Ridge, Abraham won’t get similar treatment in visits

Benjamin Grove

Friday, Jan. 4, 2002 | 11:26 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada officials plan to warmly welcome Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge next week for a tour of the Nevada Test Site, but they will turn a cold shoulder to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Ridge plans to size up a Nevada proposal that would transform the former nuclear bomb proving grounds at the Test Site into a national counter-terrorism school. Ridge will fly into Las Vegas Tuesday night and tour the site Wednesday morning accompanied by Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., Ridge spokesman Gordon Johndroe confirmed today.

Ridge's office also contacted Gov. Kenny Guinn's office to schedule a possible meeting.

Ridge has not formed an opinion about the proposed counter-terrorism school. "That's why we're making the trip," Johndroe said.

Ridge's trip would come two days after a planned visit to the Test Site by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. An arm of the Energy Department manages the site.

Reid and Ensign met privately with Abraham in November to pitch the proposal and were planning to give Abraham an in-depth, day-long tour of Test Site facilities and to observe a counter-terrorism course demonstration.

But Reid and Ensign have now decided they won't accompany Abraham.

Abraham in recent days has shifted the focus of his Nevada visit. He now plans to spend just a few hours visiting the Test Site to make time for a stop at nearby Yucca Mountain, site of a proposed national nuclear waste repository, Reid aides said.

A DOE spokesman was not available for comment about Abraham's trip.

Abraham's new itinerary created an awkward situation for Nevada officials -- they are trying to win Abraham's approval for the counter-terrorism academy at the Test Site, but they have bitterly battled with the DOE over the Yucca project. They say the plan to bury the nation's nuclear waste in tunnels under Yucca Mountain is unsafe.

State officials have repeatedly demanded that Abraham delay his recommendation to President Bush about Yucca, due in the coming weeks.

"There's a clear need for the Energy Secretary to see the Yucca facility, but as far as what it means in the big picture, this visit only strengthens the resolve of the congressional delegation in opposition to the nuclear dump," Reid spokesman Nathan Naylor said.

Abraham's quick visits to the Test Site and Yucca are relatively meaningless, Nevada sources now say.

Reid and John Ensign, R-Nev., plan to focus now on Ridge's visit, their aides said. Nevada's members of the House, Democrat Shelley Berkley and Republican Jim Gibbons, will be on overseas trips during Ridge's visit.

Nevada lawmakers have long said the Test Site is the perfect place to train emergency responders such as police, firefighters and paramedics, as well as military personnel from across the nation. The plan could create jobs and revitalize the Test Site after nuclear bomb tests were banned in 1992.

The site, roughly 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is ideal for an anti-terrorism academy because of existing infrastructure such as barracks and its secure 1,350-acre expanse. Weapons of mass destruction training courses are already conducted at the site throughout the year.