Analysis: Abraham decision prompts political finger-pointing

Erin Neff

Monday, Jan. 14, 2002 | 9:41 a.m.

Nevadans immediately decried politics as the reason behind Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's decision to recommend Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste dump.

But it was politics, not necessarily leadership, that Nevadans used to respond to Thursday's decision.

Democrats immediately blamed the Republican administration and vowed Abraham's decision would hurt congressional hopefuls in the other party. Republicans countered that Democrats also had a history with Yucca Mountain decisions.

Amid the finger-pointing were few examples of the type of leadership many expect in a crisis. And while last Thursday was no Sept. 11, the decision was the first major step to bring the most radioactive material known to man within 90 miles of Las Vegas.

"This decision stinks," Gov. Kenny Guinn said.

Not exactly a Churchillian response during what many considered a D-Day for Nevada.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman lobbed another knee-jerk statement, proclaiming Abraham, "a piece of garbage."

For years Nevada environmentalists have said there is no scientific evidence that Yucca Mountain can safely hold 77,000 tons of the waste. A recent General Accounting Office report urges the Bush administration to postpone a decision on Yucca because of the numerous scientific doubts.

But there was no science behind the finger-pointing on Thursday.

Democrats immediately decried the decision and tried to take out Republicans running for Congress in the process. After all, this is an election year and the balance of power in Washington, D.C., is more important outside Nevada than nuclear waste.

"I'd guarantee you that Nevada families don't want 77,000 tons of the world's most toxic substance buried in their back yard," said Mark Nevins, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in Washington. "I don't think there's any question the Republicans are tied to the decision.

"Ultimately this decision will be decided by the United States House of Representatives, and their leadership wants this waste shipped to Nevada," Nevins added. "A vote for Jon Porter or Lynette Boggs McDonald is a vote for a Congress who will do just that."

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he thought Porter and Boggs McDonald were vulnerable to criticism about Yucca Mountain even though both Republican congressional hopefuls are staunch opponents of the dump.

Clark County Republican Chairman Steve Wark disagreed by pointing some fingers of his own.

"The majority of the Yucca Mountain development was done under the Clinton administration," Wark charged. "Clinton's Democratic administration probably has more to do with us being where we are today than any Republican."

What's more, Wark said, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., did nothing as majority whip to alter Abraham's expected course.

While partisan politics erupted within Nevada after the decision, Yucca Mountain is still largely unknown throughout the nation. And with nuclear waste stored at plants in 31 states, most Americans would be happy to shove it into the Nevada desert.

Ann Wagner, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, did not even know what Yucca Mountain was when she visited Las Vegas on Friday.

No matter that news of the decision ran on the front page of The Washington Post that day. Wagner responded to a question detailing Abraham's decision and the potential fallout for Republicans with a blank look before stammering, "Uh, the local issues, I do leave for the people most familiar with the topic."

Jerry Longfellow, a tourist visiting Las Vegas this weekend from St. Louis, said if such a decision came down against Missouri, he would expect his leaders to immediately file a lawsuit or beat a constant drum about the science.

"I didn't know about Yucca Mountain until I came here and read the paper calling it Yuck-a," Longfellow said on Friday looking at a copy of the Sun in a gas station. "I think you all should start a national campaign about how Yucca isn't safe and that they should look somewhere else."

The federal government has been focused on Yucca Mountain since 1987, although it once also considered sites in Hanford, Wash. and in Deaf Smith County, Texas.

Marlene Rios, who moved to Las Vegas in December, said she thought Thursday's decision was the final one the way politicians talked about it.

"I heard them say they were going to fight it, but I also saw on the news complaining about who was to blame," she said. "I think they should all work together."

Whether it is the Republican Guinn's work with Democrat Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa or Reid and Ensign joining together, politicians in Nevada do show bipartisan opposition to Yucca Mountain.

"I want to see more of that," said Rios, a cocktail waitress who plans to register to vote as a Democrat. "Just do what they can to stop it."