Reid delivers his anti-Yucca pitch

Suzanne Struglinski

Thursday, July 29, 2004 | 8:34 a.m.

BOSTON -- In a seven-minute speech to the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., gave the nation a prime-time pitch against Yucca Mountain.

"We know that Nevadans will never again stand for being exposed to dangerous nuclear tests or nuclear waste" Reid said, drawing cheers from the Nevada delegates watching on the Fleet Center floor.

"We agree that Nevada should be a proving ground for renewable energy not a dumping ground for nuclear waste," Reid said. "That's why, when John Kerry is elected President, he will stop wasting billions of dollars trying to dump nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain and he'll lead us to energy independence."

Reid, speaking live during the East Coast's prime time, also spoke about Nellis Air Force base, Nevada's history of nuclear testing and his hometown of Searchlight as he made his pitch for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

Kerry has pledged to Nevada that the Yucca Mountain project will end if he is elected president and Nevada's Democrats believe he will keep that promise.

Kerry voted against the final decision to send high-level nuclear waste to Nevada, but State Republicans noted Tuesday that Kerry had previously voted against Nevada on several measures between 1987 and 1997.

During the last presidential campaign, Bush promised he would make the decision to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, on "sound science" but moved the project forward despite Nevada"s objections that sound science on the project does not exist.

After Reid finished his speech Wednesday, the Nevada delegates start chanting "no nuke waste, no nuke waste," and "Har-ry! Har-ry!"

Clark County Commissioner Yvonne Atkinson Gates said Reid's speech was great.

"He got in Yucca Mountain," Gates said. "He talked about what John Kerry would do and what George Bush has not done. Harry Reid did what he always does, he delivered for Nevada."

Nevada State Party Chair Adriana Martinez said the speech was "powerful."

"We are getting great exposure on the issue of Yucca Mountain," she said on the convention floor. "For it to be on national television it can raise the red flag for the entire nation."

Beyond the Yucca issue, Reid emphasized the Kerry will create millions of jobs, makes schools better and fix the health care system. He said Bush's promises on education policy, prescription drugs and promises to unite the country "turned out to be fool's gold."

Noting that he came from a mining town, Reid said he learned when young that "real gold is precious. But even though fool's gold glitters to look like gold, it is worthless."

Las Vegas delegate Steven Horsford said the speech was "right on point" because it not only mention Yucca, which is a "top issue" but got in the others as well.

"Jobs, the economy, education, these are all important issues but we could lose that with the dangerous transportation of nuclear waste through our communities," he said.

Reid's campaign sent out a press release earlier Wednesday saying his prime-time slot "shows the importance of Nevada as a battleground state in this year's election." The campaign held a party at in Las Vegas to watch the speech.

Nevada's senior senator addressed the convention a couple of hours before vice presidential nominee Sen. John Edwards made his acceptance speech.

Edwards voted against Reid in a key 2002 Senate vote that allowed the Energy Department's nuclear waste storage plan to move forward in Nevada, but assured Reid immediately after Kerry selected Edwards as his running mate that he would support Kerry's opposition to the site.

Reid admitted after the speech that he was glad it was over because he was a little nervous.

He said he got his message across but that is was not just an anti-Yucca speech.

"I think the real issue of nuclear waste deals with character," Reid said. He said he believes Bush lied or broke promises on the Medicare, the No Child Left Behind education policy and the war in Iraq.

"He said, 'mission accomplished' and some 800 soldiers have been killed since then," Reid said. "He (Bush) doesn't tell the truth."