Columnist Jon Ralston: Look on the bright side, Nevada

Friday, May 18, 2001 | 4:11 a.m.

Jon Ralston hosts the public affairs program "Face to Face" on Las Vegas ONE and also publishes the Ralston Report. His column for the Sun appears on Sundays and Wednesdays. Ralston can be reached at 870-7997 or by e-mail at ralston@vegas.com

EVER SINCE 1987, whenever I hear the Nevada delegation talk about nuclear waste, I am reminded of the final scene in "Life of Brian," Monty Python's hilarious and blasphemous film.

The climax features a mass crucifixion, but those upon the crosses are singing a merry tune: "Always look on the bright side of life." If you are a delegation member, you have little choice but to look on the bright side. Since Bennett Johnston played the role of Pontius Pilate 14 years ago, nuclear waste has been a cross to bear.

The mantra, the spin is always the same, a variation on a theme: It could have been worse. This is a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. We lost, but we won. We won the battle, but the war goes on.

So it was no surprise that Sens. John Ensign and Harry Reid claimed that the administration's energy package released last week had been watered-down on the subject of nuclear waste after Ensign had complained.

The language of the nuclear waste sections of the Bush energy report is part a rehash of campaign rhetoric -- "use the best science" -- and part a repetition of the policy of the Clinton-Gore administration: Keep on studying Yucca Mountain. Oh, it invokes alternatives -- reprocessing and transmutation. But they are mentioned blandly and surely to mollify Ensign.

But which do you think is more important: What is in the report or what Bush said about nuclear waste when he announced the energy plan Thursday morning?

Notice the hardly subtle difference in this excerpt from Bush's remarks: "And my energy plan directs the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency to use the best science to move expeditiously to find a safe and permanent repository for nuclear waste."

Expeditiously, as in quickly, as in swiftly, as in as soon as possible. As in, perhaps, let's get this done this year.

Cue the chorus: "Always look on the bright side of life."

Ensign takes heart in that Bush did not mention Yucca Mountain by name. Must have been that other permanent repository they are considering.

The junior senator also insisted Friday that original language in the report, which was read to him over the phone by Cheney's office earlier in the week, would have indicated a presumption that Yucca Mountain would be the dump. Ensign says that language was similar to that advocated earlier this year by the latest Pilate-like senator, Alaska's Frank Murkowski. Ensign also latched onto the mentions of the new technologies -- he is a transmutation adherent -- and the lack of any mention of interim storage.

Sing along: "Always look on the bright ..."

Ensign and Reid also have adopted a new, seemingly paradoxical paradigm vis-a-vis the Bush energy policy that makes the hoary "Nuclear testing good, nuclear waste bad" look logical. Ensign and Reid both see Bush's advocacy of nuclear power and erection of more nuclear plants as potentially the ticket to undo Yucca Mountain. Really? More plants means more waste but doesn't mean that the feds will then move even more -- let me think of a word -- expeditiously to ship waste here?

Ensign and Reid believe that the administration will need all the help it can get to persuade members of both parties to sign onto measures that could result in nuclear plants being built in their districts. So, they posit, if they persuade their colleagues to support nuclear plants to help Bush, maybe the president will help them by choosing an alternative to Yucca Mountain.

The Pythonites couldn't have conjured up this skit.

And again: "Always look ..."

Crooning a rare dissonant chorus among the delegation foursome, Rep. Shelley Berkley had this to say about the idea that the administration might relent on Yucca Mountain as it promotes nuclear power: "I don't buy it for a minute. This country is bent on putting the nuclear dump in Nevada."

Even Ensign acknowledged that the administration is moving, yes, expeditiously, to set safety standards for the dump. It will happen soon, and if the Bush EPA successfully lowers those radiation standards, it will accelerate the licensing process and move the repository forward. Ensign says no one thinks that with lawsuits and other delaying tactics, the dump could be ready to accept waste before 2015. And "a lot can happen in 14 years," he added, mentioning new technologies and unforeseen developments.

What you won't hear in the wake of the ominous Bush energy policy are any of the thoughts still deemed heretical -- benefits for the dump, making a deal while the state still can. If you say anything like that in Nevada, you are likely to be crucified.

So sing it: Sorry, my voice has gone hoarse.