Nuke veto first move in congressional chess game

Benjamin Grove

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 5:55 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

WASHINGTON -- Gov. Kenny Guinn hopes to make a high-profile splash after he arrives Monday in the nation's capital to veto President Bush's endorsement of Yucca Mountain as the site of the nation's nuclear waste repository.

Guinn plans to kick off the day with a rally at the University at Nevada, Las Vegas to deliver what aides call "the most important speech of his administration."

Meanwhile Monday, a lawyer in Washington hired by the state, Joe Egan, is expected to file Guinn's signed historic "notice of disapproval" -- essentially a veto -- of a presidential action. Egan is expected to file it in the offices of the House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Senate Pro Tempore Robert Byrd, D-W.V.

Guinn is scheduled to fly to Washington on Monday to meet Tuesday with national media to draw more attention to Nevada's fight against the proposed nuclear waste repository.

"We'll try to take advantage of the historic occasion to get us more publicity," Guinn said.

A joint resolution to approve Yucca -- in effect, a resolution to override Guinn's veto -- is expected to then be introduced in both the House and Senate, likely by Tuesday.

A lawmaker in each chamber is expected to introduce the resolution and have it referred to committee for action.

With that, the clock will have started on a giant congressional chess match in which Yucca advocates and opponents will engage in high-stakes battles that will include intense behind-the-scenes lobbying efforts and fiery public debate.

Lawmakers in both chambers will have 90 days -- simultaneously -- to decide Nevada's fate and mark a milestone in the long history of the controversial nuclear waste dump project.

If both the House and Senate override Guinn's veto, the Energy Department will march forward with Yucca, seeking to construct and license the site as a burial ground for 77,000 tons of the nation's highly radioactive nuclear waste.

If one of the chambers upholds Guinn's veto, the project will cease after 15 years and roughly $7 billion worth of intensive study and field research inside the mountain.

The House is expected to override Guinn's veto by a large margin. Reps. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., both expect the vote margin to be about the same as the House's last vote on a Yucca-related bill, in 2000, when it was approved, 253-167.

The House vote likely will be in May, according to John Feehery, spokesman for Hastert, a vocal advocate of Yucca. Illinois is one of the nation's leading producers of nuclear power -- and waste.

The vote will be delayed at least until after an April 25 hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Feehery said. Hastert wants to move "expeditiously" after the hearing.

Nevada lawmakers also hope to delay the vote until after a May 9 hearing in the House Transportation Committee on the risks of shipping nuclear waste across the country to Nevada. Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, agreed to hold the hearing at the request of Gibbons and Berkley, who hope it will highlight the dangers of shipping nuclear waste.

Young is still undecided on Yucca, committee spokesman Justin Harclerode said.

Many participants and observers of the Yucca debate say the issue of whether waste can be safely transported will be a key point as lawmakers choose sides.

"We need to demonstrate to members of Congress, particularly those along the transportation routes, that their constituents are in harm's way," Berkley said.

Berkley and Gibbons, who returns from a trip to Afghanistan today, plan to furiously work their sides of the aisle to line up a few more votes. Berkley said she has the "full support and involvement" of House Democratic leaders, including Minority Leader Richard Gephardt of Missouri.

A Senate vote likely would fall after a House vote, in part because the Senate may be more evenly split on the issue. That's largely because Democrats may feel an obligation to line up behind their No. 2 leader, Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid.

Reid has been twisting arms, aides said. He has cornered people on the Senate floor, invited several to his Capitol office for chats and contacted several by phone from his Searchlight home during the two-week spring break.

Nevada lawmakers, and their high-profile lobbyists, Democrat John Podesta and Republican Ken Duberstein, will not say how many senators they think will vote against Yucca.

"Sen. Reid has been working round the clock on this issue, and it would not be to our advantage to let the bad guys know where we stand (with our strategy)" Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said.

Sources say a key part of the Nevadans' strategy is simple: delay.

The Nevadans hope to put off a Senate vote as long as possible to let them gather 49 other votes, which most consider a longshot.

The Yucca resolution could be delayed in the energy committees, although that is unlikely, especially in House. The committees could vote to not send the resolution to the floor, but that action would not kill it. The resolution would merely remain in committee for 60 days, and it would be sent to the floor anyway.

Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., is generally supportive of a nuclear waste repository, committee spokesman Bill Wicker said. Wicker said Bingaman likely would not publicly say whether he intends to vote for Yucca, at least until after the a hearing, which has not been scheduled.

"He has been cautious about saying we need to look at the science as we make a run up to a final decision," Wicker said.

Meanwhile, nuclear industry lobbyists are said to be working feverishly and plan to continue scheduling meetings with staffers and lawmakers this week.

Nuclear Energy Institute spokesman Mitch Singer said he was not aware of a "scorecard" kept by the leading industry trade and lobby group that indicates which senators may be undecided. He declined to predict how many senators currently support or oppose the Yucca project.

"All I can tell you is that we take no vote for granted," Singer said. "We will continue to talk to everybody."

Several observers agree that even now, just a few months before a vote, it is still difficult to predict the final Senate tally. Between now and then, deals can be struck, favors exchanged, promises made. Senators could switch sides on the day of the vote.

"Whenever you are dealing with the Senate, with all its dynamics in play, it ain't over 'til the fat lady sings," said Chris Mele, legislative director for the pro-Yucca National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. "When the gavel is down and the final vote is cast, that is when we are going to know."

Much has been made about whether Reid and close ally Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., could block a vote from happening on the Senate floor. By the Senate's traditional procedures, the majority leader is the only one who calls for votes and debates on legislation.

But Daschle recently backed away from earlier claims that he could block the bill because the federal law, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, specifically says that any senator could bring the bill forward for a vote.

In the end, the battle over Yucca Mountain, as in chess, may come down to which side knows the rules of the game best. Both sides have hired their own parliamentarians, experts in the rules of the Senate.

"Right now people are in a parliamentary knife fight trying to figure out which way to go," one Nevada source said.

Robert Dove, hired by Nevada to advise on tactics and strategies, is matching wits with Marty Gold, former adviser to Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker, who is working for the Nuclear Energy Institute.

Dove wouldn't hint about what kinds of tactical moves the Nevada senators could make after a vote is called for in the Senate, or about the debate to come.

"Right now, I am in a delicate position," Dove said. "I can't get into what kind of advice I offer my client."

Guinn, who until recently had kept his veto date secret, now plans a major public relations swing.

Numerous state and local leaders are expected at Guinn's UNLV rally Monday.

Following the televised event, Guinn will fly to Washington to serve as the state's official spokesman. C-SPAN plans to televise much of Guinn's visit because it is the first time a governor has had the opportunity to veto a president.

After planned meetings with Hastert and Senate officials on Tuesday, Guinn will address the national media and visit the National Press Club.

"We need to focus outside Nevada right now," Guinn said. "That's where it might make a difference."

Sun reporter Erin Neff contributed to this story.

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