Where I Stand — Columnist Brian Greenspun: Stand must be taken

Friday, Feb. 20, 2004 | 5:40 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WEEKEND EDITION

Feb. 21-22, 2004

What kind of country are we living in?

The headline in Thursday's Las Vegas Sun was no surprise: "Nuclear expert: Yucca unsafe."

Nevadans have for years been inundated with scientist after scientist who proclaim that Yucca Mountain is a scientific bust. The youngest child in this state has a genetic predisposition to expect that science will continue to pooh-pooh the very concept of burying the nation's high-level nuclear waste in this state while the Bush White House continues to proclaim that all the science is in and Yucca Mountain is safe.

It has always been a question of politics trumping good science and, until George W. Bush became president of the United States, the odds were long that Nevada's families would pay the ultimate price. With the current occupant of the White House, however, it was a lock cinch that political considerations would ignore science and the large campaign contributors in the nuclear power industry would have their way with this president. The result? President Bush picked Nevada, and Las Vegans in particular, to bear the entire burden of this country's radioactive waste problem. That could be a most deadly decision for the 1.5 million people living and working in Southern Nevada.

I know that some people here -- some of whom are supposed to be smarter than that -- believe that the nuke dump is a fait accompli and there is nothing we can do to stop the federal government from having its way with us. In fact, there is even a vocal minority of business people, led by a former governor -- well-paid I suspect by the nuke industry -- who think we should trade the health and welfare of our children and theirs for a few dollars. Fortunately, whatever the GOP pollsters wish were the case, I suspect that an overwhelming majority of Nevada families still oppose the dump and will do anything they can to reverse this insane course that the Bushies have us on.

Right now, the whole matter is in the courts. And as much as I believe that our cause is just and that our lawyers are right, it provides little solace considering the fact that our Supreme Court is given to ignore the Constitution when matters like states' rights buck up against presidential and congressional will. Hope, however, does spring eternal, which is about the same amount of time that the radioactive waste they want to bury just a few miles from Las Vegas will stay deadly.

So, what's the latest shockeroo in the ongoing saga of how the federal government and the Bush White House want to continue to screw Nevada?

It is the news that a scientist on the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board claims that the Yucca Mountain dump is poorly designed, which could cause the high-level nuclear waste within the mountain to leak. The law, until Congress decides to amend it to fit the ever-changing facts on the ground, says leaks are not allowed for a minimum of 10,000 years. Oops!

Actually, the scientist, Paul Craig, is no longer on the Nuclear Waste Board. The physicist and engineering professor at the University of California-Davis resigned his position as a member so he "could speak more freely about the waste dump's dangers."

Does anyone else get a chill down their spine just thinking about what Dr. Craig has done?

Here's a man whose job it is to oversee this country's only nuclear waste disposal plan who, in order to say what he thinks based on what he has learned, has to resign from the very panel whose job it is to make sure that we are safe from bad science and presidents who make decisions based on that bad science.

Whatever happened to freedom of speech and thought? Whatever happened to government service for the sake of good government? Whatever happened to the bedrock belief in this country that those in public service are there to render proper service, not lip service to some political agenda?

According to Dr. Craig, he resigned so he "could shine more light on the government's plans."

"When you serve as a member of one of those boards, you cannot talk about the political consequences of the science or the big picture. You are supposed to stick to the science and you should stick to the science," he explained. Huh?

Let me get this straight. There's a scientist on the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board who believes the science is flawed and that the nuclear waste dump is in danger of leaking that deadly poison all over, under, around and through the environment -- starting with the entire Las Vegas Valley -- and the only way he can speak out about it is to resign from the board? What happens then?

Who is left on the board to protect our health and safety if the people who don't buy what President Bush is trying to sell us are no longer there? If only the lackeys remain to give oversight, what kind of oversight will we get?

Am I the only person who thinks this is nuts? Why doesn't this guy stay on the board, ask the hard questions, give the press interviews questioning the bad science, and challenge his colleagues to come clean with the people, too?

What is it about our country in 2004 that forces well-intentioned people from public service just because they disagree with the prevailing political wisdom? Whatever happened to the patriots? How long should it take for Sens. Harry Reid and John Ensign to call for -- no, demand -- a Senate investigation, invoking every whistleblower law they can find?

When will our governor, Kenny Guinn, use his bully pulpit to question President Bush's decision to fast-track the dump in light of Dr. Craig's life and death concerns? Who will step up and protect the people of this state?

What kind of country are we living in that these kind of questions have to be asked in the first place?