Columnist Jeff German: Gamers are finally in battle over Yucca

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 3:52 a.m.

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. He can be reached at (702) 259-4067 or by e-mail at german@lasvegassun.com.

BETTER LATE than never.

Those were the words of Nevada Sen. Harry Reid last week when he was asked to comment on the gaming industry's willingness to join the fight against Yucca Mountain.

Indeed it's never too late for the state's No. 1 industry, with all of its political muscle, to take up arms in Nevada's fight of the century.

Most Nevadans have long recognized that the $58 billion Yucca Mountain Project, the proposed site of the nation's high-level nuclear waste dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, poses the biggest threat to the state's environment and economy.

Now, according to a new county report about to be made public, the best and the brightest of the casino industry have come to that conclusion.

Industry executives, notorious for being slow to jump on issues vital to the state, are prepared to use their growing political influence in Washington in the fight, a draft of the report says.

The executives, the report says, now believe the nuclear waste issue is "so large and so important to the well-being" of Nevadans that an all-out political assault on the dump must be launched.

They now understand that just one overturned truck carrying high-level nuclear waste on Interstate 15 could destroy this city's reputation as America's premier tourist destination.

And so after standing on the sidelines for two decades, the gaming industry finally is ready to make a meaningful contribution to the fight -- one that's going to force the industry to dig deep into its pockets.

This comes as the Department of Energy is only months away from recommending whether Yucca Mountain is safe to store 77,000 tons of the nation's radioactive waste. The deadly garbage would be transported to Southern Nevada from nuclear plants across the country.

The industry's enlightened attitude about the dump also comes as Nevada's political machine is raising the stakes in the battle.

Gov. Kenny Guinn has persuaded the Nevada Legislature this year to shell out $4 million in the fight, primarily to show states along the nuclear waste trucking corridor that they also are at risk.

And Polo Towers President Stephen Cloobeck has been rallying the troops within the business community.

Cloobeck's nonprofit "Save Nevada" organization soon will launch a massive fund-raising effort that is expecting significant contributions from the gaming industry.

But beyond the money, getting the industry to step up to the plate in Washington is going to be just as important to Reid and other members of Nevada's congressional delegation.

This month Reid's political fortune rose after he became assistant majority leader, the second highest-ranking member of the Senate. Nevadans saw the benefits of his new influence late last month when Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota visited Las Vegas. With Reid at his side, Daschle told reporters that the Yucca Mountain issue is dead on Capitol Hill as long as the Democrats control the Senate.

But even if the dump turns out not to be as dead as Daschle's prediction, the casino industry is fully capable of moving in for the kill.

If gaming can mount the same kind of high-powered offensive on the Hill that it has in the sports betting battle with the NCAA, then there indeed is hope of prevailing against the DOE and its nuclear industry cronies.

Last week American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf, the industry's chief Washington lobbyist, said he had seen the ground-breaking draft of the county's new report.

The draft, he said, prompted him to put Yucca Mountain on his radar screen.

Better late than never.