Business leader warns of Yucca nuclear waste perils

Friday, Feb. 6, 2004 | 11:22 a.m.

The only thing that could stop another era of growth in Southern Nevada would be an accident in the transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, a leading opponent of the proposed underground repository northwest of Las Vegas said.

Drawing on his experience of watching in amazement as his parents led the development of the Green Valley community in Henderson, Brian Greenspun, president and editor of the Las Vegas Sun, on Thursday said Southern Nevada could withstand water shortages and air pollution problems.

"But the dump?" Greenspun said. "That's a killer. A nuclear waste dump is a showstopper for Nevada."

Besides the Sun, Greenspun's family owns development giant American Nevada Company, which has commercial and residential projects in Henderson and North Las Vegas.

He made his remarks Thursday night in a keynote address to the Las Vegas chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. The local IABC chapter was gathered at the Anthem Center in Henderson for the presentation of its annual Bronze Quill Awards recognizing communications excellence.

Greenspun said he would have never imagined years ago that Del Webb would develop the hills along the southern periphery of Henderson into what is now Anthem.

(Home-building giant Del Webb is now a subsidiary of Pulte Homes Inc.)

"If you went to the tops of the hills and looked south toward Primm, all you would see is desert," Greenspun said.

And that, he said, was what the view was like looking south from second-floor buildings on Fremont Street in the 1940s when there was virtually no development south of downtown Las Vegas.

Greenspun said his father, Hank, bought property little by little and had a vision for what would someday become Green Valley. The elder Greenspun eventually acquired 8,400 acres and told his son that the one thing he didn't foresee was the massive development that would occur in their lifetimes -- he thought it would be something that his great-grandchildren would do.

Now, Greenspun said, development dreams of others are in peril because of political decisions to transport and store 77,000 tons of highly toxic nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

"There will be an accident," Greenspun said. "The only question is, where or when it will happen."

Greenspun, who has been a vocal opponent of Yucca Mountain through numerous "Where I Stand" columns he has written for the Sun, said he was greatly troubled by news earlier this week that President Bush plans to spend $880 million on the Yucca Mountain project in his fiscal 2005 budget.

But Greenspun said Republicans weren't the only ones to blame for "plans to poison Nevada." He said as a lawmaker, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards also cast votes to ship nuclear waste to Nevada.