Editorial: Sellout isn’t that surprising

Friday, Aug. 17, 2001 | 10:03 a.m.

Former Republican Gov. Robert List has decided to become a pitchman for the nuclear power industry, which wants the federal government to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain. Obviously money was the drawing card for List as he signed on as a consultant for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the main lobbying arm of the nuclear power lobby in Washington, D.C.

The industry can do what it wants with its money, but this looks like a lousy investment. Residents of this state won't jump out of their seats at the news -- they'll react instead to List's defection with a collective yawn. After all, since his re-election loss in 1982 to Democrat Richard Bryan, List, who has been a hired gun for his law firm's clients, has been virtually invisible to the public.

If enough money is involved, some politicians will do anything to cash in on their previous government jobs, as List is doing. After he left office earlier this year, former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt -- viewed as the environment's biggest proponent in the Clinton administration -- was hired by a law firm that represents notorious polluters. But List and Babbitt are the exception -- they stand in stark contrast to former officials such as Bryan, who continues to oppose Yucca Mountain after leaving the U.S. Senate this year, and Democrat Bob Miller, who succeeded Bryan as governor and served 10 years. Meanwhile, the unity of the Nevada congressional delegation in fighting the dump is as strong as ever, and virtually every state official and local politician is in steadfast opposition to the Yucca Mountain Project.

List's purported reason for signing up with the Nuclear Energy Institute is to work with business and labor leaders to promote benefits for the state if Yucca Mountain ultimately is selected by the federal government. But negotiating for benefits is a tacit acceptance of the project, something that the state has rejected for a decade. And the federal government has a long record of reneging on its promise to provide benefits to states for hosting dumpsites for hazardous materials and nuclear waste. Most importantly, the overwhelming majority of Nevadans refuse to put a price tag on their health and safety.

List's decision calls to mind a similar effort in the early 1990s when the nuclear power industry hired Las Vegas political consultants and television reporters to secretly hatch a public relations campaign to weaken the resolve of Nevadans who opposed the Yucca Mountain Project. When this effort was uncovered, it so angered Nevadans and intensified opposition to a nuclear waste repository, that the campaign had to be ditched. List's move to the nuclear industry's side shouldn't have any better results.