AG: Yucca use of underground water could damage Nevada

Friday, Aug. 22, 2003 | 10:28 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Attorney General's Office said Thursday that allowing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain to use underground water would result in environmental damage to Nevada.

But Brent Kolvet, an attorney representing the U.S. Department of Energy, said its application to pump 430 acre-feet of water a year for development and operations of the dump meets all of the requirements in state law.

Kolvet said his department believes state Engineer Hugh Ricci was obligated to grant the permit.

Ricci took the arguments and will rule later. He said he had no estimate when he will make a decision.

Former State Engineer Mike Turnipseed originally denied the applications of the Energy Department but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the ruling and sent it back for further hearings.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Marta Adams, representing the Nevada Office of Nuclear Projects, said in her final argument Thursday: "We have ample evidence in the record to show the socioeconomic interests of the state will be jeopardized if this project is allowed to go ahead."

Adams said the water that would be used at Yucca Mountain would lead to contamination of the underground water supply.

Kolvet argued the same arguments presented by Adams were rejected by the federal appeals court.

In addition to stopping the approval of the water permits, the state has filed several lawsuits in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. to block the construction of the project. Hearings were set for October but they were cancelled and no new dates have been set.