Editorial: Secrecy sows distrust

Thursday, Nov. 20, 2003 | 8:57 a.m.

Earlier this month the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that staff members will meet privately with U.S. Energy Department officials to review information the department has collected for the Yucca Mountain project. Others, including officials from Nevada where the Energy Department wants to store 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste, inexplicably haven't been invited to the closed-door meeting. Nevadans are worried about the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has the final word on the project, getting cozy with the Energy Department. "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission appears to be in bed with the Energy Department, but they aren't married yet, so this is not right," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is supposed to be an independent body, but such meetings further the distrust of an Energy Department project that has dismissed the dangers posed by the transportation and storage of man's deadliest waste. In 2002 Nevada officials criticized similar secret meetings held between employees of the same federal agencies. It looked bad then and it still looks bad today. If there's nothing to hide, why not invite the public to listen in?