reporter Mary Manning contributed to this story.