Friday, Feb. 15, 2002 | 1:47 a.m.
WASHINGTON -- President Bush today approved Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's strongly worded recommendation that a national nuclear waste dump be constructed at Yucca Mountain.
Gov. Kenny Guinn said he received a call about 12:20 this afternoon from White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card notifying him of the decision.
Guinn said he would continue to fight, and the state has several lawsuits either planned or filed against Yucca Mountain.
Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., met with the president last week in the White House to argue Nevada's case. Abraham met with the president earlier this week and White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the president had "laid out a careful process to listen to and review the information."
Abraham made his recommendation Thursday night, sending the president an e-mail letter with reams of backup documentation following by courier.
Despite arguments by the Nevada delegation that the scientific research into the viability of Yucca Mountain was incomplete, White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said the president had "sufficient scientific data to make a decision."
In his letter, Abraham noted two decades of Energy Department research and said he believes the desert site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas is a safe place to permanently bury the nation's most radioactive waste.
"I have considered whether sound science supports the determination that the Yucca Mountain site is scientifically and technically suitable for the development of a repository," Abraham said. "I am convinced that it does."
Abraham said Yucca Mountain would have the "elements necessary to protect the health and safety of the public, including those Americans living in the immediate vicinity, now and in the future."
Abraham's action drew immediate criticism from Nevada officials, who were expecting Bush's decision before the president leaves for Asia tomorrow.
Critics noted that Bush pledged during his presidential campaign to base the decision on "sound science."
In a speech on the Senate floor Thursday night, Reid said Bush needed to live up to a campaign promise to base a Yucca Mountain decision on "sound science."
"It's time for the president to fill the commitment he made to the country and the people of Nevada," Reid said. "The president should wait until he receives peer-reviewed science of the highest caliber.
"That science doesn't exist," he added.
Reid and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., fired off a letter to Bush Thursday night urging him to delay action.
In a statement, Berkley said the president "has an obligation to reject the recommendation" and send it "back to the drawing board."
Nevada's congressional delegation was immediately unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.
In his letter, Abraham said he weighed "national compelling interests" in his decision, including national security, environmental concerns and longterm energy goals.
Abraham noted that 161 million Americans live within 75 miles of nuclear waste storage sites nationwide.
"The facilities housing these materials were intended to do so on a temporary basis," Abraham said. "They should be able to withstand current terrorist threats, but that may not remain the case in the future. These materials would be far better secured in a deep underground repository at Yucca Mountain."
Nevada officials have argued a counterpoint: that 50 million Americans in 43 states live along the highway and rail routes that would be used to haul waste to Nevada -- putting them at risk of a terrorist strike. Nevada lawmakers had stressed that point at a rally with anti-Yucca activists at the Capitol just hours before Abraham sent his letter.
"It is important to get this message all across this country," Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told a crowd of roughly 50 protesters. "Let's keep this stuff right where it is."
Nevada officials have a strategy that now centers on the courts and Congress. They have filed lawsuits challenging the project and plan to file more, and they are lobbying Congress for an expected vote.
Guinn said he will veto the decision, which will then send the issue to a vote of both houses of Congress.
Guinn, who will have 60 days to veto the president's decision, would not immediately say when he will act.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Thursday the state is prepared to "immediately" file another suit against the Energy Department.
"We will file a legal challenge based on our belief that sound science proves that the site is unsuitable," Del Papa said. That suit could be filed as soon as today with Del Papa pledging to file another suit on the president's decision.
Nevada's Congressional delegation plans a bit more diplomatic approach to lure colleagues onto the state's side. After a Guinn veto, Congress would have 90 legislative days to override the governor's decision by a simply majority of both houses.
Although many believe the battle will be lost in the House, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., pledged last year the dump will be blocked if Democrats control the Senate -- which they now narrowly do.
In addition to the state's anticipated lawsuit against Abraham's decision, four other lawsuits are traveling through the courts in hopes of finding any legal remedy.
"All it takes is one to succeed and the dump's dead," said Robert Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects.
In addition, state Engineer Hugh Ricci has refused to extend the temporary water permit obtained by the Energy Department in its study of the site. That permit expires April 10, and Ricci's action will likely prompt yet another suit.
The Yucca site's suitability was the most important factor in Abraham's decision, Abraham said. He said waste could be safely isolated from the environment at Yucca Mountain relying on the site's remote location and geology, as well as man-made systems such as high-tech metal waste containers.
Nuclear energy officials and repository supporters praised the decision.
"It's important that the government continue to move forward on the Yucca Mountain project as long as science deems it prudent to do so," Nuclear Energy Institute president and CEO Joe Colvin said in a written statement. "It will help to ensure our national security so that future generations of Americans can continue to enjoy the energy, economic and clean-air benefits of nuclear energy."
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