Nye commission resolves to support Yucca project

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 9:25 a.m.

The Nye County Commission, which has repeatedly touted the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain as a boon to rural Nevada economies, last week unanimously passed a resolution in support of what commissioners deem "a safe respository" at the site.

If approved, the Yucca Mountain project would send up to 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste through a 319-mile path in Nye and Lincoln counties before being placed inside the mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

According to the resolution, the county is determined to work "cooperatively with appropriate federal entities, rural Nevada communities along the transportation route and other parties willing to constructively engage in the development of a repository that is safe and offers significant economic benefit to Nye County ..."

Local and state leaders have pledged to fight the nuclear waste dump, saying the federal government has yet to prove the material is not dangerous.

The federal Energy Department in June missed a key deadline to send millions of pages of documents detailing the project to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.