Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2004 | 9:36 a.m.
NEW YORK -- Republicans reaffirmed their commitment to development of a nuclear waste repository in the party's platform, adopted at the national convention Monday.
The document does not specifically name Yucca Mountain -- the only planned national nuclear waste repository, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- but it makes clear that it wants nuclear power to advance.
"We believe nuclear power can help reduce our dependence on foreign energy and play an invaluable role in addressing global climate change," according to page 54 of the 98-page platform booklet distributed at the convention. "President Bush supports construction of new nuclear power plants through the Nuclear Power 2010 initiative, and continues to move forward on creating an environmentally sound nuclear waste repository."
The platform is a sharp contrast from the platform Democrats adopted in July, which called for the party to "protect" Nevada from the shipment of nuclear waste. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., said having Yucca Mountain in the platform will not really make a difference in the state's fight against the project, since it has always been 49 states versus Nevada. He noted that the one good thing was that it did not name Nevada specifically.
"We have started to see alternatives bubble up through the surface," Gibbons said, speaking specifically on the temporary nuclear waste storage facility proposed by several nuclear utilities in Utah.
Gibbons said there are other options but that laws would need to be changed to make the policy different because currently the law only allows Yucca Mountain to be studied.
"Environmentally sound nuclear waste repository -- now there's an oxymoron," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said. "It's clear this plank refers to burying nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, which cannot be done safely. And it fails to make a single mention of the terrorist threat that nuclear waste shipments pose to our families and our communities -- an issue the GOP desperately wants to avoid discussing."
Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is leading the state's legal fight against the project said the president has "been honest with the state of Nevada" by stating clearly he would base it on sound science and obey the rulings of the court.
"That's leadership," Sandoval said. "The people of our state realize there is a need to store the waste somewhere but that it needs to be safe."
Sandoval said there are still more court decisions, such as those by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that are still not complete.
Delegate James Forsythe said Bush has supported sound science and will do whatever the courts say to do. He pointed out that Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry voted for the 1987 "Screw Nevada" bill and sees no difference between the two candidates on that issue.
Delegate Elena Lopez-Bowlan of Reno said that other presidents have not wanted to touch the issue because it is so "politically inflammatory," but that Bush has at least opened up the discussion.
"It's important because we have to deal with it, we can't have an elephant in the room," Lopez-Bowlan said. "He has bothered at least to open up the discussion and start to look for solutions."
The platform, which outlines the party's positions on issues, includes opinions on homeland security, winning the war on terrorism, intelligence including the creation of a national intelligence director and a national counterterrorism center, tax reform, education and health care.
Nevada delegates Rew Goodenow and Bonnie Weber, both from Reno, served on the platform committee that finalized the document.
Alfred Valdez, a convention delegate from Henderson, said only the media and Democrats talk about Yucca Mountain. "It's not the top issue among people I've talked to," Valdez said.
But according to a poll conducted by the Reno Gazette-Journal and KRNV-TV, 53 percent of likely Nevada voters said Yucca Mountain is an important factor when deciding who they will vote for, the Associated Press reported Monday.
Among Republicans, 38 percent said Yucca Mountain is important, compared with 67 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independent voters.
Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry has promised to stop the project if voters send him to the White House.
The Democrats' platform, approved in Boston in late July, contained the phrase: "We will protect Nevada and its communities from the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain which has not been proven to be safe by sound science."
Nick Shapiro, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said differences between the platforms show the Republicans are trying "to pull a quick one" by leaving out Nevada and the project name.
"The fact that George Bush and the Republican Party are not taking Yucca Mountain seriously and are not even discussing their positions on it shows that the people of Nevada clearly need someone that is going to represent their interests and stop the Yucca Mountain project, as John Kerry has promised," Shapiro said.
The day the Democrats approved their platform, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., dismissed platforms as "worthless" while pointing to Kerry's past votes on bills in the Senate that contained language supporting the Yucca Mountain project.
archive
