Editorial: Sleeping with the enemy

Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

In a purported effort to bring business to Nevada, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas have joined with supporters of the planned nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

And, stunningly, city officials seem to have no problem with that.

As reported Tuesday by Jeff German and Steve Kanigher in the Las Vegas Sun, the cities are members of the Nevada Alliance for Defense, Industry and Business, a group with a stated purpose of bringing scientific, high-tech and defense contractors to Southern Nevada.

The group's membership, however, wants to do more than that. Group leaders have long supported plans to dump highly radioactive waste into Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The group is supported by the Energy Department and has a list of members that form a "Who's Who" of repository supporters, including Yucca contractor Bechtel SAIC Co. and former Gov. and nuclear industry lapdog Bob List.

Clark County didn't join the group because it "promotes Yucca Mountain as an economic opportunity," said Irene Navis, who leads the county government's opposition. "We would not want to be part of a group that sends out that message."

Even though the cities oppose Yucca Mountain, they apparently see the Nevada Alliance as a business development group. Chris Knight, Las Vegas' director of administrative services, said the city and the alliance "have a common ground, and we don't see a mixed message on the Yucca Mountain issue."

The alliance certainly is clear about its message, echoing the standard - and asinine - pro-dump claim that bringing deadly waste to Nevada is good for the economy. The alliance even offers 10 "fact" sheets on its Web site, including one that describes the "financial benefits" of the proposal.

The cities' belief that they can be with this group and still be against Yucca Mountain is ludicrous. This is an issue of principle. They should drop their memberships immediately.