Editorial: Aschcroft entering lion’s den on Yucca

Tuesday, May 7, 2002 | 8:45 a.m.

By his presence here on Wednesday, Attorney General John Ashcroft will be affirming the importance of Nevada's Anti-Terrorism Task Force. He will meet privately with task force members at the George Federal Building and he will also join with them for a public news conference. Any day-to-day political differences with Ashcroft are trivial in comparison with the overall mission of anti-terrorism. We're glad the attorney general is coming here to discuss this issue.

While Ashcroft is here, we would hope that our task force uses the opportunity to state that the transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain represents a serious threat to homeland security. We respect the attorney general's position as a key member of President Bush's pro-Yucca administration and understand that he will likely disagree. Yet Nevada's strong stand on this issue must be raised at every opportunity. We don't want to lend credence to the statements last week of Yucca lobbyist and former Nev. Gov. Bob List, who said Nevada's resolve on this issue is weakening.