Money to battle Yucca runs low

Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002 | 11:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A fund to finance the legal fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump has $3.6 million to last until June 30, but it has a contract to pay its private attorneys up to $4 million.

Bob Loux, director of the state Office on Nuclear Projects, told the Interim Finance Committee that he expects a substantial donation to be announced this week by a Northern Nevada "public institution." He declined to say how much and identify the party.

Loux assured the committee there was enough money to make it through the end of the fiscal year.

"We're managing the account and we will reduce costs," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, told Loux the state is in "financial straits" and money is in short supply.

Loux assured the senator his office approves every expenditure by the lawyers, some of whom are paid up to $400 an hour.

He told the committee that $2.9 million was spent in the public relations effort to convince Congress to uphold Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the dump. He said he would submit a detailed breakdown later of where the money was spent and who received it.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said Monday the state "scored a series of significant legal victories" in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

The court refused to dismiss three suits designed to stop the nuclear repository from being located at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Del Papa said the cases have been referred to a merits panel to allow Nevada to present its full arguments. The cases involve the state's challenge to the Energy Department's new site suitability rules for Yucca, a challenge to the department's environmental impact statement and a challenge to the president's and the energy secretary's site recommendations.