Chamber set to pass its Yucca resolution

Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2001 | 9:50 a.m.

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce today geared up to pass a historic resolution opposing the storage of high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

The chamber's 25-member board was to vote on the resolution, which outlines the organization's first-ever stand against the Nevada repository, at its 3 p.m. meeting.

Chamber President Pat Shalmy said he expected the measure to pass.

"I've talked with many of the board members, and no one wants nuclear waste to come through and be buried in Nevada," Shalmy said. "I'm confident that the board will approve this resolution."

The one-page resolution, obtained by the Sun, refers to the state's key arguments against Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

It describes Southern Nevada as "one of the world's leading tourist destinations" and says millions of visitors might choose to stay away if the valley is seen as unsafe because of the storage of the deadly waste.

Just one accident involving the transportation of the waste could "create fears and hysteria" among the public and further harm the multibillion-dollar tourism industry here, the resolution says.

The "mere threat of a nuclear waste accident," the resolution adds, also could decrease property values in the country's fastest-growing community.

"Whereas, there is no clear scientific consensus that storage of nuclear waste less than 100 miles from Las Vegas will not result in any adverse health impacts to the region in the long term," the measure concludes.

"Now therefore be it resolved, the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce expresses its strong opposition to the storage of nuclear waste in Nevada."

The chamber, which stayed out of the Yucca Mountain fight for nearly 20 years, decided to take its stand as part of Strip executive Stephen Cloobeck's grass-roots campaign against the dump.

Cloobeck, president and CEO of Diamond Resorts International, is holding his second organizational meeting at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Clark County Government Center.

"We're going to select a board and talk about fund-raising and unifying the message," Cloobeck said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn wants Cloobeck's group to raise several million dollars for a nationwide media blitz espousing the dangers of transporting the radioactive waste to Nevada.

Guinn is including $5 million in his budget toward the unprecedented advertising campaign and wants to double that amount with contributions from local governments and private citizens.

The latest developments in the emotional nuclear waste fight come amid an investigation by the Department of Energy's inspector general into possible bias in the Yucca Mountain site selection process.

A team of federal agents from Washington has been conducting interviews and poring over DOE documents in Las Vegas the past several weeks.

The investigation was requested by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in December after the Sun reported that it had obtained documents that appeared to show the DOE collaborating with its chief Yucca Mountain contractor to win approval for the Nevada site.

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

Attached to the draft was a two-page memo that suggested the overview could be used to help the nuclear industry sell Yucca Mountain to Congress.

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

The DOE had been preparing to make a recommendation on Yucca Mountain's suitability in June, but the decision was delayed because of the inspector general's investigation.