Columnist Jeff German: Bush may be hiding true nuke decision

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 5:09 a.m.

IF PRESIDENT BUSH intends to break his campaign pledge to Nevadans and send the nation's deadly nuclear waste our way, he's doing a good job of disguising his decision.

Nevada's top elected leaders, Gov. Kenny Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign, came away from a 25-minute meeting with the president last week believing he actually might have concerns about whether Yucca Mountain is scientifically sound to store 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel.

"Either the president is truly sincere about wanting to get to the bottom of this, or he has a helluva poker face," one Nevada congressional source said.

Before you think Bush is sincere, remember where "Texas Hold'em" got its name.

Still, the president made a point last week of telling the Nevada leaders that their sit-down was not just another Oval Office photo opportunity. He even had his staffers take copious notes.

It gave the Nevada officials reason to smile after they left the president.

"We had a face-to-face meeting with him at a very critical time, and all of us felt without a doubt that he very intently listened to what we had to say," Guinn said.

Reid, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, had his doubts heading into the meeting. There was talk that Guinn wanted the senator on hand to help absorb the political fallout of the president's expected decision to single out Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Prior to the meeting, Guinn was nervous about Nevada's chances. White House aides were telling reporters that Bush planned to stick it to the state as early as Monday after getting energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation over the weekend.

But Bush never laid his cards on the table. He never said his decision was forthcoming. And that surprised Reid, who told reporters afterward that he was optimistic the president would remember his pledge and look at sound science before deciding what to do with Yucca Mountain.

Reid appeared confident the Nevadans had bought more time in an epic conflict, where each delay is considered a victory for the state.

Guinn was optimistic, too, even though it became clear to him that Bush's pro-energy staff was pushing hard for the Nevada site. They've had many more chances to get to the president.

What angered the governor was hearing political rhetoric after the meeting from Democratic spinmeisters looking for the upper hand in this year's election.

"This has been a seamless fight, with Democrats and Republicans sharing in the blame," he said. "No one has fought it any harder than I have. We've all been in this same position."

Reid and other elected Democrats have shied away from criticizing Guinn for not putting more pressure on the Bush administration to kill Yucca Mountain. They know that Reid could be under the gun in a few months to stop the project in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

But Democratic operatives have been stirring things up on the streets, hoping to gain an advantage in two hotly contested congressional races and encourage members of their own party to run against Guinn and other statewide Republican office-holders this year.

The Democrats have done a miserable job of fielding solid candidates at the top of their slate, and ironically it's giving Bush little reason to feel the need to protect Republicans, like Guinn, in the state.

Guinn's only real opponent so far is independent Aaron Russo, whom he trounced in the Republican primary in 1998. The Democrats haven't even fielded a candidate in the race.

As for Nevada's five electoral votes in the next presidential election, Bush probably won't need them, as well, if his popularity remains this high. With 90 percent favorable ratings, he could probably stick the nuclear waste in Texas and still get re-elected.

So why is the president bothering to disguise his decision to send the deadly nuclear waste to Nevada?com