Reid seeks delay of Yucca hearings

Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning

Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2001 | 10:20 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Tuesday urged Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham to delay two Yucca Mountain hearings scheduled in rural Nevada for Monday, in the wake of terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

DOE officials did not return phone calls Tuesday or today, but Abraham has not signaled he would further delay the hearings.

Reid spoke to Abraham by telephone Tuesday afternoon, spokesman Nathan Naylor said. Reid's message: "Nevadans are just as distraught as everyone else around this country and this is a very bad time to do this," Naylor said.

Naylor said Abraham's response was essentially, "The DOE just wants to return to business as usual."

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., thinks it's "outrageous" the DOE would hold hearings so soon after the attacks, Ensign spokeswoman Traci Scott said.

Nevada's four lawmakers in Congress uniformly object to the Department of Energy holding two public comment hearings about the proposal to bury the nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The hearings were postponed last week because of the attacks, but the DOE on Monday re-scheduled the meetings for this Monday -- both from 2 to 9 p.m.; one at the Longstreet Inn in Amargosa Valley, the other at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall No. 10054 in Pahrump.

Nevada officials objected to the hearings before the attacks, saying an 8-hour, Sept. 5 hearing in North Las Vegas did not give citizens an adequate chance to voice opinions. They said the hearings also should be delayed until later this year when final reports about Yucca's suitability as a waste site are released.

The DOE could do Nevadans "a great justice" by delaying the hearings, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said.