Where I Stand — Columnist Brian Greenspun: Change can happen

Friday, July 16, 2004 | 4:33 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 17 - 18, 2004

So much for inevitability.

I have to admit that I was one of the many Nevadans who held out little hope that the court system would right the wrongs that have been perpetrated upon the state of Nevada. First by the Congress in the 1980s when it singled out our state as the only place in the country in which high-level radioactive waste would be buried and, secondly, by President George W. Bush when he acted against his own word and chose Nevada, against the weight of scientific evidence, to be the last resting place for "nucular" waste.

I was wrong. At least, so far.

The federal appeals court in Washington gave us a way out of this mess when it ruled that the Department of Energy failed to follow the mandate of the Congress when it ignored the advice of the National Academy of Sciences, which provided its findings to the Environmental Protection Agency, about the appropriate length of time needed to keep the waste safe from humans and other living things.

The NAS said that high-level nuclear waste had to be contained for the half-life of the most potent of poisons that would be buried at Yucca Mountain. That could be hundreds of thousands of years or, perhaps, a couple of million years. Instead, the DOE and the EPA, knowing that it would be folly to computer model anything that far into the future, arbitrarily chose 10,000 years as the goal. And, even though the federal government has trouble prognosticating or protecting anyone or anything much more than a few years out, it set about to "manage" the 10,000-year process and, according to many scientists, it has failed miserably.

That brings us to today and the question is, "What does Nevada do to make sure that the 'inevitability' that the pro-nuke dump forces in this state would have us surrender to does not happen?" We have just witnessed the impossible, which is an independent judiciary actually acting independently enough to tell the federal government that it went too far. Unfortunately, the court also gave the DOE and its nuclear waste producing bosses a road map leading straight to Yucca Mountain.

And don't believe for a second that the Bush administration isn't already plotting a path around the court's decision so that it can truck and track that stuff right to our door. Because that is exactly what they are doing. They can't help themselves because they are so committed to their friends in the nuclear power industry that they cannot see the other side, which is the side of Nevada families who just don't want in our state, near our kids, over our water and under our skies that which no other state in the union wants either!

The good news, though, is that our congressional delegation, led by Sen. Harry Reid, and our state officials, from Gov. Kenny Guinn on down, have been right when they have told us that this thing is not inevitable and that, together, we can do something to derail this train heading on the wrong track toward Nevada.

So here's the hard part, at least for some. George Bush has to go and Harry Reid has to stay. There is no other way to say what has to happen for Nevada to avoid having to be the nation's radioactive burial ground. If you believe that it is wrong for those who make nuclear waste to send it to Nevada for burial rather than dealing with their own mess. If you believe that each state's health and safety is as important as every other state's and that Nevada, just because we are politically weak, should not be singled out for thousands of years of ill health and inevitable deaths. If you believe that a tourist economy, which rises and falls on today's headlines, can ill afford the kind of international story that says "radioactive spill near Las Vegas Strip." If you believe that every man, woman and child should have the same right to health and happiness as e very other citizen in every other state and that no president, no Congress and no court should be able to abridge that righ! t. If you believe all that, and if you believe that as citizens we have the power to stop the "inevitable," then our course is clear.

With Sen. Harry Reid returned to the Senate as either the second or fourth most-powerful member of that body, he will have the ability to block almost any attempt by the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency or the White House to change the rules and dash any hopes we might have today of avoiding our nuclear nightmare.

Unlike the last go around when every parliamentary maneuver usually available to a man like Harry Reid was made unavailable decades earlier, this time they will play on Harry's court with the rules that Harry Reid knows well. Whether it is stripping tens and hundreds of millions of dollars from Yucca Mountain budgets or putting holds on legislation that would hasten Yucca Mountain's reality, our senior senator knows the ropes. And, whether it is his ability to trade with his colleagues or champion causes in return for an "open mind," Harry is a master. That is the reason why we must return Harry Reid to the Senate. It is just one reason, to be sure, but a very big one to everyone who cares about his family, his health and his livelihood.

As for President George W. Bush, I know many Nevadans like him because he has lowered their taxes and chased Saddam Hussein from power. I like him for that, too. But we cannot be confused when it comes to a few dollars, more or less, in our pockets today, and a feeling that all is well when all probably isn't well and won't be for a long time.

For if the worst happens, there will be no jobs and no economy to derive the incomes on which we want to pay fewer taxes. And no terrorist dictator can do as much damage to Nevada families as a high-level nuclear waste spill can do on Interstate 15. And, as far as I can tell, it was President Bush who made the decision to send the waste to Yucca Mountain. In fact, he was the only president who could make that decision because the law required the decision to be made in 2001.

Now, he could have made a different decision. He could have said no. Or he could have said, "I need better science. I am not ready to make a decision. Ask me again when I know more about the dangers inherent in this high-level stuff."

He could have -- but he didn't. Instead, he did what most of us knew he would do and that was whatever his monied friends in the power industry wanted him to do. And, he will do it again if we give him the chance. It will be his EPA, his DOE and his appointees on the Supreme Court who could overrule the decision just handed down and send that stuff rolling toward us. And don't think he won't encourage them to do just that. After all, it is his nature to help his wealthy power company friends at the expense of the politically helpless out here in Nevada. If you don't believe me, just remember. He already did it to us once before. Should we let him do it again? I don't think so.

If you are as concerned as I am about high-level nuclear waste rolling through our city, leaking into our water table, fouling the air we breathe, shutting down our tourist economy and, God forbid, killing us a few hundred at a time, then your course of action is clear. You have it within your power to make sure that the certainty of inevitability does not come to pass. Nevada's electoral votes could swing this election to President Bush, just like we did in 2000.

Or, we can go the other way. That's the way that does not include Yucca Mountain. Think about your future. Think about promises broken. Think about 77,000 tons of radioactive waste in our back yard. Now think about all of that going away. Think!

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