Las Vegas Sun

November 22, 2009

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Letter to the editor:

Reid has won where it matters most to us

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009 | 2:01 a.m.

If you are in agreement with those who are dissatisfied with Sen. Harry Reid’s performance in Washington, you are apparently overlooking one vital and frightening problem. It is called Yucca Mountain, and Harry Reid has spearheaded the movement to halt its operation.

Most Republicans in Congress are in favor of burying our nation’s high-level radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain, which is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Yucca Mountain sits on a fault line, which is by definition “a fracture in the continuity of a rock formation caused by a shifting or dislodging of the earth’s crust.” Simply put, the fault could be a precursor to an earthquake, of which there have been a few just this year in the world (China and American Samoa, for example). The fatalities and destruction have been devastating by all reports. Add tons of nuclear waste to that mix and realize, if there were an earthquake on or near Yucca Mountain, how catastrophic it would be for all of Nevada.

Most in the Republican Party have gone on record in support of completing the Yucca Mountain project. Personally, I would not like to feel threatened by even the most remote possibility of such a catastrophic event.

Discussion: 19 comments so far…

  1. hey paul...
    excellent letter...
    it really is very simple...
    you either support harry reid...
    or...
    you support having our children glow in the dark...

  2. Thank you Reid for killing thousands of good paying jobs for Nevada.

  3. Harry Reid is a despicable embarassment to Nevada.

  4. As long as you don't care if anyone's working or able to pay their bills then harry Reid is great for Nevada. If he put half the effort into getting people back to work as he is on his reelection effort Nevada wouldn't need so much help. People want jobs.

  5. Lets say we have a earthquake of 8.0 magnitude at yucca mountain, you will probablly have 2-5 deaths attributed to the earthquake and none attributable to the leakage of radioactive material inside of the casks, as they can survive a head on collision while being shipped on a freight train.
    Now have the same 8.0 earthquake centered in the city of las vegas and you will have hundreds if not in the thousands of deaths attributed to crushed building, shards of glass, car accidents just to name a few and there will be many more.
    Where do you want to be when the 8.0 earthquake hits?
    Harry Reid has prevented nevada from having some of the best jobs ever available to this state.
    Build yucca mountain and create jobs that we need!
    And to all of those who cry and whine about earthquakes at yucca mountain, you had better start worring about them in the city of las vegas first and foremost.

  6. Nuclear material north of Las Vegas will just kill the city and drive any tourist.

    Just think if they exploded time after time after time again nuclear weapons above and below ground a few hundred miles north of Las Vegas.

    Thank God that never happened.

  7. The lack of scientific understanding regarding earthquakes and radiation by Mr. Seidman and subsequent commentors (birdie) is astounding. It's a good thing these are OPINION pages because their comments would get laughed out of any serious scientific tomes.

  8. Hey Paul !!!
    90 miles south east of yucca mountain is Las Vegas and that is where we all live, And the city of Las Vegas is going to be the catastrophic event that happens not yucca mountain.
    You obviously are one of those that call yourselves a Democrat and probably a liberal one at that.
    It is not the hole in the ground with the radioactive material inside of the casks that you have to worry about, You have to worry about the home you live in and the citys towering casinos and mega resorts the person driving his car next to you on the freeway and the overpasses that you might be under at the time of the earthquake and dont forget all of the people that will just freekin panic all because the ground is shakin beneath their feet.
    I can only hope that we will be constructing yucca mountain repository and I will be employed there when the big one hits as it will no doubt be the safest place as compared to being in the city of Las Vegas

  9. YUCCA MOUNTAIN IS DEAD.
    HARRY REID IS THE MAN.

    Republicans are the dumbest people on the
    face of this planet.
    Thank God people of science are now in charge.

  10. Talk about niave knucklehead, got news for you Yucca is still going on. Drive by their packed offices in Summerlin everyday.

  11. Teamster-the second dumbest man in the World is Whorehouse Harry Reid. The dumbest is his illiterate stupid kid who wants to be Governor. There are some genes that went bad somewhere in the reproductive process.

  12. "Thank God people of science are now in charge."

    Within a short period of time taking office....without doing any study group or having one government agency issue one single report....Obama made a political decision to push to stop funding Yucca.

    Yep.....that sure is science.....errrr...more like political science or science fiction.

  13. Yucca Mountain is about the 1,000th thing that Nevada should be asking Reid to think about.

    How about jobs?

    How about diversification of the employers?

    How about four lane interstates to Reno and Phoenix?

    How about fixing the public health care expenses at UMC?

    How about gang crime in Las Vegas?

    How about the criminal death rate on construction projects along the strip?

    How about the 14% unemployment rate that is continuing to climb?

    How about a run away chlorine tanker that could have killed 25000 people?

    How about how about how about....

    The Sun and some of its readers are irrationally focused on Yucca Mountain when there are so many more important issues being ignored. But I guess that is politics.

    Hopefully the next election kicks out all politicians who only want to be reelected.

    BTW, earthquakes are of no concern to the Yucca Mountain repository. The facilities are designed for an 11+ earthquake as well as this level of quake hasn't happened ever as well as there are balanced rocks in the area that have been that way for tens of thousands of years showing that no major earthquake has happened. This letter just goes to show how gullible some Nevadans are for Reid's propaganda.

  14. The notion that "job creation" is a big positive for Yucca is absolutely hysterical. Just thinking about it makes me laugh.

  15. davelv:

    What is Gov. Gibby doing about all the items
    you mentioned?

    We don't want nuclear waste dumped in our
    beautiful state. Send it to Texas.
    No human on earth can guarantee any structure
    in a huge earthquake. That's hysterical.

  16. Sen. Reid has Mr. Seidman's vote apparently.

    They both think the Yucca Mountain Project was the worst thing that could happen to Nevada. I think they are hysterical and it was a huge mistake to kill funding for the project. I am also certain it will be built one day. But not for a long time now. There were many educated, and productive people working to solve a national problem and spending their professional salaries in the local economy. Now they are leaving this area.

    But this problem won't go away. Acting on solving it will simply be delayed. It is almost inevitable.

    So that is quite an accomplishment there Senator Reid. Kill off a workplace that would have employed professionals "till the end of the republic" in the worst economic climate in generations. Then tell everyone it is not about jobs. Then make a ridiculous statement about employing people in the thousands of new green jobs you've created. And they are where exactly? How much do they pay? How many of them are there? There are in fact almost none.

    Well, there are all those valet positions available.

    Oh, wait. You can't get one of those positions without a sponser. A degree doesn't count.

    Well they are still building mega resorts along the strip.

    Oh. Wait. Echelon and Fontainebleau are dead.

    Well at least there will be no scientists employed in the desert. Congratulations Senator Reid. The Sun thinks that is quite an accomplishment. Hope you can talk with Brian about it over brunch after your forced retirement next year.

    Mr. Seidman doesn't know much about the science or the many professional studies that detailed the geological conditions around Yucca Mountain.

    But, he doesn't care to know. He is simply parroting.

  17. Metman:

    No other country in the world dumps their
    nuclear waste in the ground. They re-cycle it.

    Do your homework.

  18. "The notion that "job creation" is a big positive for Yucca is absolutely hysterical. Just thinking about it makes me laugh."

    This is coming from the same people who claim that solar and wind will bring a ton of jobs to Nevada.

    Yucca Mountain would have brought more good paying long term jobs than what solar or wind will bring.

    Yucca Mountain would have brought more short-term construction jobs than waht solar or wind will bring.

    The bring new Solar plant Southeast of Las Vegas is the biggest solar plant in the world.

    It has a total of 9 full-time jobs and all of them were filled by people outside of Nevada and some even from outside of the USA.

  19. The point is, teamster, that the most realistic earthquake that will occur is probably a 6.5, yet the buildings are designed for a 11, almost 10000 times more powerful. There is no danger from Yucca Mountain. Never will be.

    Contrast this with runaway chlorine tankers and 15% unemployment, both of which are real events.

    Again, nuclear waste is solid ceramic or glass, not green liquid in a drum. Nevada could have been the world's leader in nuclear waste and nuclear research paying $100k+.yr for hundreds or thousands of jobs, but Reid would rather have the Teamster members caulking windows at miminum wage. This is what you want? What a joke..

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