Editorial: Anti-dump campaign needs boost

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 5:09 a.m.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is considering whether he has the legal authority to call a special session of the Legislature in order to get $10 million from the state's "rainy day" fund that could help pay for the state's anti-Yucca Mountain campaign. The extra funds could be used in part to pay for television ads in states with major highways and railways running through them, explaining how dangerous it would be to ship nuclear waste cross-country to Nevada, a bid to not only influence a state's residents but also its members of Congress.

Guinn, who has been consulting with Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign about convening a special session, will have to act quickly since the $6 million that's already been raised for the anti-dump campaign is nearly tapped. The issue is reaching a critical point, with Congress expected to reach a final decision on Yucca Mountain's fate within a few months. Special sessions of the Legislature are extraordinary -- there have only been 17 in the state's 138-year history. But if the threats posed by Yucca Mountain to the safety of our residents and the state's economy aren't important enough, then just exactly what would be worthy of a special session?

Nevada's senators are united on the need for more money to oppose the dump, but it is discouraging to see Ensign and his Republican colleague in the Nevada congressional delegation, Rep. Jim Gibbons, take cheap shots at Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who is helping Nevada in this fight. Last week they both suggested that Daschle, who previously said Yucca Mountain would be dead in a Democrat-controlled Senate, has the power to prevent Yucca Mountain legislation from coming up for a vote. But Daschle can't bottle up a vote on nuclear waste storage like he can other legislation. Daschle has pointed out that a 1982 law says that any senator may seek a vote on Yucca Mountain.

What's really going on is obfuscation by the GOP duo. They don't want Nevadans reminded that it is fellow Republicans, primarily President Bush and the GOP leadership in Congress, who are leading the charge to send nuclear waste here. It sounds like Ensign, who crowed during 2000 that his election would aid Nevada in the battle against Yucca Mountain, is having a tough time rounding up Republican senators. If Ensign would devote the time he uses to deflect blame to actually lobbying fellow senators, he might find more success.