‘United front’ rejects nuke bills

Wednesday, May 30, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Nevada Legislature will end this session in strong opposition to a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Two resolutions that favored contingency plans in case the Energy Department selected Nevada as the site are dead in the Senate Transportation Committee.

Opponents of a dump said the resolutions implied Nevada was sending a mixed message to Washington, D.C., that it might accept the waste under certain conditions.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, chairman of the transportation committee, said Tuesday a vote would not be taken on the two resolutions.

O'Donnell had sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 4, which urged the governor to designate alternative routes outside of Las Vegas for the transportation of the material to Yucca Mountain.

Sen. Ray Shaffer, D-North Las Vegas, had introduced Senate Joint Resolution 10, which urged Congress to implement certain safety precautions if Yucca Mountain is chosen.

"I made my point," O'Donnell said. "Public perception now is there is a real likelihood that this thing will come to pass. Even our congressional delegation is taking notes and positioning accordingly for Nevada's best interest."

O'Donnell acknowledged he drew a lot of opposition. "I got a lot of heat from a very focused group of individuals. However, in talking to the general public, I got a lot of support." "The attorney general (Frankie Sue Del Papa) had problems with it (SJR4) because she feared it would be implied consent," O'Donnell said.

"However, in light of the news report on (Vice President Dick) Cheney's energy policy, we are a key component in the production of electricity for the next 20 years.

"So I don't see the issue of Yucca Mountain going away even if we do spend $4 million," he said, referring to a bill pushed by Gov. Kenny Guinn to spend $4 million to fight location of the dump in Nevada.

Nevada Adjutant General Tony Clark said passage of those two resolutions "would have sent the wrong message to the Department of Energy and the nuclear industry, and we could be fragmented. It is better that did not pass at this point."

Clark and Del Papa worked together against the two resolutions.

Another resolution by Sen. Jon Porter, R-Boulder City, urging Congress to require federal agencies to prepare environmental impact statements on the transportation of waste, also died without a vote.

Clark said the attorney general's office supported the Porter resolution. He said it was essential the DOE conduct these studies on the impact of shipping this waste through numerous states.

The one resolution that passed this session expressed strong opposition to any nuclear waste in Nevada and it served notice the state would veto any plan.

Clark said, "It shows a united front in opposition to having that trash stored in Nevada."

He said, "Nevada has already done its share in nuclear development in this country -- the Test Site and the storing low-level nuclear waste."

Most of these nuclear power plants are east of the Mississippi River.

If there is a storage repository, it should be in that region of the nation "where they are generating the waste," he said.