iblv editorial:

Reid a savvy Yucca foe

Senator’s influence helping Nevada kill nuclear dump plan

Fri, Aug 7, 2009 (3 a.m.)

The proposal to bury the nation’s high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is not quite dead, but it is closer to elimination than ever, thanks to the persistence of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

The Nevada Democrat announced last week that the Obama administration and the Energy Department have agreed to cut off funding in the 2011 federal budget for the department’s license application to build a permanent dump at Yucca. That means the application process before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would come to a halt.

The only money that would remain in the budget for the repository would be used to ramp down work at the site with the intent of shutting it down.

“This is a major victory for Nevada,” Reid said. “I am pleased that President Obama has lived up to his promise to me and all Nevadans by working with me to kill the Yucca Mountain project.”

Until the project is officially dead, though, Nevada cannot afford to let up in its effort to kill the dump plan. The potent nuclear power lobby and its friends in Congress are still looking for ways to keep the repository proposal alive.

The nuclear power utilities that generate the waste certainly don’t have Nevada’s interests at heart. They don’t care about the dangers of moving high-level radioactive waste across the country. All they want to do is placate shareholders and ratepayers.

This is one advantage of Nevada having Reid in the position of Senate majority leader. As the most powerful member of the Senate, Reid has masterfully used his influence to make sure a radioactive waste dump that would endanger the lives of Nevadans is not shoved down the state’s throat.

The state is fortunate to have Reid in its corner.

Discussion: 6 comments so far…

By davelv

8/7/09 at 10:37 p.m.

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The House voted 2 weeks ago 388 to 27 (ignoring 3 votes from Nevada) to NOT stop Yucca Mountain in FY 2010. It is unlikely that the vote will change the other way in 2011. Reid and Obama may state they want the budget zeroed out, but this is just not going to happen.

Further, any success Reid is having at defunding Yucca Mountain is coming by way of extra money to other states - at the expense of Nevadans. Nevada has the next to lowest federal money stimulus of any state - so why would the Sun want Reid reelected when he brings nothing for Nevadans? Whether or not Yucca Mountain proceeds is of minor importance to Nevadans compared to the economic disaster that Reid and Obama are leading the nation towards with a decade of trillion dollar per year federal spending deficits.

Nevada needs a respectable Republican to run against him to stop the madness and end this silly chicken little game of Yucca Mountain.
By nvpatentlawyer

8/9/09 at 1:22 p.m.

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Senator Reid: Please invite the Air Force to use Yucca Mountain as a test target for conventional bunker-busting bombs. That should end the discussion.
By abevanluik

8/9/09 at 1:56 p.m.

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I find it interesting that this decision to go back on the Administration's initial word to allow the licensing process to go forward comes just a week or so after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said it could complete its long-term safety evaluation of Yucca Mountain by September of 2010.

That safety evaluation may actually declare the proposed repository safe. It could do that. That would contradict what a certain Senator and President have said. So almost immediately after the NRC schedule announcement, its budget is cut by about 50%, moving that report well into 2011, and licensing is stopped after 2010.

Was there something potentially threatening about that report, scheduled to appear just before a mid-term election? The promise to not sacrifice science for policy or political expediency is not being kept.

1,800 people, most in Nevada, with homes, and with families to support, have been laid off at the Yucca Mountain project. This will cause some other state to have take on this very low risk in the future. I hope they deal smartly with the feds and in exchange for this low risk get infrastructure and other improvements, expanded and new educational and research facilities, and help to start spin-off industries in exchange.

I hope that at that future time there will still be people alive in Nevada who remember the past decision-makers of this state who bowed down to the gaming god and said to it "don't worry, we will protect you from this taint 100 miles north that might just keep a few people from coming to sacrifice at your altars."

Or maybe there won't be people in Nevada then, since the economy is not being diversified effectively even as the gaming-god seems to have become impotent, powerless to reward his worshippers.

Yucca Mountain would have been a great diversification, with long-term spin-offs possible, and likely. Oh well. A prophet once said to a society's self-centered and ambitious rulers that "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Seems appropriate.
By CherylPA

8/9/09 at 10:37 p.m.

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Amen to Mr. Van Luik's remarks. Unfortunately, vision seems to be in very short supply where these politicians and Yucca Mountain are concerned.
By jimhenry2008

8/20/09 at 1:45 a.m.

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