Keeping up the fight

Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009 | 2:09 a.m.

Thanks to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Obama administration has agreed that the only money in the 2011 federal budget for the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump will be to close the project down.

Even though no money would be left for the Energy Department to pursue its licensing application before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the dump 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the project cannot officially be declared dead until that application is withdrawn or is rejected by the commission.

Nevada is fortunate that Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and Secretary of State Ross Miller recognize this.

As members of the state Board of Examiners, they voted Tuesday over the objections of the third member, Gov. Jim Gibbons, to spend $10 million over the next two years on a Washington law firm to help the state fight Yucca Mountain.

The money for the contract with the law firm Egan, Fitzpatrick & Malsch will come from federal funds, so it will not put a further strain on the state’s bare-bones budget.

As reported by the Nevada Appeal, Gibbons still questioned whether the spending was necessary “since, in essence, the permitting process is dead.” Though the governor has opposed the dump plan, he should have recognized, as his colleagues did, that it is still premature to give up the fight against Yucca Mountain.

As the state’s elected leader, Gibbons should continue that fight until there is no longer an active dump application before the commission. By voting against the funding for the law firm, the governor left the impression that he has softened his position against the nuke dump, even if that was not his intent.

Having the law firm in Nevada’s corner is necessary because the potent nuclear power industry and its friends in Congress will still try any trick they can to dump the nation’s high-level nuclear waste in this state.

This state should remain vigilant in the fight against Yucca Mountain, and it needs a governor who will do the same.