Editorial: Undermining state’s fight against Yucca

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 | 8:48 a.m.

Over the weekend delegates at the Nevada Republican Party's annual convention adopted a plank in their platform that claims to support Nevada's elected officials in their fight against the Yucca Mountain project. But you have to wonder about the party activists' sincerity. The state GOP's view on Yucca Mountain was weakened by defeatist language that also said "in the event the battle is lost, we urge Nevada public officials to work with the Bush administration for the maximum benefit for Nevada." It sounds as if the party's platform was ghostwritten by Robert List, the nuclear power lobbyist and former Republican governor of Nevada who says we should negotiate for benefits in return for receiving the dump. Even the tepid statement that was adopted nearly didn't make it: Originally the delegates were ready to pass their platform with no reference to Yucca Mountain at all.

GOP activists aren't doing any favors for Gov. Kenny Guinn, Sen. John Ensign and Rep. Jim Gibbons, all Republicans who have done their best to stop a nuclear waste dump. Nevada Republican elected officials, meanwhile, are upset with Democrats, who not only have scored partisan political points by singling out Republican national leaders' support for Yucca Mountain, but who also have criticized Nevada congressional candidates Jon Porter and Lynette Boggs McDonald for cozying up to these same high-profile politicians. But Democrats are only stating the obvious when they note that it was President George Bush, a Republican, and GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert who have led the push for Yucca Mountain's approval. Nevada's Republican elected officials shouldn't spend too much time chiding Democrats: At least the Democrats back the fight being waged by Guinn, Gi bbons and Ensign.