State may hire experts to lobby U.S. senators

Friday, April 5, 2002 | 10:54 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- State officials hope to use part of an emergency $3 million allocation to hire experts in terrorism to convince U.S. Senators to vote against a nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain.

The state Board of Examiners is expected to give preliminary approval today to take the $3 million from emergency funds to beef up the effort to persuade U.S. senators to reject President Bush's designation of Yucca Mountain.

In documents presented to the examiners board, state officials said many senators have not "fully considered the implications of their position."

These senators, said the report need to understand that "their support for transporting nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain amounts to asking their constituents to share the highways, the railways and waterways with hundreds of shipments and thousands of tons of high level waste for the next 3 or more decades."

And delivery of the message is critical to its success. "Accordingly the plan proposes that the message could be conveyed by experts in the areas of terrorism, highway safety, and emergency response, as well as former directors of the DOE Yucca Mountain program, and former officials from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

The plan does not have a breakdown on how the money would be spent. But it says the "principle focus of the plan is to develop and execute a national advertising campaign, focused on senators in specifically targeted states, concerning the risks associated with transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain."

The recommendation of the examiners board will be forwarded to the Legislative Interim Finance Committee that meets next Wednesday to take final action. The proposal calls for $1.5 million coming from an emergency fund of the state Transportation Department and $1.5 million from the $8.9 million in the emergency fund controlled by the finance committee. Reducing the amount sought from the finance committee's fund from $3 million to $1.5 million has softened some of the opposition.

Assembly Minority Leader Lynn Hettrick, R-Minden, said cutting the general fund amount to $1.5 million "makes it more manageable," and "makes it more livable."

But he insists he wants to see a plan how the money would be spent before approving any contingency allocation. Hettrick had been leaning against the allocation of the full $3 million from the IFC fund.

The examiners board is composed of chairman Gov. Kenny Guinn, Secretary of State Dean Heller and Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa.

Guinn flies to Washington on Monday to personally deliver his veto to Congress. Congress will have 90 days on which to decide whether to override the veto. State officials say they do not have the 51 votes in the Senate needed to block the selection of Yucca Mountain.

In documents to the examiners board, state officials say much of the material to be used in the campaign has been developed but "will need to be reformatted." The 2001 Legislature allocated $4 million to fight Yucca Mountain and some local governments, gaming casinos and others have donated additional money.