Anti-Yucca message spreads to Oregon, Utah

Benjamin Grove and Cy Ryan

Friday, May 10, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- An Australian rock band playing a gig in Oregon and a television commercial running in Utah urged senators in the two states to vote against Yucca Mountain.

Nevada officials and environmental groups are plugging into whatever media they can access in their battle to kill the nuclear waste dump plan in the Senate, following the House's 306-117 vote in favor of the project Wednesday.

The Senate vote, expected in July, could be close, and Yucca lobbyists and activists are working hard to influence the outcome. Each of the 100 senators has become crucial in Nevada's effort to convince a simple majority to oppose the nuclear waste repository.

If both the House and Senate approve Yucca Mountain, the Energy Department will seek a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Waste piling up at nuclear power plants and defense sites nationwide could be shipped to Nevada for permanent burial as early as 2010.

The band Midnight Oil, led by longtime environmentalist Peter Garrett, denounced Yucca at a press conference Thursday before a show in Portland, Ore. Garrett is a longtime opponent of Yucca, Susan Stewart, a band representative, said.

Garrett has spoken against a national nuclear waste repository in Australia similar to Yucca.

"Mass transport of large amounts of highly dangerous radioactive waste through Oregon is a very dumb idea; dangerous for people and their environment," Garrett told reporters at a Portland hotel, according to a press release. "We oppose it in Australia, and we oppose it here. Our fans and the Oregon public deserve a lot better than this harebrained recipe for hell."

Midnight Oil has been active on a number of environmental issues for more than two decades. The group's biggest hit, the late-1980s single "Beds Are Burning" was about Aboriginal land rights.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Nevada officials launched their second anti-Yucca Mountain commercial in Salt Lake City, aimed at Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Robert Bennett. Both have supported Yucca in the past, but Hatch is reportedly still undecided on the upcoming vote.

He opposes a private business coalition plan to store high-level waste temporarily at a Goshute Indian site. Hatch will look at the issue with "fresh eyes," spokeswoman Heather Barney told The Salt Lake Tribune.

The 30-second commercial says that shipping waste across the nation risks accidents and terrorist attacks. Nevada officials estimate that 90 percent of the waste would be shipped by truck and rail through Utah.

"We want everybody to understand that this is an issue of national significance, and is not just limited to Nevada," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Neavda Nuclear Projects Agency, the state's Yucca watchdog.

Nuclear industry officials adamantly deny that shipping waste is risky. They point to a long safety record of shipping high-level waste that dates from the 1960s. To counter the Nevada commercial, the pro-Yucca group Alliance for Sound Nuclear Policy plans to run a commercial of its own.

The Salt Lake City commercial will air through May 29 on the three network affiliates, plus Fox, sources said. The ad's cost was not disclosed. The anti-Yucca group Physicians for Social Responsibility helped the state of Nevada pay for it. The state has a fund for anti-Yucca activities, including advertising, grass-roots lobbying and legal work.

More than 1,000 people have chipped in more than $250,000 since April 10 when Gov. Kenny Guinn urged citizens to contribute. That's important because on April 10 the state's Legislative Interim Finance Committee pledged up to match incoming private donations up to $3 million, officials said,

Loux said Thursday that there are a "couple of hundred more envelopes to be opened" that contain money to wage the battle. He said people are still phoning in pledges.

Guinn and Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign have contributed $1,000 of their personal money. Loux said Reps. Shelley Berkeley and Jim Gibbons have also donated, but he did not know the amount. State Treasurer Brian Krolicki gave $50 -- or $10 each for himself, his wife, his two daughters and a third child expected June 6.

The $250,000 does not include donations by companies and organizations. The gaming industry has given more than $750,000.

The fund started when the 2001 Legislature, at the request of Guinn, allocated $4 million. Local governments chipped in more than $1.5 million.