Letter: Just what were they thinking?

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

As a newcomer to Las Vegas, I'm stunned by the real likelihood that Yucca Mountain will soon be filled with high-level nuclear waste. It's unimaginable that the voters of Nevada, who knew or should have known about the George W. Bush-Dick Cheney position on the use of Yucca Mountain, could have given them their vote! What were those people thinking. Apparently they didn't bother to think.

Gov. Kenny Guinn and fellow Republicans delivered the state to Bush as expected. It seems Nevada Republican politicians blow some kind of hot air about not wanting that nuclear waste ... but guess what ... they'll cave when Bush shouts their marching orders.

So what's Las Vegas' future going to look like when Yucca Mountain begins storing that stuff? Well, this is a tourist town -- maybe the hotshot casino moguls can figure a way to develop it as an attraction. Will visitors really want to come here when word gets around about what's only 90 miles away?

How about the families who call the valley home? How'd you like raising children with that kind of time bomb in the back yard. The prospect is frightening. Oh, who cares about property values.

Where's the public outrage?

ANDY HERESZ