Editorial: Budget slams Nevada

Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2005 | 8:58 a.m.

A year ago the Energy Department projected that it would request $1.2 billion for work at Yucca Mountain in the fiscal-year 2006 budget, which begins Oct. 1. It was not a big surprise, however, to learn that President Bush is proposing only a little more than half that amount, $651 million. Since its confident projection, the Energy Department has experienced severe setbacks in developing the nuclear-waste repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The department admitted that workers had been exposed to toxic silica dust, and a federal appeals court ruled that the mountain wasn't being built to the correct standard for safeguarding against radiation leaks. The department had been steadfastly committed to a December 2004 deadline for applying for a federal license to operate the repository, but late last year postponed the application until the end of this year.

President Bush has been a champion of Yucca Mountain and his administration has been zealous in its quest to open it by 2010. For his 2005 budget, Bush proposed $880 million for Yucca (Congress approved $578 million). That Bush would propose such a reduced budget at a time when Republicans, who generally favor Yucca Mountain, handily control Congress, is evidence that the project is laden with problems. Science and common sense reveal that Yucca Mountain cannot hope to achieve its goal of safely containing high-level nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of years. Truly, Yucca Mountain's only budget should be for shutting it down. Even a reduced budget for continuing work there is still a slam on Nevada.

And that's not the only slam on this state in Bush's budget. To compensate for his unconscionable deficit spending, Bush proposes to steal most of Nevada's proceeds from federal land sales. The state stands to lose billions over the coming years. Bush also plans to cut $70 million from the already meager Bureau of Land Management budget. As the state with the most federal land, Nevada will be hit the hardest. Throw in the president's proposals to cut billions in national funding for health care, education and law enforcement -- areas that are extremely underfunded locally -- and it becomes obvious that Bush's budget would have a devastating effect on Nevada.