Editorial: The wrong signal

Tuesday, May 4, 2004 | 9:55 a.m.

The platform committee of the Nevada Republican Party, which had its state convention in Reno over the weekend, recommended on Friday that state officials negotiate with the federal government for benefits if the Yucca Mountain project becomes a reality. A day later the party adopted a negotiating-for-benefits plank on projects located on federal lands in Nevada -- minus the specific reference to Yucca Mountain. The Yucca Mountain omission was an attempt at damage control, an effort to make it look as if the Republicans weren't surrendering the fight against the proposed nuclear waste dump. But no wordsmith could erase what was at work. The sentiment of many party activists was clear: Let's make a deal. The final platform, unlike in the past, didn't contain a single negative word about Yucca Mountain. In contrast, the Nevada Democratic Party platform adopt ed last month is unalterably opposed to Yucca Mountain.

What makes all of this significant is that there largely has been a unified front among Nevada's Democrats and Republicans in opposing Yucca Mountain. But the election of George W. Bush in 2000, and his successful drive in 2002 to get Congress to recommend Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump, has caused problems for Republicans who have tried to juggle their loyalty for the state -- by fighting Yucca Mountain -- with their support for Bush. The state's top Republican officials weren't happy with the Yucca Mountain plank in the platform, but they shouldn't be surprised by this turn for the worse because of the mixed signals they've sent. After all, Attorney General Brian Sandoval is chairman of President Bush's re-election team in Nevada and Gov. Kenny Guinn is an honorary co-chairman. These Republican leaders and others have downplayed their disagreemen ts with Bush over Yucca Mountain, uttering mealymouthed statements that they will "agree to disagree." But on Yucca Mountai! n, party labels shouldn't matter: No one should actively work to re-elect a president who advocates a dangerous plan to store 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in Nevada. It's a no-brainer.