Editorial: This match was made in heaven

Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2002 | 8:40 a.m.

It was a perfect fit when a U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led coalition of energy groups recently picked John Sununu to be a lobbyist in its drive to push for the construction of a nuclear waste dump in Nevada. For nearly two decades the nuclear power industry has adopted an arrogant, take-no-prisoners campaign to get nuclear waste buried in Nevada, a style of wielding power that Sununu was very familiar with when he was the chief of staff for the first President Bush. As New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd noted in a 1999 column about political payback, typical of Sununu's tenure was the time that he canceled an Ohio Republican's reservation for a presidential box at the Kennedy Center because the congressman opposed the controversial 1990 budget deal, the one where Bush followed Sununu's advice and broke his "no new taxes" pledge. Sununu ultimately resigned following revelations that he not only used military planes to take ski trips and visit his dentist, but he also used the ! White House limousine to travel to a stamp auction in New York.

Sununu's hubris probably owes a lot then to his suggestion this week that Nevadans have a patriotic duty to accept nuclear waste. Sununu contends that a centralized dump in the United States is essential to protect our national security. And Sununu warned that if Nevada isn't willing to do its part for homeland security by taking the nuclear waste, which now is stored in 31 states where nuclear power is generated, there could be retribution for our tourist-based economy. Americans who don't want the waste in their back yards, Sununu said, just may decide to vacation elsewhere.

It is just plain irresponsible for Sununu to try to chill debate about Yucca Mountain's suitability by invoking patriotism. It's a smokescreen by dump supporters to avoid discussing the dangers posed to our safety and the environment by the transportation and permanent burial of 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste. Nevada simply is following the options it has under federal law to register its opposition, including the use of a veto that Congress ultimately can sustain or override. Besides, national security won't be threatened if the waste is left where it is guarded now. If anything, the thousands of trips that would be necessary to send the nuclear waste to Nevada would be an inviting target for terrorists because the shipments would be even more vulnerable than at a secure location.

Regarding the issue of this state helping out with national security, Nevadans have done more than their fair share, including support for important military bases located here. But the biggest sacrifice this state's residents have made is living with the Nevada Test Site, the nuclear proving ground for the nation's nuclear arsenal from the 1950s to the 1990s. The atomic tests were necessary, but they did forever scar the land, and the radioactive fallout from the above-ground tests also killed people in Nevada and Utah who lived downwind from the tests. The last thing Nevadans need from the nuclear power industry is a lecture on patriotism.

Unfortunately, in the post-Sept. 11 political climate, too many politicians and interest groups have suggested Congress has a "patriotic duty" to pass whatever proposals or legislation they're backing -- often in the form of tax breaks or favors to well-heeled business groups. The nuclear power industry is showing that it's no exception, either. The supporters of a dump at Yucca Mountain are going to use every demagogic trick available to try to turn residents of other states against Nevadans. Last week House Speaker Dennis Hastert characterized those opposed to Yucca Mountain as engaging in "left-wing political grandstanding." The ripostes by Sununu and Hastert are shameless, but they're just the beginning as nuclear dump backers will do anything to get a nuclear waste dump built in Nevada.