Guinn letter: Restore Yucca grant

Jeff German and Mary Manning

Friday, Feb. 9, 2001 | 11:32 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn sent a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham today seeking to restore Nevada's $5 million federal grant to conduct scientific studies at Yucca Mountain.

"With the recent revelations concerning bias on the part of the contractor working on site characterization and the postponement of any site recommendation by at least six months, Nevada's ability to conduct scientific oversight has never been more important," Guinn wrote.

"The continuation of these studies is vital to ensuring the safety of Nevada's citizens as DOE moves closer to a final decision on the suitability of the Yucca Mountain site."

Congress cut off Nevada's oversight funding in 1996 amid allegations the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects was using some of the scientific money on an anti-Yucca Mountain public relations campaign.

But Guinn was able to win back $2.5 million of those funds for this fiscal year.

The Republican governor pledged in his letter to Abraham that he would personally oversee the full $5 million grant should it be restored.

"I give you my assurance that no federal money will be commingled with state money for the purposes of public relations or advertising on behalf of the State of Nevada in our endeavor to oppose the proposed Yucca Mountain repository," Guinn wrote.

Guinn has set aside $5 million in his state budget over the next two years specifically to mount a public relations campaign against storing high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

He said in an interview with the Sun that he plans to discuss his request for the full scientific funding when he meets with Abraham in Washington later this month.

Guinn plans to be in Washington for the National Governors Association annual winter meeting Feb. 24 through Feb. 28.

He said he likely will sit down with Abraham Feb. 26 or Feb. 27.

Abraham is a former Republican senator from Michigan who has backed the nuclear industry's push to store the nation's radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.

Guinn said Abraham agreed to meet with him, when the two men chatted during a Western Governors summit on the energy crisis in Portland last week.

"He was very open in Portland, and he said he was looking forward to getting to together," Guinn said. "I think he's been doing his homework and understands that Yucca Mountain is a big issue here."

Guinn said he also wants to make sure Abraham is aware of the nuclear waste pledge President Bush made to the governor during the presidential campaign. Bush promised that a decision on Yucca Mountain would be made on sound science.

The governor had sent a Jan. 12 letter to Abraham requesting the meeting prior to Abraham's confirmation.

Guinn informed Abraham about the inspector general's investigation into possible bias in favor of Yucca Mountain on the part of the DOE and its outgoing chief contractor, TRW environmental Safety Systems Inc.

Federal laws prohibit the DOE from taking sides in the selection process.

"Another issue of possible bias deserves serious consideration," Guinn wrote. "The DOE has hired the law firm of Winston & Strawn. As you know, Winston & Strawn previously represented TRW for many years while TRW was the DOE's prime contractor at the Yucca Mountain Project.

"In a licensing proceeding before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, this law firm will defend the DOE's selection of a location for the high-level nuclear waste repository.

"Given these facts," Guinn said, "many are concerned that the decision to hire this law firm represents yet another example of the DOE's predisposition towards selecting Yucca Mountain as the location for the high-level nuclear waste repository."

Those concerns intensified this week, when a competing law firm filed an amended conflict-of-interest complaint against the DOE and Winston & Strawn in federal court in Washington D.C.

The New York-based LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae first sued March 28 after the $16.5 million DOE contract had been awarded to Winston & Strawn. The suit alleged that Winston & Strawn never should have been given the contract because of its past dealings with TRW.

The contract calls for Winston & Strawn to review the Yucca Mountain license application, which eventually must be submitted to the NRC. That means the Chicago law firm is in the position of having to judge the work of its former client.

In the new complaint, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae introduced a 1992 TRW letter that suggested Winston & Strawn should have been disqualified from bidding to represent the DOE in the repository licensing process.

Winston & Strawn, the competing firm alleged, cannot perform an independent review of the DOE's license application because of its past TRW association.

TRW's contract ends on Monday and Bechtel-SAIC takes charge of the Yucca Mountain Project for the DOE.

The LeBoeuf firm also cited the inspector general's investigation into alleged bias at Yucca Mountain as part of its case in the amended complaint.

The investigation was launched after the Sun obtained a copy of the memo and referred to it in a Dec. 1 story suggesting the DOE was collaborating with the nuclear industry to win approval for Yucca Mountain.

The Sun reported that it had obtained a 60-page draft of a DOE overview declaring Yucca Mountain suitable for high-level nuclear waste storage, even though scientific studies haven't been completed.

The two-page memo, which was attached to the draft, explained that the overview could be used to help the nuclear industry sell Yucca Mountain to Congress.