Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Let’s defy the odds

SO THE NEWS ain't that good around here. What else is new?

On Thursday Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham recommended to the White House that the nation's nuclear garbage be buried in Yucca Mountain. At issue for President George W. Bush was whether he would keep his promise to Nevadans by sending the recommendation back with instructions to do the science and forget the politics. On Friday Mr. Bush took the easy and the politically expedient way out by deciding to shove that poison down our Yucca Mountain.

I would much rather have written today to send a special birthday greeting to someone I love very much. I am also sure that most Nevadans would much rather be reading about something other than nuclear waste. But, I am afraid, the very real threat to our health and safety that is posed by Bush's pending decision to do the nuclear power industry's bidding on this one makes it clear to me that we are just beginning to scratch the surface and that there will be a lot more written on this subject.

The controversial judging of the pairs ice skating at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City this past week points out the inherent weaknesses in our fellow human beings. We can be bought, rented, coerced, cajoled or just plain duped into doing those things that make no sense and cause much pain to otherwise innocent people. Oftentimes there is no rhyme or reason to why things are done to us and we must accept the old adage that life, sometimes, just isn't fair. And if people can act so callously and so inhumanely for a piece of gold, just think what they might do when billions are at stake.

But that doesn't mean we have to take our beating lying down. If there is anything we have learned during our 225-year history it is that Americans have a keen sense of right and wrong, and when we know we have been wronged, there is hell to pay. In the case of the nuclear power industry, the chamber of commerce, our Republican president, almost every Republican member of Congress and, yes, even some Democrats who have lost their way ... there is no doubt in the minds of almost every Nevadan -- with the notable exception of former Gov. Bob List, who found a pot of gold in his betrayal of his friends and neighbors -- that we have been put upon by our government and that we are being wronged.

What still astonishes me at this very late date is the continued "head in the sand" attitude by the leadership of our No. 1 and only industry when it comes to pulling out all the stops in trying to defeat our very popular president's plan to destroy the hopes, dreams and aspirations of Nevada's families. Where's the outrage, guys? Who cares about the NCAA when this nuke waste thing could destroy all that you have built and not just a small part of the action? What will it matter if your taxes go up a little when your bottom lines disappear along with the tourists who refuse to visit a place that poses such a danger to their own well-being?

I don't necessarily agree with our good and mostly gracious mayor, Oscar Goodman, when he selects some of his most colorful language to describe Abraham, his ancestors and his progeny when he talks about the man who wants to play God with the health and safety of every Nevadan. I don't agree because a little name calling doesn't help at this point although, I must admit, it sure feels good to recognize a no-good, rotten secretary when you see one.

Instead of the epithets, though, what we have to do now is expend every effort and spend every dollar necessary to educate the rest of this country about the evils of trucking and training a minimum of 77,000 tons of the deadliest poison known to man through almost every major city in the country on its way to Las Vegas. We have to call on every resource at our disposal -- the greens, grays and grads who have the ability to reach across the grass roots of America -- and stir the underbrush of public opinion until people understand the dangers they face in their own neighborhoods and unconscionable conditions they are forcing upon the mothers and fathers of Nevada. For it will be our job to find a way to live and not die as a result of President Bush's failure to keep the promise.

I realize it isn't popular these days to criticize the man who his doing a pretty darn good job of destroying a worldwide terrorist effort to kill us where we sleep. But it just doesn't make sense to many of us that a man who can be so understanding of what has to be done to do what is right can lack any understanding when it comes to doing what is so very wrong to the 2 million people who live in this state. And, while I am at it, meeting, greeting and pleading with the most powerful man in the world is a good first effort, but our elected leaders must be ready to stand toe to toe with any villain whose actions will poison our futures and destroy our dreams.

The last time people in this country decided to impose their will upon another group of citizens, it resulted in a bloody civil war. A war, I suggest, for which some in this country are still bearing grudges. But, in that case, the cause was just and the pain inflicted was necessary to ensure that this country would grow up to be the home of the brave and the land of the free. In the present case, it is just a matter of money and expediency that drives President Bush toward a decision to send the nation's high-level radioactive waste through Las Vegas on its way to Yucca Mountain. In a way, it is too bad the Congress didn't pass campaign finance reform years ago because then we wouldn't have so many lawmakers and an entire executive branch so beholden to the big money players in the power industry.

But all of that doesn't help Nevadans with the fight ahead. What we need for victory is the knowledge and determination that our cause is just. We will also need money, the will to succeed and the full and unqualified attention of our major industry to carry this fight to the front porches of every American. There is a certain pleasure people get when they defy the odds and post a victory that should not have happened. Imagine the pleasure we will get when we beat the evil ones in America who would poison us to save themselves.

Imagine what happens if we don't.

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