Editorial: The real deception

Friday, July 30, 2004 | 5:09 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

july 31 - Aug. 1, 2004

During the 2000 presidential campaign George Bush said he would use "sound science" to judge the Yucca Mountain project. But soon after he was elected, Bush lobbied Congress to pass his plan to send nuclear waste to Nevada -- even though there still was a mountain of scientific evidence showing it to be unsafe. Congress passed the legislation and Bush happily signed it into law. One of the U.S. senators who voted against Bush's Yucca Mountain plan was John Kerry, who became the Democratic presidential nominee last week. It wasn't surprising that Kerry sided with Nevada: In 2000 he had voted to sustain President Clinton's veto of a bill that would have made it much easier to send nuclear waste to Nevada.

Despite Kerry's strength on this issue of critical importance to all Nevadans, Republicans have dredged up some votes from years ago that they say show that Kerry had favored moving the Yucca Mountain project forward. But Kerry clearly is opposed to Yucca Mountain. "Rest assured, Nevada, if I'm the president of the United States, Yucca Mountain will not be a repository," Kerry said in May at a campaign stop in Las Vegas.

For anyone still skeptical of Kerry's commitment, consider how Yucca Mountain supporters feel about him. Rep. Butch Otter, R-Idaho, in a commentary written several months ago, cited Kerry's opposition to the Yucca Mountain project and noted that if Kerry were elected president it would mean nuclear waste would stay in Idaho and not be buried in Nevada. "It's as simple as that," wrote Otter. And just this past week an editorial in the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch warned, "A John Kerry win spells doom for the project." If even supporters of Yucca Mountain acknowledge that Kerry will kill the project, what should make us think otherwise?

Kerry has been one of the few consistent friends Nevada has had in the U.S. Senate regarding Yucca Mountain, the most important issue facing this state. Kerry understands our concerns, and has stood with us when Nevada has needed him, something that can't be said for Bush.