Rural residents resigned to Yucca route

Stephen Curran

Thursday, May 6, 2004 | 11:40 a.m.

CALIENTE -- Some saw an economic windfall for Lincoln County; others said it opened the door for rural Nevada to become a dumping ground for other states' nuclear waste.

But almost all 83 residents who attended an Energy Department and Bureau of Land Management meeting on Wednesday agreed the proposed railroad corridor to Yucca Mountain is going to happen.

The open house-style meeting at the Caliente Youth Center, the third of its kind sponsored by the two agencies, was designed to give residents information about the project and get their opinions.

The proposed corridor would move 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. If the railroad line is built, most of the waste would go through Lincoln County, home to about 4,000 residents.

But few who attended, including retired North Las Vegas police officer and Pioche resident Ronald Kozak, changed their minds.

For Kozak, who has lived in Pioche for 12 years, the proposed 319-mile railroad to carry high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain is not even worth arguing about anymore. Now, he said, "it's just a matter of working out the details."

Kozak said he first heard about the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain more than 15 years ago while working in the Las Vegas Valley. Even then he saw it as an inevitability, he said.

"I think Lincoln County at this point should take advantage of the economic opportunities (that will come as a result)," Kozak said. "As far as I can see, it's coming."

But where Kozak saw economic opportunity, Hiko rancher Rocky Hatch saw possible financial ruin, as the proposed railroad would wind through the BLM-owned land where he runs some of his herd. Wednesday's meeting was his first contact with Energy Department officials, he said.

Hatch first learned the railroad would run through his ranch about two months ago, he said.

"It goes right through my range," said Hatch, who has permits to run cattle on thousands of acres of BLM land. "I'm wondering if it's going to put me out of business. They (Energy Department officials) never contacted me."

Losing the land would be especially hard for Hatch, who with his father, Roger Hatch, has ranched the land since he was a boy.

"I don't see how it's going to be so good for the county," the younger Hatch said. "They say it's (going to help) economically, but it won't help me."

Retired Las Vegas teacher Leslie Derkovitz, a relative newcomer to Lincoln County having moved there two years ago, said he had resigned himself to accepting what he called a "flawed" project.

Attending the meeting did little to change his views, he said.

"My opinions were about what they were when I got here," Derkovitz said. "I wonder why they try the show and tell. If someone's doing the right thing they wouldn't need this."

Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson rejected the sense that the rail line is inevitable, saying that calling it such before the environmental study is complete is premature.

"Right now nothing exists," Benson said. "We use (comments) to determine, 'will we or will we not build the railroad?' People want to know, 'how will this affect me?' We're just listening to people's feelings. They're being honest."

The department has issued a decision that says it plans to ship most of the waste by rail and plans to use the rail line through Caliente. The department is now in the process of holding public meetings and will then do an environmental study.

The Energy Department has estimated the cost of building and maintaining the rail line from Caliente to Yucca Mountain as $880 million. The department says the rail line would take nearly four years to build.

Bob Halstead, the state's transportation consultant on Yucca Mountain issues, estimates the total costs of the rail line at $2.6 billion.

Lea Rasura-Alfano, coordinator for the Lincoln County Nuclear Oversight Program, described local opinion as "50-50" for an against the project, adding that it is her job to field complaints from ranchers and residents.

Caliente Mayor Kevin Phillips, a long-time proponent of the rail line, underscored his position at the meeting, saying that "in the end this will occur."

Las Vegas investor Beth Mundo, whose parents live in Caliente, is already planning for the economic benefits, attending the meeting only to scope out possible land purchases.

"I think it's a done deal," Mundo said. "I think the whole area will see a lot from it."