Letter: Nevada disaster would be unnatural

Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005 | 9:11 a.m.

Now imagine that you are forced to leave your home. Your neighborhood is deserted. You are separated from family members and may be suffering from the loss of loved ones. Imagine fleeing in your car (if you have enough gas) on clogged highways, or having to rely on mass transportation, if it even exists. There are fires and explosions and the air is full of toxins. There is no infrastructure left -- no running water, plumbing, gasoline, electricity, phones or police.

Imagine having to fight off others intent on stealing your meager supply of food, water or gasoline. Maybe one of your family members needs medical attention and there are no doctors or nurses available. You might have a parent in a nursing home and you are unable to get there.

Providing that President Bush is successful in ramming a nuclear-waste dump at Yucca Mountain down our throats, it is not a matter of "if" the above scenario will happen in Nevada, it is a matter of "when." There will be hundreds and hundreds of trucks carrying deadly nuclear waste through our streets and cities every day for decades. It will only be a matter of time until there is a wreck, overturned truck or some other accident that could turn our beloved Nevada into a wasteland. There would be no homes, jobs or schools to go back to.

Don't kid yourself. The odds are that this will happen if Bush gets his way.

A. Maria Brown Henderson