Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | 10:54 a.m.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry couldn't have been any clearer during his Sunday campaign stop in Las Vegas.
"Rest assured, Nevada," he said. "If I'm the president of the United States, Yucca Mountain will not be a repository."
No presidential candidate, even the Nevada-friendly Bill Clinton and Al Gore, has gone this far and promised to kill the high-level nuclear waste dump, which is overwhelmingly opposed by Nevadans.
And though it would not be an easy task because the Republican-controlled Congress already has designated Yucca Mountain as the national repository, Kerry's pledge has defined the difference between his campaign and President Bush's on this vital Nevada issue.
It's a difference that could -- and should -- end up giving Kerry the state's five electoral votes in November. Without question Kerry has given himself an opening to go for Bush's throat in the fight for Nevada.
We now have a clear choice when we go to the polls. We can vote for the man who says he will use his presidential powers to kill Yucca Mountain, which is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Or we can re-elect the man whose administration is working to dump the deadly nuclear waste in our back yard.
We didn't have that choice in Campaign 2000, before Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the lone repository. Both Gore and Bush pledged to make a decision on whether to recommend Yucca Mountain to Congress based on sound science -- the mountain had to be safe.
With the Yucca Mountain issue neutralized, Bush went on to carry Nevada and ultimately win the presidency in one of the closest national elections in history. Two years later the new president broke his promise and, without a thorough scientific study, recommended Yucca Mountain.
This week, even as Kerry laid down the gauntlet, Bush's Department of Energy was holding a public meeting here to push construction of planned rail lines outside Las Vegas that could haul 77,000 tons of waste from nuclear plants across the country to Yucca Mountain.
At the same time, Republicans and the Bush-favoring Las Vegas Review-Journal were dismissing Kerry's commitment as an empty promise.
What's their evidence?
It must be they think Kerry is as low as Bush, who out-and-out lied to Nevada four years ago to get votes he didn't deserve.
But Kerry isn't like Bush. The Democratic challenger has a consistent track record in the Senate of opposing Yucca Mountain.
And last Sunday Kerry pointed out anti-Yucca actions available to him as president, including withholding Energy Department money earmarked for Yucca Mountain and ordering other federal agencies to do more scientific studying before proceeding with the project's licensing.
That's more than Bush has ever done or said. The president wouldn't even speak to the local media during his one and only visit to Las Vegas last November, refusing to answer the tough questions he was sure to have fielded.
Whether Kerry would have success killing Yucca Mountain is another story. The nuclear industry wields considerable power on Capitol Hill, especially among the Republicans in control.
But Kerry would have the courage to take on the power brokers and do what's right for Nevada -- and the country.
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