Guinn plans fight to halt public hearing on Yucca

Thursday, Aug. 30, 2001 | 11:09 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn says he plans to go to court today or Friday to stop a public hearing on Yucca Mountain unless the Energy Department agrees to provide the public with a reasonable opportunity to comment on the project.

"It's in the hands of our legal team, but we should have something in today," Jack Finn, Guinn's spokesman, said.

However, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which would have jurisdiction, may not consider the case before the first scheduled hearing Wednesday, state legal experts say.

If the court cannot consider the case before the first hearing, the state would then protest what it perceives to be an insufficient period for public comment, said Bob Loux, Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects executive director.

The Suncoast resort on Wednesday canceled its contract to house the first of three scheduled public hearings next week on the proposed repository for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

Suncoast attorney Barry Lieberman said the resort could not accommodate the crowd expected to attend the hearing, which was scheduled at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The resort's meeting rooms can seat up to 300 people, although the hearings could draw thousands, DOE and state officials say.

The governor said he plans to file a request for an injunction to stop the hearing process unless the DOE moves the initial hearing to an accessible facility, and suggested Cashman Center on Las Vegas Boulevard.

DOE spokesman Allen Benson said the agency is moving the hearing to its National Nuclear Security Administration on Losee Road in North Las Vegas as an alternative to the Suncoast. The DOE's auditorium can seat 200 with room for another 200 people in a cafeteria.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Guinn said that was unacceptable.

"I totally disagree with that location," the governor said. "They ought to make it a neutral place, with easy access and plenty of parking."

The DOE's North Las Vegas complex is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Armed guards patrol the grounds. The location is not on a public transportation route.

"It's hard to get in and out of there because of the security," Guinn said. "We want to make sure the people of Nevada get a chance to present their concerns."

The senator's spokesman Nathan Naylor said, "It is not socially acceptable to hold a hearing behind barbed wire fences."

Guinn on Wednesday called DOE Undersecretary Robert Card for a more definitive answer on the hearing schedule. Guinn said Card didn't return his telephone calls.

Nevada officials are unhappy with the DOE decision to schedule the public comment period so soon after the agency completed the Yucca Mountain Preliminary Site Suitability Evaluation, which was released Aug. 21.

The agency is not required to notify the public within any specific time period, Loux said. "We may have to wait until after the hearing to take legal action," he said. today.

The DOE also has scheduled hearings in Pahrump and Amargosa Valley on Sept. 12 and 13, respectively.

The DOE is not required to conduct any more hearings before the site is recommended to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Benson said. "I can't answer whether we will schedule any more hearings at this time," he said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who criticized the DOE for scheduling the hearings before the final environmental impact studies are released for public review, said the hearings should be postponed.

"If the DOE is genuine in their desire to include the people of Nevada in the decision making process, then they will agree to either postpone these hearings, or commit to holding further hearings at a later, more appropriate time, such as following the release of the final environmental impact studies," Berkley said from the Middle East, where she is on a congressional trip.

"The hearings will not fulfill the law before I have to make my decision to veto the Yucca Mountain Project," Guinn said.

Complaints from Nevada's congressional delegation regarding public access to the hearings prompted the DOE to broaden the scope of the meetings by offering the proceedings to three Nevada cities -- Reno, Elko and Carson City. An Internet webcast of the proceedings also is in the works, DOE spokesman Joe Davis said Tuesday.