Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Tomorrow has arrived

Thursday, Jan. 11, 2001 | 9:21 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

AT LONG LAST ... a meeting.

When the history books are written about Nevada's long struggle against the federal government's ill-conceived effort to bury the nation's high-level nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain, they will point to a meeting held this afternoon as one of the defining moments in that struggle. That meeting, which should be finishing up by the time you read this, is the first time a community-based effort has been launched with any degree of success in the 20 long years that Nevada has been under the threat of radioactive annihilation at the hands of the nuclear power producers and their puppets in government.

And if all goes as expected, and the grass roots catch the kind of fire that a meeting such as this should spark, there is one individual who should earn the respect, admiration and lifelong thanks of a grateful Las Vegas. I say this with no intent to diminish the slightest bit the hard work and dedication to this cause that has been exhibited by retired U.S. Sen. Dick Bryan and his colleague, Senate majority whip and soon to be Minority Whip Harry Reid, a string of governors and local elected officials and scores of ordinary citizens who have carried the ball against what many thought to be an insurmountable lineup arrayed against a politically harmless Silver State. Without their efforts and continued work to stave off this menace coming our way, Nevada would have long ago become known, not as the Entertainment Capital of the World, but as the land of th e living dead.

When Hillary Rodham Clinton wrote the book, "It Takes a Village," she wasn't thinking specifically about Las Vegas, although it is quite apparent that if we are to stop the oncoming nuclear-tipped train cars that will roll through downtown and trucks that will roll through our neighborhoods laden with the deadliest poisons known to man, it will take our entire community working together to foil those best laid plans of the nuke industry.

From what he says was a brief 20-minute conversation less than a month ago, Las Vegan Stephen Cloobeck has organized the first real effort to bring community activists, gaming interests, health care professionals, media types and just plain parents together in an effort to educate us on the perils of hosting the nation's first and only nuclear dump. At a time when the powerful interests are mapping out strategies to fend off NCAA betting bans, when joyous GOPers are planning parties for the inauguration of George W. Bush, and when regular folks are becoming increasingly worried about the continuation of the economic life to which we have become accustomed, it should not have been an easy task for Steve to make such a meeting happen. People are always distracted.

But knowing or, at least, believing the impact on our community that a decision to roll those trucks through our city would have, Steve took it upon himself to bring the facts to the people. What we do, of course, will determine what kind of city we are and what kind of people we are willing to become. I suspect, though, that when the meeting breaks up it will be only long enough to allow people to catch their breaths for the next round.

There will be some, there always are, who will voice the opposite opinion -- even after hearing the facts -- that we should negotiate with the government for the voluntary siting of the radioactive garbage just 90 miles from Las Vegas. Heck, we even have a major little Las Vegas newspaper that's proud to publish a weekly rag that brags about not giving a damn about Yucca Mountain, taking a serious, perhaps life-and-death issue and trivializing it. But by and large the people who will leave that room will be energized like they have never been. Polls have been consistent for years in measuring the degree and depth of opposition by Nevada's mothers and fathers to the government's efforts to dump what the rest of the country doesn't want in its back yard, in ours. But now, with the new president about to make a decision that could seal our fate, the time is n igh to make a stand.

Stephen arranged to have input from the experts on health and safety issues, economic matters, transportation concerns and the politics of the decision itself so that our community leaders could determine for themselves the nature of the threat that, to this day, has always been something to worry about "tomorrow." Well, tomorrow is here.

We have been fortunate during the past eight years that our congressional delegation and the steadfast and unwavering help of President Clinton have held the nuke forces at bay, despite their unrelenting efforts to toss that garbage our way well ahead of any purported scientific reason to do so. This year, though, the Department of Energy -- which will be led by pro dumpsite Secretary-designate Spencer Abraham -- will recommend Yucca Mountain to soon-to-be President Bush. As it now stands, he will have no reason not to accept that recommendation, especially considering the fact that his entire energy team comes right out of the nuclear power industry.

When that room full of people understand the full range of harmful effects that will befall our city -- forget about the health and safety issues, how about the dozens of billions of dollars in losses with just the first accident -- there will be an energy directed in all areas that will be impossible to stop. Fortunately, Gov. Kenny Guinn will have representatives there to gauge the temperature of his constituents. Since he persuaded Nevadans to give George W. the margin of victory he needed for the White House, it will be incumbent upon our good governor to persuade his friend in a very high place to protect our state. The gaming industry, which will be hardest hit economically when that accident occurs, owes not only its shareholders, but also the families of its employees, not only best efforts but nothing less than success as it flexes its considerabl e muscle with those for whom it has been so magnanimous during the past few election cycles.

And finally, the rest of the business and social set who will find their world rocked to the foundation when the impossible happens -- which it always does, and the unbreakable and, as yet, undesigned storage casks leak that poison across our neighborhoods -- will be called to civilly disobedient arms to make sure they do their utmost to protect their most precious gifts, their children. And that's just what I expect to happen at the first meeting.

If, however, it doesn't, we will learn something else, something ugly and very disappointing about this place we call home and the people who claim to care about the kind and quality of lives we are making for ourselves and for those who will follow.

But neither I nor Steve nor the hundreds of people who have already joined in the effort believe that will happen. What we do believe is that democracy will thrive in the Silver State and the people's will be done, regardless of the best laid plans of the monied forces arrayed against us.

Years ago, when this country was being founded and fought for, there was a slogan that said it all. "Don't tread on me." We need a slogan for our cause.

Ideas, as well as help, are always welcome.

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