Letter: Now, more than ever, fight waste dump at Yucca

Thursday, July 18, 2002 | 9:48 a.m.

It is quite disturbing to note the defeatist air that has been pervading around the valley after the Senate's endorsement of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal project.

Instead of taking this setback as a rallying point to energize our efforts in stopping the trucks and trains from rolling, and helping our elected leaders in their efforts to block this disservice to Nevadans, we are harping on "compensatory trade-offs" because of the perception that it's already a foregone conclusion.

Are we all planning to accept that in the near future, tons of nuclear waste will be buried a mere hundred miles from where we're sleeping, and we can't do anything about it?

It's high time we get roused from our apathetic slumber. High-level nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain will be a detriment to the health and welfare of the citizens of Nevada and everyone else who resides along the mesh of transportation routes designed to funnel the world's most lethal poison down our comparatively sparse throats.

Why Nevada? Once the death plumes begin, by accident or decay, we are the least expensive real estate to cross off the map! Ask former residents of Hanford, Wash., or Rocky Flats, Colo., or Oak Ridge, Tenn., how well our government scientists protected their environment.

Fools forever? Are Nevadans only loyal to cash? Nevada was "Battle Born"; start fighting beside one another for the rights guaranteed Nevadans and our progeny by the United States Constitution.

KEITH SPENCER