Local officials to DOE: Delay Yucca hearings

Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2001 | 11:07 a.m.

Hearings The Department of Energy has rescheduled two public hearings regarding Yucca Mountain. The deadline for written comments has been extended from Sept. 20 until Oct. 5.

Amargosa Valley, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Longstreet Inn and Casino.

2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday, Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall No. 10054.

Address written comments to Carol Hanlon, U.S. Department of Energy, Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Office, (M/S #025), P.O. Box 30307, North Las Vegas, NV, 89036-0306. Identify comments on the outside of the envelope and on the comments themselves with: "Possible Site Recommendation for Yucca Mountain."E-mail: YMP]SR@ymp.gov or fax 1-800-967-0739.

Nevada officials say it is premature for the Department of Energy to schedule simultaneous public hearings regarding a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Meetings in Amargosa Valley and Pahrump, postponed in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks, will be held 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday.

The DOE on Sept. 5 held the first of the three scheduled public hearings in North Las Vegas.

The DOE has for years been studying Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as a possible site for the burial of the nation's high-level nuclear waste, currently stored at nuclear power plants nationwide.

Elected officials said Nevadans' focus has veered from local issues. Officials have asked Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to delay hearings, to attend the meetings and extend the public comment period. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., today hoped to talk to Abraham about the Yucca hearings. Reid thinks it is inappropriate to hold hearings next week, spokesman Nathan Naylor said.

"We're hopeful that Secretary Abraham understands that Nevadans are also grieving and that they also have been profoundly affected by the terrorist attacks of last week," Naylor said. "With that in mind, this would be a difficult time to hold such a hearing."

"I do not understand why they are proceeding with the hearings after what happened last week," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "This presupposes the placement of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain."

Abraham in a written statement promised that he or a high-ranking DOE administrator will attend a hearing later this year, saying the department has gone "well beyond what the law requires involving the public."

Abraham sent Undersecretary Robert Card, who reports to Abraham, to what became a contentious eight-hour hearing in North Las Vegas Sept. 5, which drew more than 400 residents.

"My goal is to ensure a fair and impartial process," he said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said Monday's hearings should be held only after a a final environmental impact statement is released by the DOE.

"All public hearings are premature until all the relevant scientific information is in and the public has had a chance to review it," Guinn said Monday after learning of the newly scheduled hearings.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., has urged the DOE to further extend the comment period, from Sept. 20 to Oct. 5.

Written public comments are due Oct. 5, Gibbons spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer said.

Judy Treichel, director of the anti-Yucca group Nuclear Waste Task Force, said the new hearing schedule was "despicable."

"They think that they can get us out of the way and then they can go ahead with it."