Hearings set on Yucca

Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

The Department of Energy has rescheduled a pair of public hearings on the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. The agency has also extended the public comment period.

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on Thursday announced the delay in a letter to Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev.

The DOE will host the hearings Oct. 10 at the Longstreet Casino in Amargosa Valley and Oct. 12 at the Bob Ruud Community Center in Pahrump.

The hearings will run from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and DOE officials will be available to speak with members of the community at 2 p.m.

The written comment period, which had already been extended to Oct. 5, has been further extended, said DOE spokesman Joe Davis, who added that a new deadline has not been set.

Reid and Ensign, who were surveying the World Trade Center site in New York Thursday, had asked the Department of Energy to postpone the hearings in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks.

"We are in a national crisis, and many Nevadans are coping with great loss and not clearly focused on the issues surrounding Yucca Mountain," Ensign said Thursday.

Both Reid and Ensign said they were pleased with Abraham's decision.

"We appreciate (Abraham's) understanding that Nevada families are grieving along with the families in New York and Washington, D.C.," Reid said.