Nevadans say they got president’s attention

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- For Nevadans aligned against putting a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, the future is this weekend and it sits in the hands of George W. Bush.

Nevada leaders spent Thursday lobbying President Bush and key White House aides on Yucca Mountain expecting the president to have Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation as soon as Sunday.

White House sources have said that Bush is ready to move quickly to designate Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation's nuclear waste repository.

But after an Oval Office meeting Thursday afternoon with President Bush, Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said they felt they received consideration on points Bush hadn't heard before.

"After today I believe he's going to give this some serious thought to this," Guinn said. "I did feel much better."

The Yucca project is at a critical juncture in its 20-year history. Abraham is expected to give Bush his recommendation early next week.

Nevada leaders said Bush didn't say when he would act, but Guinn said he "didn't get an impression that he was going to make a decision tomorrow or Saturday, or Sunday or Monday."

Bush was joined by his political adviser Karl Rove, energy-policy adviser Andrew Lundquist, press secretary Ari Fleisher and congressional analyst Matt Kirk.

A White House spokesman said this morning that the president "was interested in their concerns."

"He listened and he will take their concerns into consideration," said White House spokesman Ken Lisaius.

The three Nevadans said Bush has been fed a pro-Yucca argument from the DOE since he took office. Their meeting marked the first 25 minutes he had heard their side of the story, they said.

"All of a sudden today he got a different side," Ensign said. "He's going to take his time to go through the issues and the decision he believes is best for the country."

Reid said he had been dreading the meeting. He was fearful Bush would say "I understand your concerns, but I have a job to do."

But the three Nevadans said Bush was serious, focused and attentive. They analyzed his expressions. "Very intent," Guinn said. "Engaged," Reid said.

"We thought the meeting went much better than expected," Ensign agreed.

Bush squeezed them in between Gen. Tommy Franks, who is overseeing the military action in Afghanistan, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. There were few pleasantries, no talk of baseball or the weather, Reid said.

"We got right down to business," Guinn said.

Ensign said the three "tag-teamed" Bush. Bush asked questions of each.

Guinn led off, making arguments that the DOE's scientific studies had been flawed.

Guinn, who has known the president since their days as fellow Republican governors, appealed to Bush one chief executive to another, telling him that the work of his staffers -- the DOE -- was incomplete.

Guinn said he made the pitch that the enormous body of scientific study at Yucca Mountain -- two decades in the making -- is still not finished. Guinn told Bush about a list of 293 scientific questions in the hands of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that are still unanswered by the DOE.

To illustrate, Guinn told Bush about one: the environmental impact study for Yucca Mountain does not address transporting waste cross-country to the site.

Reid told Bush that transporting waste was not safe, something the nuclear industry adamantly refutes.

Reid threw out estimates of 100,000 shipments of high-level waste through 43 states over several decades.

"I think that got his attention," Reid said. "We're confident the president is going to be concerned about transportation."

Ensign explained that there are alternatives to Yucca Mountain, despite Congress' contractual agreement with nuclear utilities to haul their waste away.

Ensign suggested that Bush could make a deal with utilities that would allow the DOE to take over the costly management of the waste as it sits on-site at nuclear plants. That would get the federal government out of its contract with utilities to haul their waste to Nevada.

Then Ensign encouraged Bush to pursue technologies that will allow scientists to someday recycle waste, or treat it so that it becomes less toxic more quickly, Ensign argued.

Bush looked them in the eye and asked smart questions, they said. The president seemed familiar with detailed nuances of the project, they added.

At one point, the Nevadans referenced authorities who had faulted the Yucca project. Bush surprised Ensign when the president said he had read a story on the inside pages of the Washington Post this week about former DOE official John Barrett, who has been critical of the project, Ensign said.

Bush nodded to his staff to look into several points raised, Reid said.

But the leaders were encouraged.

"Based on his expressions and based on his questions, I really think we gave him something to think about," Ensign said.

"I truly believe that the decision he makes, he will feel that it's made on sound science," Ensign added.