Columnist Jeff German: Sierra Club puts heat on GOP

Friday, Aug. 6, 2004 | 5:30 a.m.

Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.

WEEKEND EDITION

August 7 - 8, 2004

You don't have to talk to Carl Pope very long to see that he's not a fan of President Bush.

As executive director of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and most influential environmental organization, Pope has been critical of Bush's anti-environmental policies.

With equal passion Pope has found fault with the president's push to make Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the site of the country's high-level nuclear waste repository.

For years Pope and his San Francisco-based organization, which has 700,000 members nationwide, have been one of Nevada's strongest allies in the fight against the dump.

Last week, sensing that Bush is vulnerable at the polls in Nevada, Pope took the Sierra Club's opposition to the next level. He came to Las Vegas to launch an ambitious voter education program pointing out the dangers of Yucca Mountain and why Bush is no friend of this state.

This is good because many people who live here -- including some of our Republican leaders -- still think of Bush as a friend.

"Nevada's not alone anymore," Pope told me. "If Nevada can hold on and demonstrate this November that this issue can't be swept under the rug by politicians, I think Yucca Mountain is dead."

The Sierra Club plans to spend more than $500,000 and dispatch 1,000 volunteers into the community to reach 30,000 households. The goal is to get voters fired up in November to vote for Democratic challenger John Kerry, who has promised to kill the Yucca Mountain project.

The grassroots campaign, which is being backed by the Culinary Union, is significant because it could put Kerry over the hump in Nevada, a battleground state, and determine the outcome of the entire presidential race.

It's a perfect example of how groups traditionally aligned with the Democrats have banded together with enthusiasm to defeat Bush.

But more than that, it's an indication of how this election could rest on the Yucca Mountain issue.

Don't let anyone tell you that Yucca Mountain isn't the most important issue for Nevadans in the race. There is nothing more crucial to our well-being than keeping the deadliest substance known to man as far away as possible from our children and our tourism industry.

This is a no-brainer. This is our future.

The Sierra Club's campaign will highlight the profound differences between the Democrats and the Republicans on Yucca Mountain.

Democrats are solidly behind Kerry and his pledge to stop the dump in its tracks. Republicans are against the dump, but they are pushing for the re-election of Bush, who is shoving the dump down our throats.

I find it pathetic watching our highest-ranking Republicans -- Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Brian Sandoval, Sen. John Ensign, and Reps. Jim Gibbons and Jon Porter -- dance like party puppets every time they're asked to explain how they can work to re-elect a president who wants to send the deadly nuclear waste our way.

They look like flip-flopping fools.

Is there not one among them who has the strength to stand up and tell the president he doesn't deserve our votes until he can assure us he will kill Yucca Mountain?

Carl Pope knows Kerry pretty well, and he's convinced that the Massachusetts senator will follow through with his Yucca Mountain pledge, which is why Pope is willing to make a big investment in the presidential race here.

Kerry will make another campaign stop in Las Vegas this week, so we'll have a chance to press him for more details about his plans to halt the project.

In the meantime, I'm glad the Sierra Club has taken a keen interest in the race.

I'm hoping it beats a drum loud enough to wake up our Republican leaders so we'll be united in electing a president who's on our side in the Yucca Mountain fight.