Money vs. message on Yucca

Jeff German and Steve Kanigher

Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2007 | 6:53 a.m.

Las Vegas has been one of the fiercest forces in Nevada's longtime fight against the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.

Mayor Oscar Goodman once threatened to personally arrest any trucker hauling dangerous high-level nuclear waste through the city.

And like Las Vegas, the North Las Vegas City Council passed a resolution strongly condemning the Energy Department's multibillion-dollar push to build the Yucca Mountain dump, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Curiously, however, the two cities also belong to a little-known group of influential defense and high-tech contractors intent on seeing Yucca Mountain developed. The state's top Yucca Mountain watchdog calls the group, known as the Nevada Alliance for Defense, Energy and Business, a "rogues gallery" of pro-dump supporters.

"There's a legitimate concern about the participation of the two cities in this group," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects. "It sends a mixed message."

That is why Clark County has refused to join the Nevada Alliance, a nonprofit organization funded by dues-paying members and a $100,000-a-year grant from the Energy Department.

"The Nevada Alliance promotes Yucca Mountain as an economic opportunity," said Irene Navis, a planning manager who leads the county's opposition to the dump. "We would not want to be part of a group that sends out that message."

Although Nevada Alliance officials insist the group is not pro-Yucca, it posts 10 "fact sheets" on its Web site advocating Yucca Mountain as a way to bring economic benefits to the state and arguing that transporting the radioactive waste is not dangerous.

Troy Wade, the organization's chairman, is regarded by opponents as a Yucca Mountain supporter, and Ted Feigenbaum, president of Bechtel SAIC Co., the contractor building the dump in Nye County, is listed with Wade on the Nevada Alliance nine-member board.

Also listed as members of the group are the consulting company run by former Gov. Bob List, who is paid by the high-powered nuclear industry to promote Yucca Mountain, and the public relations firm run by longtime Nevadan Ace Robison, an industry operative hired to undermine the state's opposition to the dump. The Nye County Commission, which supports the government's efforts to build the dump, also is a member.

Other defense-related members include giant government contractor Science Applications International Corp. ; National Security Technologies, the company that manages the Nevada Test Site ; and Wackenhut Services, which handles security for the Test Site.

Wade, a former assistant energy secretary in the Reagan administration, said the Nevada Alliance's main goal is to help develop business opportunities in the Las Vegas Valley, many related to work being done at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Wade acknowledged that his organization shares office space with Robison, the Yucca Mountain hired gun, at what once was known as the Alexander Dawson Building on East Flamingo Road.

Wade said the group moved six months ago as a "cost-conserving measure" from its old office at the nonprofit Desert Research Institute on at UNLV.

The independent research institute, along with two UNLV organizations, the UNLV Research Foundation and the Institute for Security Studies, are listed with Las Vegas and North Las Vegas as associate members of the Nevada Alliance. Annual dues for associate members are $330. The university organizations have not taken a public position on Yucca Mountain.

Chris Knight, director of administrative services for Las Vegas, said the city sees the organization as a means to network with top defense companies to attract economic development to Las Vegas.

"We don't pick and choose who we do business with because there's a single issue in which we have a disagreement on," he said. "We have a common ground, and we don't see a mixed message on the Yucca Mountain issue."

North Las Vegas City Manager Gregory Rose agreed.

"The city council had been clear on what its position is regarding Yucca Mountain," Rose said. "In this instance, we belong to an organization that disagrees with our position."

North Las Vegas Economic Development Director Mike Majewski said the Nevada Alliance, which he described as the leading group of scientific companies in the state, has helped the city expand its economic opportunities.

"We're trying to attract scientific-based companies to this city," he said. "Just because some of their members are pro-Yucca Mountain, you can't say that we're pro-Yucca Mountain."

The participation of both cities, however, troubles former Sen. Richard Bryan, a leading Yucca Mountain opponent who now heads the Nevada Nuclear Projects Commission.

"Both cities have been very supportive of the state's opposition to Yucca Mountain, he said. "But their memberships are inconsistent with their position."

Bryan said Las Vegas and North Las Vegas should make it clear that their memberships are not an expression of support for Yucca Mountain and that they don't want any of their dues to be used to promote the dump.

Anne Wellborn, co-chair of Citizen Alert, a Nevada environmental group that has been battling Yucca Mountain for years, shares that view.

"You can't say you're against Yucca Mountain and then give money to an organization that is promoting Yucca Mountain," Wellborn said. "There are other economic development corridors that can be explored without getting in bed with these guys."