Guinn takes case to D.C.

Benjamin Grove

Tuesday, April 9, 2002 | 11:17 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- The Yucca Mountain project is riddled with flawed scientific research, broken laws and centers on bad public policy, Gov. Kenny Guinn said today in the glaring spotlight of the national media outside the Capitol.

"We have known for some time that it is bad public policy to take some of the most dangerous man-made waste in the history of the country and expose it to 123 million Americans," Guinn said.

Nevada officials filed Guinn's veto of the nuclear waste repository project on Monday, and Guinn is taking full advantage of national news attention in the nation's capital to stress anti-Yucca messages.

Guinn and Nevada's four congressional lawmakers, standing in front of network and cable news cameras and national newspaper reporters, made a public pitch against the waste dump, stressing the risks of transporting nuclear waste to Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

"Nuclear waste is not a Nevada problem," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "It is a problem for all Americans."

Under the law that created the selection process for a high-level nuclear dump, the governor was allowed to veto the president's recommendation on the site. The issue goes to Congress for a vote. A simple majority in both chambers is required to override Guinn's objection.

Nevada leaders are using Guinn's veto -- the first time a governor has been able to veto a presidential decision -- to make their case to the nation.

It is not yet clear if people nationwide are paying attention to Yucca Mountain project, Guinn said after the press conference, fresh from interviews on CNN on Monday and again this morning. But he is beginning to see a ripple of interest.

"You're starting to see articles in newspapers all across the country," Guinn said after the press conference. "You are getting people to say, 'What is Yucca Mountain?' We are trying to get the American people to understand that this is an American story."

Fanning media interest can be tricky -- numerous newspaper editorial pages support a Yucca repository. A Wall Street Journal editorial today said, "The U.S. political system works its will slowly, but the decision on nuclear waste is getting ridiculous. The waste has to go somewhere, and better one site than 131. Americans should understand that the vote over Yucca Mountain is whether nuclear power is going to have any future at all."

Nevada lawmakers made familiar points on the transportation issue. Reid stressed that if Congress approves Yucca Mountain -- and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses it -- 100,000 shipments of waste could be made through America, near "people's homes, schools, churches and businesses."

Energy Department officials bristle at that figure. Nevada officials repeatedly exaggerate, department spokesman Joe Davis said. He said 4,600 shipments over 24 years was a better estimate: 3,500 train shipments and 1,100 truckloads.

Nevada's estimate assumes that Congress will decide later to expand the size of the repository, which by current law is limited to 77,000 tons of waste, Davis said.

Reid also repeated today that the Energy Department for years has not negotiated in good faith with the state, which Energy officials dispute.

Davis said Nevada lawmakers have not taken up Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham on an invitation to meet with him.

"That still stands," Davis said. He had no specific response to Guinn's media blitz. "The secretary always looks forward to what the governor has to say."

Davis added that the Yucca repository is in the nation's best interest in terms of national security because it isolates waste into one secure storage facility.

If Congress approves Yucca Mountain during the coming weeks, the department plans to apply for a license to bury the waste in Nevada with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a process that could take years. Lawmakers should let the NRC make the call, Davis said.

"Congress should realize the importance of allowing the impartial and independent experts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to make a decision on this issue instead of short-circuiting the process with so much at stake."

Nevada officials loudly argued today that department and nuclear industry officials are falsely arguing that Yucca Mountain would create one waste site. They stress that nuclear plants will continue to generate power and waste -- and will always store some waste on-site, even as the plants send some waste to Yucca.

"That truly is the government's big lie," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said. "There will not be just one waste site."

Guinn may meet with a Republican senator before he leaves Washington today. Guinn said he will meet with more Republican senators when directed by Reid and Ensign.

Mostly as a political courtesy, Guinn said he planned to meet today with House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., a Yucca advocate. Guinn also plans to meet today with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Daschle is working with Reid behind the scenes to ensure that no Democrat brings the issue to the floor for a vote, Daschle spokeswoman Ranit Schmelzer said today.

"He is looking to Sen. Ensign to work with (Republican leader) Sen. (Trent) Lott to do the same on his side of the aisle," Schmelzer said. "If no one brings Yucca Mountain to the floor, the governor's veto stands."

Daschle and Ensign have traded a few jabs in the media over who can do more to block the Yucca vote, with Ensign urging Daschle to block it and Daschle saying that his power is limited because federal law allows any senator to bring the issue forward.

Congress has 90 days to vote on Yucca Mountain and whether to override Guinn's veto.

Reid and Ensign need 51 senators to vote against Yucca, and Reid is likely to have 32 or so Democrats preparing to vote with him, sources say. Much of the pressure is on Ensign to round up Republican senators. Only one, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, R-Colo., is said to be against Yucca.

Today Ensign said several other Republican senators were undecided.

Ensign said he is stressing several themes with Republican colleagues: transporting waste is dangerous and transportation studies incomplete and that constructing Yucca Mountain is fiscally irresponsible.

"We have the facts on our side and what we are trying to do is open minds," Ensign said.

If Congress approves Yucca, the issue will be in the hands of the NRC -- and the courts. The state has filed four lawsuits, with two more likely.

Guinn said state officials already are looking beyond the "uphill battle" in the Senate to a long legal battle.

Nuclear industry officials shrugged off Guinn's long-expected veto and urged Congress to shift the Yucca project from a study phase to a licensing phase.

"President Bush did the right thing when he approved Yucca Mountain as a suitable site," said Joe Colvin, president and chief executive of the Nuclear Energy Institute, a leading industry lobby group. "Now it's time for Congress, in accord with the best principles of sound science, to do the right thing for U.S energy security as well."

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