Democrats say Bush deceiving Nevadans on Yucca

Kirsten Searer

Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004 | 9:08 a.m.

Recent comments in a science magazine prove that President Bush is deceiving Nevadans about the Yucca Mountain project, top state Democrats said Wednesday.

In the October edition of Physics Today, Bush's science adviser wrote that the Bush administration has "made a strong commitment to resolving the nuclear waste challenge and making the construction of a long-term geologic repository at Yucca Mountain achievable.

"We are moving ahead with the submission of a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at the end of this year."

The comments show Bush is aggressively pursuing the nuclear waste dump despite telling the state he is taking a wait-and-see role while the courts and regulatory commissions determine if it is safe, the Democrats said.

Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, said Bush is "going to see what he can do to make it happen."

Democrat Tom Gallagher, who is running for Congressional District 3, called Bush's comments "another George Bush flip-flop."

They also pointed to papers filed in late September indicating the Department of Justice might appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a lower court ruling against Yucca Mountain.

"It seems as though George W. Bush is still stringing Nevadans along," Assembly Speaker Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said.

Bush-Cheney spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said Bush has been consistent on the issue and is not allowing politics to play a role in his decisions.

She pointed out that Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry voted in favor of investigating the project but now says he opposes it.

"The President has been clear and consistent on this critical issue," Schmitt said. "He understands that some Nevadans may disagree, but John Kerry has attempted to turn this critical issue into a political poker chip. He has clearly worked to mislead the state on his votes."

Bush told Nevadans while campaigning here in 2000 that he would rely on "sound science" when making decisions on the proposed nuclear waste repository.

And in an August trip to Las Vegas, Bush told a crowd that "I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and I will stand by the decision of the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission."

In the lower court decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency's 10,000-year radiation standard for the site doesn't meet recommendations set by the National Academy of Sciences.

While the EPA has said it doesn't want to appeal the decision, Bush administration officials have kept the option open and have until Nov. 30 to file an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kerry wrote in the Physics Today questionnaire that he would dispose of waste only after peer-reviewed science and analysis has lead to "public understanding and confidence."

Kerry also told the magazine that he would reject a license for Yucca Mountain and initiate a study to examine whether geologic disposal is the best way to contain waste.