Letter: Yucca counsel is a waste of our $4 million

Friday, Sept. 6, 2002 | 9:12 a.m.

I think it's a little late to be fighting the Yucca Mountain project with legal battles. The repository project, a project that I used to be a part of, is moving forward. The next step is a licensing hearing by the independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where the project will be judged on its scientific merits, not legal merits.

Joe Egan, the state's lead legal counsel, does have an impressive resume, I must admit. But in the David vs. Goliath fight the state is facing, this time Goliath wins.

The secretary of energy and the president recommended the site, and the House and Senate overrode the governor's veto and moved the process forward. All those decisions were made in Washington, D.C., and Egan wants to fight the legal battles right there in Washington, D.C. The legal battles are being fought on the federal government's home turf.

In the court of public opinion, I believe most of the public thinks the repository is inevitable and that we should look at some significant benefit package.

Giving $4 million to Joe Egan to fight Yucca Mountain in the courts doesn't make much sense to me when we have a serious budget crisis in our state. Our education system and teachers need more money. That $4 million could be better spent in our state.

REBECCA WAMSLEY

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