Yucca fight in Senate looking grim

Benjamin Grove

Friday, June 7, 2002 | 11:03 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign are not throwing in the towel in their effort in the Senate to kill making Yucca Mountain a nuclear waste repository, despite signs this week that at least 51 senators intend to vote for the project.

After the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the project on a 13-10 vote Wednesday, Ensign, a Republican, and Reid, a Democrat, acknowledged that Yucca was likely to pass unless they could prevent a vote with procedural maneuvers. The Senate is expected to vote before July 25.

"We're going to continue to fight," Reid, Senate majority whip, told the Sun, vowing to continue lobbying his fellow senators.

The committee vote made it clear Yucca will pass with at least 51 supporters, several published reports indicate.

CongressDaily's survey found 49 senators had committed support for Yucca before Wednesday's vote, with several undecided. One of those undecided, Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., voted for Yucca in the committee. Another undecided, Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., voted against Yucca in committee, but said he would support the measure if the vote was close.

Observers believe at least several senators are still deeply conflicted over the vote. Carper said he was "in anguish" as he struggled to decide how to vote on Yucca, in part because of his longtime friendship with Reid.

Reid and Ensign have declined to offer their own vote counts, but have said they will not call a halt to a multimillion-dollar public relations and lobbying effort led by Nevada officials.

The campaign, designed to pressure senators to oppose the dump, has included anti-Yucca television commercials in Vermont, Utah and Wyoming, and massive grass-roots efforts elsewhere. The effort has been funded in large part by gaming and environmental groups and some Legislature-approved taxpayer money.

"The senators have not given up, and they will continue to try to get the 51 votes," Reid spokeswoman Tessa Hafen reiterated today.

Nevada officials are planning to run television commercials in three or four more states before the vote, said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, the state's Yucca watchdog. He declined to say which states.

"We are still spending money in states to impact the Senate, and will continue to do that up until the Senate vote," Loux said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said he was encouraged -- not discouraged -- by the committee vote.

"I'm pleased that 10 senators saw their way to understanding the dangers of Yucca Mountain," Guinn said in a statement Thursday. "The more people learn the truth about Yucca Mountain, the more they realize that this is not just a Nevada problem, but one that will affect every single American for generations to come."

Guinn said the committee vote and the latest lawsuit Nevada filed against the Energy Department sow that the state's efforts have been "effective and should continue."

"No one believed that Yucca Mountain would be an easy fight in Congress, with the overwhelming funding advantage the nuclear power industry has over the state of Nevada," Guinn said. "The vast majority of Nevadans are against this project, and it's our obligation to fight against a project DOE has not proved is safe."

Behind the scenes Reid and Ensign's lobbying strategy may have shifted somewhat. As they urge senators to oppose Yucca, they are also goading them to oppose holding a vote at all, given the strong objections of Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.

Only the Senate leader by tradition calls for votes, and Daschle has vowed opposition to Yucca. But a unique provision in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act allows any senator to bring Yucca to the floor.

After the committee vote Ensign called the planned procedural maneuver "our best hope."