Hotel won’t host DOE

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 11:27 a.m.

HEARINGS:

WRITTEN COMMENTS: Address written comments to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, (M/S #025), P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas, NV, 89036-0307, or by electronic mail to YMP]SR@ ymp.gov.Written comments should be identified on the outside of the envelope and on the comments themselves with: "Possible Site Recommendation for Yucca Mountain." To submit by FAX: 1-800-967-0739.

The Suncoast resort has canceled its contract with the Energy Department to host the first of three scheduled public hearings next week on a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

The hotel's cancellation could force the delay of the first meeting in order to meet the federal public notice law. Federal and state officials said this morning that they were unsure of the required notice time and that they are researching the law in order to meet the regulations.

The hotel does not have enough space to accommodate the number of people who are expected to turn out for the hearing at 5 p.m. Sept. 5, an attorney for the Suncoast said.

Attorney Barry Lieberman confirmed that the resort had canceled the hearing because of limited space. "The room they had reserved did not have enough capacity, based on the amount of interest shown," he said.

DOE spokesman Allen Benson said this morning that the hearing will be Sept. 5, but in a new location. "We will not be having a hearing at the Suncoast," he said. The DOE's Nevada Operations Office in North Las Vegas is one site being considered.

However, that site presents a forboding appearance and could discourage the public from attending, said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.

"If it is the DOE North Las Vegas facility, there is barbed wire fencing and guards," Loux said. "How is the public supposed to access it?"

The DOE should delay the hearing, Loux said. But Benson said that an official notice will appear in the Federal Register and the location is expected to be confirmed later today.

The agency may have to give only three working days notice, some officials say, however others said this morning that they believe 10 days is required, which would delay the meeting.

Earlier Loux called for a delay in the public hearings and a suspension of the studies of the Yucca project because he says a preliminary study to be aired at the meetings is flawed.

Loux said Tuesday that the DOE's Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation report, released last week, has "no legal or substantive basis" for evaluating Yucca Mountain as the national repository for 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste.

"We think that the DOE's evaluation disqualifies the site," Loux said, adding that DOE's guidelines for protecting the public from radiation have not been approved and are therefore "illegal" as well, Loux said.

The state is considering suing the DOE in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal because the final environmental impact studies have not been released by the agency and because the public hearing are being held prematurely.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will ultimately decide the fate of the Yucca project, has yet to approve rules that the DOE must follow to protect the public from radiation exposure.

The DOE's basis for approving Yucca Mountain revolves around the preliminary report, which has not been approved by the NRC, Loux said.

"Changing regulations for the Yucca Mountain site at the 11th hour not only violates the public trust, but it also shows the lengths to which the department is prepared to go in attempting to salvage a project that, under any truly objective and scientific criteria, would have long since been abandoned," Loux said.

During the rescheduled meeting, DOE officials are expected to outline the project, and residents will have the opportunity to testify. Residents' comments will be recorded, DOE spokeswoman Gayle Fisher said Tuesday.

The state's objection to proceeding with the hearings lies in DOE's apparent rush to conduct them, Loux said. The DOE announced the hearings Aug. 21. The public hearings have also been scheduled Sept. 12 and 13 in Pahrump and Amargosa Valley, respectively. Those meetings will remain on schedule, DOE officials said.

"Fifteen days' notice of the Las Vegas public hearing does not provide adequate time for review and travel arrangements to be made by citizens and public officials to attend the hearings in person," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

Nevada's congressional delegation also asked the DOE to push the public comment deadline, set for Sept. 20, to Nov. 20. The move would allow residents more time to reply to the preliminary study.

Fisher said that the DOE was following a strict and fair procedure for the hearings, which are being conducted to provide residents with as much information and opportunity to comment as possible.

Complaints from Reid prompted DOE officials to broaden the scope of the public hearings by offering the proceedings to three Nevada cities -- Reno, Elko and Carson City -- via teleconference.

An Internet webcast of the proceedings also is in the works, DOE spokesman Joe Davis said. "We're also going to ask C-SPAN to attend," Davis said. C-SPAN provides 24-hour coverage of political events and congressional hearings on two separate national networks.

Opponents of Yucca Mountain are wary of the DOE hearings.

Las Vegas businessman Steven Cloobeck, who launched a grass-roots campaign -- dubbed Save Nevada -- to stop the dump, said he is concerned DOE officials will not listen to Nevada residents, 80 percent of whom oppose the repository, according to a recent poll administered by the state.

A coalition of national environmental groups also denounced the hearings.

"Contrary to its mandate, the agency seems intent on minimizing public participation and is turning the process into a kangaroo court," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program.

The DOE wants to finalize the site while many unresolved issues remain, Judy Treichel, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Task Force, said.

"The DOE's Aug. 21 Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation of the Yucca Mountain site is premature at best," she said, referring to NRC concerns over missing data and a lack of a final environmental impact report.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham could decide whether to recommend Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository to President Bush as early as December.