Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Dean ‘sees the light’ on nuclear waste

Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, who supported turning Yucca Mountain into the nation's nuclear waste dump in the past, said Tuesday that if elected president he would halt work to study the safety of burying nuclear waste there.

But Dean, a former governor of Vermont, wouldn't rule out turning Yucca into a nuclear waste dump.

"In 1996 I wrote a letter to my senator saying you ought to vote for Yucca Mountain because we've got a nuclear power plant, and I want to get the stuff out of my state.

"Now that we're running for president, now I have seen the light," Dean told about 250 supporters at a $100-per-person reception at a Las Vegas home Tuesday.

"I'm not going to promise you I'm going to be against Yucca Mountain, but if I become president ... we're going to stop construction and we're going to have a complete safety review," Dean said. "I worry deeply about corrosive nuclear waste rotting through the casks and having stuff buried all that far underground so we're going to revisit all this stuff."

Earlier Tuesday, after arriving at the North Las Vegas Airport on his way to the fund-raiser, Dean said there needs to be one central repository for the nation's nuclear waste. He said he didn't know where that would be if Yucca is ultimately ruled out.

"I can't take a position against Yucca Mountain because we've got to review the entire science of this. ... I'm not going to say Yucca Mountain is out, and I'm just not going to say it is in, either."

Dean was wearing a small anti-nuclear Nevada-shaped pin on his lapel when he greeted the 25 supporters waiting at the airport. He said the pin was given to him by a "fan" and he believes in supporting his fans.

But even though Dean wouldn't say whether he would ultimately support burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, he said the issue will lead Nevadans to vote for a Democrat in Nov. 2004. The state's electoral votes went to Bush in 2000.

"Nevada will vote Democratic this time simply because George Bush tried to turn you into a nuclear waste dump," Dean told supporters at the airport. "Given what President Bush's record in Nevada is he's clearly written off Nevada."

Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is the proposed site for a high-level nuclear waste repository that could eventually contain 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive wastes from defense activities.

Dean addressed the Yucca Mountain issue during a 20-minute speech he gave at the cocktail party fund-raiser at the home of Rand Young and Dr. Mel Pohl, in the gated Ten Oaks neighborhood at Oakey and Buffalo. The candidate, who opposed going to war in Iraq, also criticized President Bush's foreign policy and Bush's tax cuts, which Dean said gave too much to the rich.

Dean also said the nation needs a balanced budget and a health care system like Vermont's, where almost all children, seniors and the poor have health insurance.

After the speech, Dean took questions from the audience on issues ranging from education and energy to gun control and a potential running mate.

Dean said Bush's No Child Left Behind education program has been terrible. The program essentially tells local school districts how to run their schools, he said. While there should be accountability and testing, Dean said, the local districts should decide what kind tests to give.

As to who he would choose as a vice presidential running mate would be, Dean said: "It certainly will be somebody with a military or defense, foreign policy background."

The list of other Democratic presidential contenders includes retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

Dean follows Clark in becoming the fourth Democratic presidential candidate to visit Las Vegas this year, but Dean was the first to include a public appearance in his schedule. Clark, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri and Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina have also visited Las Vegas this year. The other Democratic candidates include senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

Dean also told the crowd at the fund-raiser that he supports tax credits for solar and wind electricity generation.

On gun control, Dean said he supports a ban on assault weapons, the Brady Bill, and closure of the gun show loophole. Any restrictions beyond those should be up to the individual states, he said.

Dean said he would end federal investment in development of the "star wars" satellite laser system once hailed as the ultimate defense against missile attacks. He also said he would cut off the government's financial support for the development of tactical nuclear weapons.

To combat illegal immigration, Dean said the long-term solution is to work to improve working conditions, worker safety, and environmental regulations in other countries.

He would also get rid of the military's don't ask don't tell policy on homosexuals in the military.

Dean said if elected, he would "include sexual orientation in every single discrimination statute in the country."

As governor, Dean signed a law allowing homosexuals to enter into civil unions in Vermont.

Some supporters said they are concerned Republicans will use that to attack Dean as being pro-gay marriage.

But Dean said Tuesday, "I don't know why gay marriage is an issue in the campaign. Civil union's not the same as gay marriage."

Fund-raiser host Pohl, who is gay, said he doesn't expect Dean would push for a national gay marriage or civil union act. Instead Pohl said he expects Dean would leave the adoption of such laws to the states.

"But what he stands for is doing the right thing," Pohl said. The issue not gay rights, it's about human rights, he said.

Donna Knight, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, said the issue is "equality for all."

Knight said she became a Dean supporter as soon as he spoke out against going to war in Iraq and has grown to like Dean more and more as she learns about his opinions on different issues.

Richard Segerblom, a Dean supporter and organizer of Tuesday's events, said he expects Republicans will blast Dean over his stand on the war in Iraq and civil unions.

"But those issues are just diversions. The real issues are health insurance and balancing the budget," Segerblom said.

Segerblom, who is a former head of the state Democratic Party, said the Yucca Mountain issue could hurt Dean in the state caucus, but won't in the general election because Bush wants nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain.

George Matthews, 45, a retired antique dealer and one of the Dean supporters who greeted the candidate at the airport, said health care was the most important issue for him. He also agrees with Dean's stand on Iraq.

The cocktail party was the first of two Dean fund-raisers on Tuesday. After his speech and question and answer time at the first fund-raiser, Dean left for the Las Vegas home of Michael Chambers and Greg Shay to be the guest of honor at a $1,000-per-person dinner reception.

Segerblom said this morning that the events raised about $70,000 for Dean.

The $100-per-person event drew a crowd that included several local politicians, including Clark County Commissioners Myrna Williams and Yvonne Atkinson Gates, and state assembly members Chris Giunchigliani, David Parks and William Horne.

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