Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Democratic plank to protect Nevada from Yucca dump

BOSTON -- The Democratic Party passed its platform Tuesday with a pledge to protect Nevada from the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., a member of the platform committee, hailed the platform plank and said the staff of Sen. John Kerry, who will accept the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday night, insisted it be included.

"They ended up with stronger language than I wanted," she said. Kerry, who voted against Yucca Mountain when Congress approved it in 2002, has pledged to kill plans for the dump if he's elected. Just before the Democrats passed their platform, state Republicans condemned Kerry's support for several bills that helped move the Yucca Mountain project. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., told reporters that Kerry supported the 1987 "Screw Nevada" that singled out Yucca Mountain to be the only site the Energy Department studied to store nuclear waste.

"We have made the point that John Kerry can not be trusted on what he said," Ensign said. "I don't see a difference in George Bush or John Kerry as president on the Yucca Mountain issue. John Kerry can not be trusted on his word."

Ensign also noted seven other instances where Kerry voted on energy and water spending bills and other legislation related to the project opposite of Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Yucca Mountain's fiercest opponent in Congress.

The Republicans are using the votes to deflect criticism of President Bush, who signed the order to make Yucca Mountain the nation's nuclear waste repository. Democrats are using Bush's support of the project in their campaign in Nevada, which is considered a battleground state.

Democrats called the Republican attacks "desperate," noting Kerry's 2002 vote. Reid said Kerry has been with Nevada every time he needed him.

"Nobody voted with us every time," Reid said. "They want to live in the past, but look to the future. He will be with us there is no question.

"You can bet on it, as we say in Nevada."

Kerry voted against the project in a key vote in July 2002 that allowed the project to move forward but Ensign said by voting for the 1987 bill, Kerry helped put the state in this situation in the first place. The nicknamed "Screw Nevada" bill is actually a provision inside a large budget bill passed 61-28 on Dec. 22, 1987. Reid along with four other Democrats and 23 Republicans voted against the bill, according to Ensign's office.

Ensign said the bill was a "mishmash of fixes for entitlement programs," but that Reid voted against it because it contained the Yucca Mountain language.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said while he was a city councilman fighting the Yucca Mountain project "it's now obvious where John Kerry was."

He said that similar to his wife Teresa Heinz Kerry's recent remark to a reporter on the campaign trail, Kerry "told Nevada to 'shove it' on Christmas Eve." He said the vote took Texas and Washington off the plate and pushed Nevada forward.

"I dare you to use this but President Bush used Bill Clinton's science to move the project forward," Porter said. "He used $8 billion worth of his environmental assessments. It's clear where Bush stands on this but it is not clear where Kerry stands."

Ensign said he may disagree with the project but he believes President Bush believes he followed through on his promise to base on the project on sound science.

"I don't believe (Kerry) can fulfill or will fulfill this promise," Ensign said. "If (Yucca Mountain) was not an issue in Nevada, George Bush would win Nevada by 10 points. John Kerry is way too liberal for Nevada."

But as news spread to the Democrats at the convention, Nevada's delegation lashed out at the Republicans.

"I see (Bush strategist) Karl Rove's fingerprints all over this," Reid said late Tuesday. "As usual the Republicans are doing two things, negative campaigning, they can't say anything good about anyone, and they are living in the past."

Reid said Bush is in trouble in states he thought he was winning so these new claims are just a way to divert attention. He plans to bring up the Yucca issue during his speech at the convention stage tonight.

Berkley walked onto the convention hall floor just after the party approved the platform and could not believe what the Republicans were alleging.

"I don't know what planet John Ensign has been on, but it's not planet earth," Berkley said. "We are trying to stop the deadliest substance known to man from being put 90 miles from where our children live, including John Ensign's children."

Four of Nevada's delegates sat in the hall while the platform was approved.

The Democrats platform contains the phase: "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.

Ensign dismissed platforms as "worthless" and said the language does not say it will stop the project just "protect Nevada."

"They can put more concrete and steel in to protect Nevada," Ensign said "The people building Yucca Mountain think they are protecting Nevada. It would have been easy to put (stopping the project) in there, but they left a lot of wiggle room."

But Berkley said "If I had his party platform, I'd be saying that too."

"This isn't just a stretch," Berkley said. "It's a rubber band festival on the part of the Republicans."

Reid, Berkley and several other delegates pointed to the state Republican party's platform which showed a desire to state negotiating for benefits by accepting the Yucca Mountain project. The plank was watered down to not specifically name the project but activities on federal land.

Sean Smith, Nevada's Communication Director for the Kerry campaign, said the candidate's position remains the same on Yucca: It will not happen.

"When you cherry pick through a 19-year voting record, you are going to find some things, but his commitment could not be stronger," Smith said. "They are trying to change the subject. They are misconstruing the facts on these bills."

The timing of the announcement was also suspicious.

"That should tell you the whole story right there," Smith said. "This is their getting desperate on the day we approve the strongest anti-Yucca platform in the history of American politics."

Kerry plans to visit the state again during the early part of August.

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