Editorial: Bush betrays Nevada again

Thursday, April 6, 2006 | 6:49 a.m.

It came as no real surprise Tuesday when the Bush administration announced plans for overstuffing Yucca Mountain with nuclear waste and for rendering all state and local transportation laws moot to expedite the delivery of the deadly material.

The Energy Department, at the bidding of President Bush, proposed to do away with the current limit on how much waste can be stored at Yucca if it opens. The department wants a "standard" that says fill up the mountain with as much as can possibly be crammed into it.

Since Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was chosen in 1987 to be the sole site under consideration for a national nuclear-waste repository, a congressionally mandated cap of 77,000 tons has been in place. Bush's proposal reminds us of the saying "10 pounds in a five-pound bag." The tonnage would increase to at least 132,000 tons, and likely a lot more.

The administration has yet to develop a transportation plan for getting the waste to Yucca, but has said the routes would be "mostly rail" augmented by trucking routes. Under Bush's new proposals, the federal government would be able to pre-empt state and local transportation safety laws and use its own discretion in transporting the waste over the nation's highways and railroads.

Ineptness in federal planning for major events has already been demonstrated in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. How safe can anyone feel knowing that the federal government wants to have total control over hauling the most deadly cargo known to man past their homes and communities?

Why none of this is a surprise dates to May 3, 2000. On that day, then-presidential candidate Bush wrote a letter to Gov. Kenny Guinn, finally stating his official position on Yucca Mountain. He wrote: "I believe sound science, and not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear-waste repository."

Bush continued, "As president, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site unless it's been deemed scientifically safe. I also believe the federal government must work with the local and state governments that will be affected to address safety and transportation issues."

Of course, Bush went back on his word and signed legislation on July 23, 2002, making official the federal government's plan to develop and open Yucca Mountain. To this day Yucca Mountain has not been "deemed scientifically safe," and we do not believe any scientist concerned about his credibility would ever do so.

And now Bush is going back on his word to work with local governments on safety and transportation issues. We trust that our congressional delegation, whose members are unified in their belief that Yucca Mountain cannot ever be made safe, will prevail in blocking Bush's latest betrayal of Nevada.