Editorial: Abraham’s no-show is par for the course

Thursday, Sept. 6, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

It was a bad move by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to miss Wednesday's public comment hearing in North Las Vegas on the Yucca Mountain Project. Abraham knew he would get an earful from Nevada residents if he attended, but isn't that what a representative democracy is all about? His absence reconfirms the public perception -- and reality -- that the U.S. Department of Energy couldn't care less about the concerns of Nevadans, and that it also will ignore sound scientific evidence that shows how dangerous it is to bury 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Abraham claimed that he needed to be in Washington for Mexican President Vicente Fox's visit. Apparently President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell just couldn't handle this on their own, and needed Abraham for his diplomatic skills. Then again, that can't be the reason, because if Abraham truly understood the art of diplomacy, he would have been here in Southern Nevada listening to the concerns of Nevadans, instead of hiding out thousands of miles away.

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