Thursday, April 25, 2002 | 9:14 a.m.
I AM NOT GOING to talk about Yucca Mountain.
Not that I have said all there is to say on the subject. On the contrary, there is so much more to say and do before we wake up the rest of America to this madness being perpetrated by the nuclear power companies and their accomplices in the Bush administration. But all that will have to wait for another day because right now we have to talk about train safety.
I don't know how many Las Vegans ride passenger trains anymore, but it is still a preferred method of travel on the East Coast, where literally millions of people ride the rails between Boston and Washington annually. As an aside, if there were passenger service with the speed and comfort of the Metroliner between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, we would not be in quite the fix we find ourselves trying to get the bulk of our visitors to and fro with a minimum of aggravation.
Here's the question of the day for the National Transportation and Safety Board: Why was a regional commuter train carrying 300 passengers going one way on the very same track upon which a mile-long freight train was traveling in the opposite direction?
When they figure that one out, they will have at least one explanation to tell the families of the two people who died and the 265 who were injured, some very badly. I suppose when the government uncovers the reasons for the mishap it will also discover how tracks could become misaligned in Florida enough so that an Amtrak Auto Train would fly off the rails, killing four people. That's two deadly accidents in less than a week.
What is particularly unnerving about the Metrolink accident is that both trains were on the same track and nobody -- other than the engineer of the passenger train who saw disaster coming and stopped his train to warn the passengers -- knew it was happening. Answering the question of a reporter the other day, one of the federal government's spokesmen said that we have known about the need to know what is on the tracks and in which direction it is going for a long time. In fact, we were told that a decision had been made to fix the problem close to 15 years ago but that the plan had not yet been implemented. We are, however, testing a program that should be able to give us an early warning system.
Does that sound as preposterous to you as it does to the rest of us who tried to comprehend the meaning of what we had just heard? We have known about the problem for 15 years and nothing has yet been done? Who's in charge of this train business anyway? The government, you say.
Let me make sure I understand this. Trains have been around for going on two centuries. The experts and everyone else understand the basics of physics that suggest that there is only so much room in a given space -- the train tracks -- and when two objects occupy that same space traveling at high rates of speed toward each other, the result can only be disaster.
How many times does this type of calamity have to happen before the responsible authority fixes the problem?
I said I wasn't going to talk about Yucca Mountain but I never said anything about nuclear waste traveling across this country on trains. For those of you who saw my mini-debate with Bob List on Channel 3 last Sunday, you will remember his insistence that almost all of the high-level nuke waste would travel to Nevada on trains which, he emphasized, had a superior safety record.
That's what the nuclear industry is saying, too. What a coincidence!
Anyway, List had no sooner said that accidents did not happen on trains when this head-on collision outside of Los Angeles made a fibber out of him. Of course, no one believed what he said anyway because we all know that accidents do happen and they always happen when they are least expected.
Train safety was List's only good argument and that died along with those passengers less than two days after our former governor-turned turncoat spoke those words.
Can you imagine if it hadn't been people but plutonium that was traveling on that train? In one of the unbreakable casks that the government hasn't yet made and which we all know will break as soon as they have the chance? What do you think the headlines would have been on that one?
"Los Angeles evacuated because of 'impossible' train crash." "Hundreds dead, thousands feared poisoned by nuke spill?" "Federal government says 'too bad' to families of dead; cites national interest and patriotism as reasons for needless deaths." Take your choice, they are all bad. And they are all unnecessary.
I know the House of Representatives is hellbent on making President George W. Bush's decision to make Nevada the fall guy look like an overwhelming national choice, but this fight ain't over quite yet. A few more "impossible" accidents and maybe an earthquake or two and all bets will be off.
Until then, let Harry Reid and John Ensign know that you are pulling for them. And support Gov. Kenny Guinn's efforts to raise the needed dollars to make this a winnable fight. And one more thing.
Stay off the trains until we get a government that can guarantee our safety every time we step aboard. Sounds like an argument against Yucca Mountain, doesn't it?
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