It’s Yuck-a: Nevadans upset, plan fight against Abraham decision

Friday, Jan. 11, 2002 | 11:15 a.m.

Nevada political, business, labor and community leaders expressed dismay Thursday at Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's recommendation to make Yucca Mountain the site of the nation's high-level nuclear waste dump, and are mobilizing to fight the decision.

Stepped-up litigation, a nationwide advertising campaign and intense lobbying of the White House, Congress and cities along the proposed nuclear waste transportation routes are all part of the planned offensive.

Gov. Kenny Guinn and Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign promised Thursday to carry the fight to President Bush, who must act on Abraham's recommendation. Abraham must wait 30 days before delivering the recommendation to the president.

"The ball is now in President Bush's court," said Reid, the Senate's assistant majority leader. "He doesn't have to accept Abraham's recommendation."

Former Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., a leading Yucca Mountain opponent while in office, said Nevada has a number of options to pursue, which include a strong, anti-Yucca legal strategy that could tie the project up in court.

The state's multipronged attack will revolve around the theme that scientific studies over the past two decades show Yucca is not safe for burying the deadly waste.

The Nevada offensive will include a strong commitment from the wealthy casino industry, which has so far stayed out of the fray other than to voice opposition.

Gaming's leaders said Thursday the industry will play a significant role in opposing Abraham's recommendation declaring Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, suitable to bury 77,000 tons of the nation's nuclear waste.

"The industry lobbies on a variety of issues," said Bill Bible, Nevada Resort Association president. "But this issue clearly is going to move to the forefront. We're going to have to spend a lot of time and effort assisting Nevada's congressional delegation."

Bible said the subject will be discussed at the NRA's board meeting next week.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington lobbying arm, echoed Bible's words, saying he planned to talk to his board members, several of whom also belong to the NRA, and seek guidance for a potential battle plan.

"Regardless of whether you're dealing with Congress, the Bush administration or the courts, the industry in Nevada should be involved in doing everything it can to prevent this from happening," Fahrenkopf said. "It needs to use every means possible."

Former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, a senior vice president at Harrah's Entertainment Inc., strongly condemned Abraham's recommendation.

"This decision, based on what we all know is fallacious data, is the biggest threat to the gaming industry and Nevada's economy that could ever be imagined," Jones said. "It's outrageous that the federal government would put in jeopardy the entire economy of the state.

"The industry needs to be much more visible in its support of our elected officials in stopping Yucca Mountain, and I think you'll see that happen."

Rally expected

Sig Rogich, a longtime political consultant who once worked in the White House, said he expected Nevadans will rally around its elected leaders.

"I think everyone knows this is bad for our state," Rogich, a consultant to Guinn, said. " I think you'll see a frenzied effort to bring all of the parties together to fight this thing."

D. Taylor, staff director of the Culinary Union, which represents about 50,000 hospitality workers in Southern Nevada, said his local also will play a stepped-up role in the Yucca Mountain battle.

"We've got to do everything in our power to not have 77,000 tons of nuclear waste in our back yard," Taylor said. "People of all political stripes should come together on this since this is a threat to our families and our future."

Taylor said the Culinary Union would lead a civil disobedience campaign against the dump if necessary.

"We should massively resist this," he said.

Although it has been on record opposing the dump for more than a decade, the casino industry has been criticized for standing on the sidelines for the most part throughout the hard-fought battle..

"(It's) lack of involvement in this fight has been a source of great consternation among Nevada's elected officials for years," a well-placed Nevada congressional source said.

"This is great news for the state. (It's) an indispensable member of the fight and having (it) on board really helps complete the team."

Grass-roots campaign

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, which recently pulled out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of its pro-Yucca Mountain stance, also plans to intensify its opposition.

Kamy Dempsey, the Las Vegas chamber's director of governmental affairs, said her organization plans a grass-roots campaign to encourage its members to take a more active role in the fight.

She said the local chamber will help officials get the word out to elected leaders in other states about the dangers of transporting high-level nuclear waste across the country.

"We're going to do whatever we can to send the message to surrounding states that this is bad for everyone," Dempsey said.

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, the state's Yucca Mountain watchdog, said the battle is far from over.

"Everybody needs to understand that this is just the beginning of the process," he said. "There's a heck of a way to go."

Bryan said Abraham's recommendation Thursday so soon after his quick trip to Yucca Mountain this week smacked of arrogance.

"It was transparent that Abraham had probably already written the letter of recommendation to the president when he visited Yucca," said Bryan, who was governor in 1987 when Congress designated the mountain as the only site under consideration.

"He was just going through the motions. The decision, of course, we would disagree with. But the way in which it was handled -- it's almost as if he was playing us off as fools."

Sound, suitable

In a letter to Guinn Thursday, Abraham said that science behind the multibillion-dollar project is "sound," and the site is "technically suitable to store the high-level waste from the nation's power plants.

Abraham also said the Yucca repository is "important to our national security."

The governor said the decision by Abraham "stinks," and he told the energy secretary, "we'll see him in court."

"I explained to him we'll fight it in the Congress, in the Oval, in every regulatory body we can, Guinn said. "We'll take all of our arguments to the courts. This fight is far from over."

Guinn said he hopes to meet with Bush within the next month to show him that Abraham's decision was wrong and an affront to all Nevadans.

Former Gov. Bob Miller, who led the fight against the dump while in office, supported Guinn's effort.

"Anyone with influence with President Bush should be trying to convince him that the secretary of energy acted hastily and inappropriately," Miller said.

But the Nevada Democratic Party broke the spirit of bipartisan opposition to the dump Thursday by criticizing the governor for having "no clout or influence with the White House or within his own party" to stop the Yucca Mountain project from moving forward.

"It's obvious now that Guinn has no juice at all with Republicans, who have made him look like cannon fodder, " the party said in a statement Thursday.

State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, added:

"Gov. Guinn and the Republicans told Nevadans that the Bush administration would be as much against the Yucca project as the Democrats. They were wrong. Dead wrong."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., released a statement calling Abraham's decision "irresponsible" and said the facts are on Nevada's side.

"The president of the United States swore to Nevadans that he would led sound science decide the fate of the Yucca Mountain Project, and the people of Nevada responded by putting their trust in him" Berkley said.

"It's now time for President Bush to live up to his word and demonstrate some domestic leadership by shutting down the ill-conceived Yucca Mountain project once and for all."

President to review

White House spokesman Ken Lisaius declined comment on how Bush will handle the Yucca recommendation.

He said the president intends to review the recommendation at length when he receives it and base his decision on sound science.

Reid, a Democrat, and Ensign, a Republican, told a news conference in Reno that they also want a chance to show Bush that the recommendations of the Energy Department are scientifically unsound.

If Bush goes forward with Yucca Mountain, Guinn can veto the decision. And the decision then would rest with Congress, which can override Guinn's veto with a simple majority vote.

Reid and Ensign said they don't have enough votes in the Senate to stop an override, and Reid predicted it would be a tough fight for Nevada.

Congress would have 90 days to override the Nevada veto.

Pro-Yucca lawmakers and lobbyists already are mustering for that vote.

"It's disappointing that left-wing political grandstanding has prevented the government from moving forward on a centralized, safe storage location for nuclear waste sooner than today," House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said.

Illinois has 11 nuclear reactors where waste is piling up, and lawmakers from the state are eager to ship it to Nevada.

"I believe that the citizens of Illinois would rather have nuclear waste stored in a federal site in the Nevada desert over the current temporary situation at each individual nuclear facility," Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., said.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, meanwhile, said Nevada probably would file a lawsuit if Bush sides with Abraham.

"Should the president recommend Yucca Mountain as a site to Congress, at that point the state will again likely initiate legal action," Del Papa said. "When the DOE issues its final environmental impact statement, the state will likewise file a legal challenge."

The 2001 Legislature, at the suggestion of Guinn, allocated $4 million to fight the dump. And local governments, most in Southern Nevada, have chipped in to bring the amount to more than $5 million. Part of that money will be allocated to an advertising campaign to win over allies in cities along the routes that will be used to transport the nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain.

Del Papa's office has already hired a Washington law firm to lead the legal fight.

"Never before has Nevada had such a fine team ready and eager to undertake this battle," she said. "We are optimistic that the repository at Yucca Mountain will never be built."

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman said he wasn't surprised at Abraham's recommendation. He called his visit to Yucca Mountain this week a "phony fraud on Nevada."

"I think this guy Abraham is a big jerk," Goodman said.

Goodman said isn't as concerned about the location of the site, but at the transportation implications. If there were a chemical spill or an attack on a truck hauling the waste, Las Vegas could be turned into a ghost town.

Goodman heads to the U.S. Conference of Mayors next week and plans to meet with officials representing cities that would be affected by the transportation of nuclear waste.

He said he's hopeful the cities will join forces with Nevada in opposing the dump.

"Right now it's Nevada problem, but next week I hope it's a U.S. problem," he said.

Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera said he spent much of Thursday on the phone with Goodman about co-authoring a letter to Bush, condemning Abraham's recommendation.

"I'm outraged by it," said Herrera, an announced candidate for Congress. "We had a promise from Secretary Abraham to engage in a process based on science, not politics. Nothing could have been further from the truth."

Herrera, who said much of the scientific research has yet to be completed, promised that the county will aggressively pursue every legal option it has available.

"We're currently working to evaluate our options and put them into play immediately," Herrera said.

Herrera said he believes Clark County and state officials did everything they could to battle the federal government, but ultimately had no chance to succeed.

"It goes back to the DOE not being objective; it's been bias about the outcome since the beginning," Herrera said.

County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who has worked on keeping radioactive waste out of Nevada for two decades, said she was hardly surprised by Abraham's recommendation after his visit to Southern Nevada last week.

"He goes and looks for one hour, then snuck into a DOE meeting," Williams said. "It's typical of the nuclear industry, power industry and their high-paid lobbyists who don't give a damn about people, only money."

Williams emphasized that the recommendation is only the beginning of a long process.

"Maybe it's time so we can just get the truth out," Williams said. "All we've had is hundreds of millions of dollars worth of phony information and propaganda from agencies that are supposed to protect us. It's a joke." Sun reporters

Cy Ryan, Benjamin Grove, Adrienne Packer and Diana Sahagun contributed to this report.

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