Bush explains Yucca stance to LV

Kirsten Searer

Friday, Aug. 13, 2004 | 11:08 a.m.

Reaching back to his campaign promise in 2000, President Bush said Thursday that he did rely on science when he signed off on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository site.

Speaking for the first time in Nevada about the Yucca Mountain decision, Bush said he did what he said he would when he made the decision in 2000 to move forward with the repository.

Bashed in the state for the decision and accused of breaking the 2000 campaign promise, in which he said he would rely on "sound science," Bush said he listened to the scientists and to Nevada's leaders.

He said he would now leave the issue to court appeals and the licensing process.

"We need to keep facts, not politics, at the center of the debate," he said to applause Thursday at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America International Training Center in Las Vegas.

The president spent about two hours in Las Vegas on a campaign swing Thursday, touring the training center and making a speech before leaving just after noon.

An estimated 1,300 Bush supporters and union members attended the speech, at which Bush spoke for about 45 minutes on several topics, including the economy and the war on terrorism.

His comments Thursday about the Yucca project were the first Bush has made publicly since he approved it in 2002.

He told the crowd that the issue has been brewing for a while, including in 1987, when Congress voted on the "Screw Nevada" bill that focused on Yucca Mountain as the sole site that could host the nation's nuclear waste.

His opponent, Sen. John Kerry, voted in favor of that bill, though Kerry has since voted against Yucca Mountain and has pledged to stop it if he is elected president.

"When I campaigned here, I said I would make a decision based upon science, not politics," Bush said. "I said I would listen to the scientists, those involved with determining whether or not this project could move forward in a safe manner. And that's exactly what I did."

Bush said he has listened to Nevada representatives such as Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn, Attorney General Brian Sandoval and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who have argued against the site. Guinn and Sandoval co-chair Bush's re-election campaign in Nevada.

"And I said, 'Well, I appreciate your opinion, but I'll tell you what I will do: I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,' " he said. "And I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

Bush did not mention the federal court rulings issued this summer that found the Environmental Protection Agency did not follow the law setting radiation standards for the proposed repository.

A law passed by Congress required the EPA to set a standard in consultation with the National Academy of Sciences. The court, which stayed its decision pending appeal, said the EPA failed to do that when it said the project must hold in radiation for 10,000 years.

The National Academy of Sciences suggested a standard of more than 100,000 years.

Congress could change the law so that it fits with the EPA requirements. Bush did not comment on whether he would support changes to the radiation standards, and Bush campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt declined to comment further, saying Bush's comments on the project stand on their own.

Kerry has promised to veto any attempts by Congress to loosen the radiation standards.

It was one of several hard-line positions against Yucca Mountain that Kerry took during his two-day tour here. He also pledged to stop the licensing project for the site.

On Thursday, Bush accused Kerry of using the issue as a "political poker chip" and pointed out that Kerry voted for the "Screw Nevada" bill.

"He says he's strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it several times," Bush said to laughter. "And so did his running mate.

"My point to you is that if they're going to change, one day they may change again. I think you need straight talk on this issue. I think you need somebody who is going to do what he says he's going to do."

The crowd gave Bush a standing ovation in response.

Bush also focused on another Nevada issue, water rights. He credited his administration with working out an agreement in the dispute over Colorado River water and creating the Water 2025 initiative to promote conservation and technology to create automated pumping and canal controls.

"We look forward to working with the states and the local authorities to better safeguard this precious resource," he said.

Bush toured the carpenters union's national training facility and, during his speech, he said the strong American work ethic has helped the country pull out of a recession pulled down even further by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the corporate earnings scandals.

"We've overcome these obstacles because we refuse to be intimidated," he said. "The spirit of America is strong and our economy is strong."

In his tour of the training program, workers pointed out giant bolts to Bush and let him flip the switch on a machine that would be similar to one found in a power plant.

"I believe we ought to increase our budgets for these training programs, and we'll continue to call upon Congress to do so because it's money well spent," Bush later said.

"See, I think the role of government is to help people help themselves, and one way to do so is through good, valid education programs just like they do here at this site," he said.

Bush defended the war in Iraq, partly by comparing Iraq to post-World War II Japan, which became a self-governing country during U.S. occupation and now is a key American ally.

The war on terror is a different kind of war, however, that allows enemies to hide around the world, Bush said. Therefore, the U.S. has to go after them and people willing to harbor them.

Saddam Hussein also defied U.N. inspectors, Bush said.

"I thought we were going to find stockpiles," he said. "Everybody did. But he had the capability of making weapons. And if the world had turned away from watching Saddam, that capability could have been passed on to terrorist enemies. It's a risk we could not afford to take."

He joked about Kerry's comments that he would vote for the war in Iraq if he had to do it again.

"It looked like for a while he was trying to squirm out of that vote," Bush said. "The other day he said that knowing what we know today, he agreed that the use of force in Iraq was necessary. I welcome that clarification. Still got 82 days left in the campaign, though."

The president got some of his biggest applause when he said his administration worked to eliminate the marriage penalty.

"I mean, it's a backward tax code, isn't it, when you penalize marriage?" he said. "We ought to be encouraging marriage in our country."

The crowd also applauded loudly when he said the nation needs a national energy policy that makes it less dependent on oil.

"In order to keep jobs here at home, we need an energy policy in America to make us less dependent on foreign sources of energy," he said.

Health care can be made more affordable by welcoming technology that will deliver efficient services, enact medical liability reform, and to create health savings accounts so that federal bureaucrats stay out of decision making, he said.

Kerry's health care plan relies largely on reinstating taxes for people in upper income levels. Bush cautioned the audience about Kerry's plan.

"You know how that goes," he said. "The so-called rich hire accountants and lawyers to maybe not pay as much. And therefore in order to meet all of these promises, guess who ends up getting stuck with the bill? The working people.

"Be careful of this language. We've heard it before in American politics."

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