Casinos unite against dump: Industry appears ready to formally enter Yucca political battle

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 10:58 a.m.

Casino industry leaders, recognizing the huge economic threat Yucca Mountain poses to Southern Nevada's economy, are prepared to use their national political clout to fight the nuclear waste project, a new county report says.

The report, prepared for the Clark County Comprehensive Planning Department's Nuclear Waste Program, could be made public as early as next week.

The Sun obtained a 32-page draft of the report, which praises casino industry executives for their "willingness to assist the governor, the congressional delegation and local leaders in mounting a bipartisan effort to deter the Department of Energy from going forward with the repository."

The executives believe the nuclear waste issue is "so large and so important to the well-being" of the state's residents that a united effort combining "all of the resources that can be assembled" must be launched to stop the dump from being built.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who is playing a key role in the Yucca Mountain fight as the Senate's assistant majority leader, described the growing participation of the casino industry as "better late than never."

"With this being such an economic threat to the state of Nevada, it's long overdue that the gaming people become heavily involved in this issue," Reid said.

In all, 14 executives from downtown and Strip casinos were interviewed for the county report, which was put together by Urban Environmental Research, a Scottsdale, Ariz., consulting firm. None of the executives was identified.

Irene Navis, the assistant planning manager who oversees the county's nuclear waste program, said she has made minor revisions in the report and hopes to present it to some county commissioners as early as today.

The report is one in a series being done for the county as it prepares to demonstrate to the DOE how storing high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, will affect the community.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham is expected to recommend to President Bush by next year whether Yucca Mountain is safe to store 77,000 tons of radioactive waste now being kept at nuclear plants across the country. Plans call for the waste to be shipped to Southern Nevada on the nation's highways.

Navis said the report of the interviews with the gaming leaders shows they clearly understand that Yucca Mountain presents "some serious negative impacts" on the local economy.

"These gaming executives indicated that if they were asked to aid the governor and the congressional delegation they would be willing to help in a focused effort to educate decision-makers both in Washington and in the states along the (nuclear waste shipment) corridor as to the adverse impacts associated with the DOE's proposal both for Clark County and all of the corridor states," the draft said.

In recent years the casino industry has increased its political presence on Capitol Hill, contributing millions of dollars to congressional campaigns.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington lobby, said he has seen the draft and the nuclear waste issue now is on his "radar screen."

Fahrenkopf said he's awaiting instructions from his board on whether to formally become involved in the fight on the Hill.

All of the executives interviewed for the report said they were totally opposed to allowing trucks carrying high-level nuclear waste to come through the heart of congested Las Vegas, which deals with heavy traffic from Southern California on a daily basis.

"Gaming executives described the potential impact of a serious accident on their industry as crippling, devastating and Chernobyl-like, referring to the Russian city that had to be permanently evacuated after a 1986 nuclear reactor accident that released radiation across a wide area," the report said.

"It is clear that the gaming industry believes that the transportation of (high level waste) through Clark County would bring increased risk to the primary economic base for the entire state of Nevada."

The casino industry has been on record opposed to Yucca Mountain since 1991 when the Nevada Resort Association, its political arm, passed a resolution condemning the project.

But gaming has never formally entered the political fight.

Earlier this year, amid a private anti-nuclear dump campaign led by businessman Stephen Cloobeck, both the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority broke years of silence and passed similar resolutions opposing the dump.

And the 2001 Legislature, at the urging of Gov. Kenny Guinn, allocated $4 million toward the fight with the DOE. Cloobeck and his nonprofit Save Nevada organization also are raising money from private sources.

The gaming leaders said in the report that the stigma associated with the presence of Yucca Mountain would discourage investment in Las Vegas.