Nuke lobby funds will be hard to match

Erin Neff

Tuesday, April 2, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

Faced with fighting an industry that put $25 million into lobbying efforts the last time Yucca Mountain issues came to Congress, Nevada leaders are finding it difficult to raise the money to stop the proposed nuclear waste dump.

State officials are trying to ramp up a $10 million advertising and grass-roots campaign to build opposition to the dump, but so far have been met with little success. State lawmakers haven't rallied to the cause, noting a $100 million budget shortfall, and private donations have been lackluster.

Opponents of a high-level nuclear waste dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas say that while many Nevadans oppose the dump, they haven't seen an outpouring of support as people wonder if the repository is inevitable.

Bob Loux, director of Nevada's Nuclear Projects Office, said raising money for the Yucca fight has proved more difficult than he imagined. The economic downturn, coupled with the donations people made to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks left fewer disposable dollars, he said.

"The expectations for this were probably much greater prior to the events of last fall," Loux said. "And a lot of people are a little caught up with this question of whether it's inevitable."

Gov. Kenny Guinn said he will veto the president's decision on Monday in Washington. Congress will then have 90 days to override Guinn's veto. Nevada leaders believe the override will sail through the House and say there's a chance to stop it in the Senate.

Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., have asked Guinn to call for a special session of the state Legislature to appropriate $10 million for advertising and grass-roots campaigns to build opposition to the dump, but Guinn, who faced legislative opposition to a special session, has opted to ask the Legislature's Interim Finance Committee for $3 million.

Even the $3 million expected to be approved today by the Clark County Commission and the $3 million Guinn is requesting from the legislative committee won't put enough in the Nevada Protection Fund to match the money that nuclear interests spent in Congress in 2000.

According to a report released Monday by Public Citizen, a consumer and environmental advocacy group, the nuclear industry spent $25 million on lobbying and donations in 2000.

In that year, Congress voted on several issues related to Yucca Mountain, including setting a timeline for the nuclear waste repository. Nevada would have to spend at least $500,000 a week to lobby against Yucca Mountain in Congress to keep pace with what the nuclear industry doled out two years ago.

The state fund has roughly $6 million, and much of that money was earmarked for legal challenges to the repository.

Reid said there was "no question" that the state is outmatched in its lobbying battle with the nuclear industry.

"All we can do is our best," he said.

Reid said the state needed a minimum of $6 million more.

He said that John Podesta and Ken Duberstein, the state's high-powered lobbyists on the issue, have a proposed budget of how $6 million to $10 million could be spent on media advertising and grass-roots efforts nationwide.

A nuclear industry spokesman today made no apologies for its lobbying spending.

"We do live in a democracy, and doing so gives us the right to advocate our issues, just as Nevada officials advocate their side," said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's top lobby group.

He gave two examples of anti-Yucca groups having opportunities to lobby the previous administration.

"It's certainly inconsistent for them to say it's wrong for us to spend money to advocate the Yucca project, but there's nothing wrong with them spending money against it," Singer said.

Some state lawmakers are wondering if additional money would be well spent on the fight. Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, who sits on the Interim Finance Committee, said he will absolutely oppose the $3 million request because he thinks Yucca Mountain is inevitable.

"Not only should we not be spending any money," O'Donnell said, "we should be doing everything possible to get money for it and give that money not to the government, but to the people."

Assemblyman Joe Dini, D-Yerington, disagrees to an extent.

"We've got to give it our best shot," Dini said. But he is also hearing more of his constituents begin to ask him why elected leaders aren't seeking benefits.

"It's more on their minds now than ever," he said. "After the president approved it, a lot of people just think there's no way to stop it."

Even without the report, many state lawmakers questioned how Nevada could succeed with any television ad campaign aimed at swaying an estimated 15 to 20 "on the fence" senators into its camp.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said Monday that "I would have to be convinced that it's useful" before he would support Guinn's $3 million request from the Finance Committee.

Raggio, who chairs the 21-member legislative committee, said the state's budget shortfalls make him more doubtful about whether the state can afford to spend the money.

Reid and Ensign requested the additional $10 million to support a nationwide, but targeted, television commercial campaign highlighting the dangers of transporting nuclear waste.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she would urge individual members of the finance committee to approve more money.

"I wouldn't say the issue boils down solely to one of dollars and cents," Michael O'Donovan, Berkley's spokesman, said. "The state of Nevada has the facts on its side, and it's a question of getting the message out there. Any money the state, county and private groups give helps the delegation get the message out there."

Reid said he had spoken only with Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, and Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, about the state Legislature approving more money for the Yucca fight, and that he had no intention of lobbying individual members of the Interim Finance Committee.

"Everyone knows how I feel," Reid said. "I think the state has a responsibility to step up. I've made that very clear to the speaker and the majority leader."

Guinn has said he considers the response from private businesses to be "disappointing." In announcing his intention to ask for $3 million more from the state, the governor again asked businesses to step up.

"The state will do it's part. However, I must call upon the private sector to match our efforts," Guinn said Monday.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said he is not in favor of spending state money on Yucca Mountain if it's going to siphon money from other priorities such as health care and education, Amy Spanbauer, his spokeswoman, said.

She said Gibbons does support spending money on advertising and grass-roots campaigns instead of high-paid consultants and said said he's all in favor of shaking loose extra money if it's there.

"There are many competing issues," Spanbauer said. "While Yucca Mountain is a top priority, at this time, whatever money that is allocated has to be done in the most fiscally responsible manner possible."

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