Nevadans ask Bush to delay decision on Yucca

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2001 | 10:44 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's congressional delegation today asked President Bush to delay a decision this winter about whether to proceed with the Yucca Mountain project.

In a letter to Bush, the four-member delegation said there has been mismanagement by the Energy Department regarding the analysis of the mountain 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The department has been studying the mountain's ridge for years to determine if it is a safe place to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

The congressional delegation is allied with state officials in aggressively fighting the plan to bury the deadly waste in Nevada.

"The best way to correct the systemic mismanagement of the Yucca Mountain project, which has wasted $8 billion to date, is to immediately postpone the site recommendation until the necessary scientific and technical information has been collected and analyzed, and shown to be impartial and unbiased," the letter said.

Energy Department officials have said they have gathered enough scientific data to make a recommendation, although they acknowledge that nearly 300 scientific issues have not been resolved.

The letter reminds Bush of his campaign promise to make a decision on Yucca that "would reflect sound science."

The letter also reminds Bush of another campaign promise to oppose any plan to store nuclear waste in Nevada temporarily until the permanent repository is complete.

Finally, the letter recounts how the law firm Winston & Strawn, which was handling the DOE's license application, quit last week after Nevada officials charged the firm had conflicts of interest with a pro-nuclear lobby group.

A DOE inspector general's report released last month said the law firm had not disclosed it had also worked for the Nuclear Energy Institute. The firm denies wrongdoing.

"We expect the DOE to implement the recommendations of the inspector general report and evaluate what scientific and technical information may have been tainted by the improper actions of Winston & Strawn," the letter said.

Nevada lawmakers sent the letter as an opening salvo this week as they devise a new plan to attack flaws in the proposed project.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., met today in Reid's office to map out options in the wake of three developments last week. The senators spoke with Gov. Kenny Guinn during their meeting. Reid and Ensign will not reveal their plans until later this week, the senators said.

On Thursday, Reid released a General Accounting Office report that recommended delaying a Yucca decision.

On Friday, Winston & Strawn quit amid controversy.

Later in the day, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged a confidential Yucca review may have been unfairly leaked to the DOE and not to state officials, although evidence is not yet conclusive.

DOE officials have said they would not delay their plans to make a recommendation to President Bush this winter. They are expected to recommend that Yucca is suitable to store the nation's high-level nuclear waste.

But Nevada officials are working to at least delay the project. Reid and Ensign plan another strategy session with the rest of the state's delegation, Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., possibly Wednesday.

"I cannot recall a time when we've had this many options," Ensign said. "We have some legitimate options that are heavyweight options. It's exciting."

Reid this week is talking to a number of experts, including legal scholars, to help lawmakers as they map out a plan that likely will call for specific anti-Yucca tactics.

Nevada lawmakers are discussing how to best use the GAO report to convince fellow Congress members that the plan to bury nuclear waste at Yucca is a bad one, aides said.

Energy officials are not commenting on what they will do now that Winston & Strawn has quit.

At least one firm is interested in taking over the $16.5 million contract: LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene and MacRae. Winston & Strawn and LeBoeuf, Lamb were the only two firms that applied for the job in 1999.

LeBoeuf, Lamb sued the DOE and Winston & Strawn to obtain the work, alleging that Winston & Strawn had conflicts of interest with TRW Environmental Safety Services Inc., formerly the top Yucca contractor.

LeBoeuf, Lamb has filed court documents harshly criticizing the department for its decision to hire Winston & Strawn. But firm lawyers hope that won't hurt their chances now.

"I would hope not," said Michael McBride, a LeBoeuf, Lamb partner in the firm's Washington office. "We obviously brought the case because we wanted to represent the DOE. We felt we had rights in the matter."