Bankers exhorted to fight Yucca

David Strow

Tuesday, April 23, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

Las Vegas real estate and media executive Brian Greenspun was asked this morning to give a sales pitch on U.S. savings bonds to a group of about 50 local bankers and business people.

But Greenspun had a fight against a federal project on his mind -- the fight to block the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. And he exhorted the city's bankers to join that fight.

"It is our lives, our businesses and our investments that will pay the price," Greenspun said at the U.S. Treasury Department's local annual Savings Bond promotion breakfast. "Why is the banking community among the largest non-contributors to the fight against the dump?"

Despite calls from elected officials for donations to Nevada's anti-Yucca Nevada Protection Fund, financial support from the state's businesses has been sparse. One of the most silent groups on the subject has been Nevada's banking community. Beyond Nevada State Bank and Silver State Bank, there's been little appetite to back the fight with banking industry money.

One banker, Valley Bank President Barry Hulin, has said devoting public funds to Yucca was little more than pouring money down a "rat hole."

Greenspun argued such positions were foolish, given the loans Clark County banks had made to local businesses and residents. He cited a recent state-funded study, which claimed a Yucca-related accident would lead to a 10 percent to 40 percent decline in property values across the county.

Bankers are well known for considering every possibility before making a loan, Greenspun said. Why weren't they considering this risk?

"Put that in your calculators and figure out if you have the reserves to take that hit," Greenspun said. "Don't get involved because it's the right thing to do. Get involved because it's the prudent thing to do. Act like bankers, for God's sake."

Greenspun heads the The Greenspun Corporation. His family's holdings include real estate development giant American Nevada Corp., half of the new Green Valley Ranch Station Casino, the Las Vegas Sun and other media holdings. He is president and editor of the Sun.

After Greenspun's speech, Tod Little, chairman and chief executive of Silver State, echoed Greenspun's call for support from the banking community. Little said he would discuss the issue with other banking executives.

"I personally happen to agree with him, and I think it's an issue we all need to be focused on, not only as bankers, but as residents," Little said. "I'm disappointed other banks have been silent on this issue when it's clearly in our interest to make sure property values in Clark County don't decline. This is in our economic self-interest."