Letter: Ethics must be applied to Yucca

Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005 | 8:04 a.m.

It is refreshing to hear that the White House staff is receiving education in ethics. All politicians and bureaucrats in the federal government can use ethics and morality in their decisions.

Now if they would only apply these lessons to Yucca Mountain and the collusion of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the setting of radiation standards on Yucca Mountain.

Isn't the NRC, which makes the final decision on Yucca Mountain, in an oversight capacity of the DOE and EPA? Why wasn't the state of Nevada invited to at least watch the process? How can the NRC have a date certain on a Yucca Mountain decision in its regulations when science, not politics, is the standard?

I wonder if President Bush remembers his 2000 and 2004 campaign promises on Yucca Mountain? If so, we have nothing to worry about: This decision will be based on sound science and the courts. Ethics, not politics, will decide.

Frank Perna

Las Vegas

The writer is a citizen member of Clark County's Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Advisory Committee. The views expressed are his own.