Amodei, Heck need to make it clear they are against Yucca Mountain

Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011 | 2 a.m.

For more than two decades, Nevadans have opposed the federal government’s plans to turn the state into a nuclear waste dump, and during that time, Nevada’s congressional delegation has agreed with the people they represent and actively worked to defeat the plans.

But that once-solid opposition changed with the entry of Nevada freshmen Reps. Joe Heck and Mark Amodei. Although both have said they are opposed to creating, in Amodei’s words, a “nuclear landfill” in Nevada, neither one has actively or even strongly opposed the federal government’s plans. Instead, both have talked about turning the site into some sort of research-and-development facility for nuclear reprocessing.

That could be the proverbial camel’s nose under the tent: It opens the door to the transportation of high-level nuclear waste to Nevada.

Nevada’s congressional delegation has to be strongly and actively opposed to any such plans, and this is the first time there has been a divide in the delegation. It’s troubling that Amodei and Heck have taken such a soft stance on the issue because they not only represent a state that is opposed to taking in nuclear waste but also because as Republicans they should have a say with their party’s leadership, which controls the House. As it is, the Republican leadership in the House has been on a frantic quest to revive the plans to turn Nevada into a nuclear landfill. Amodei and Heck should put their constituents ahead of their party and stand up against any notion of opening a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, a mere 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Amodei and Heck apparently would rather follow their party in the House instead of listening to the people who elected them in the first place.

Let’s make one thing clear: This isn’t a partisan issue. It never has been. Nevada’s members of Congress have always seen this as a Nevada issue and have split with members of their parties in standing up for Nevada. Regardless of their political disagreements, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Republican Sen. Dean Heller and Democratic Rep. Shelley Berkley have long understood that this is not good for Nevada and have worked together to oppose it. Prior members of Congress from Nevada, including conservative Republicans like Jim Gibbons and John Ensign, also have actively opposed the federal government’s plans.

Perhaps, like some Nevadans, Amodei and Heck have been lulled into a sense of complacency since President Barack Obama told the Energy Department to stop working on it, but that wasn’t an easy victory nor was it complete. In Washington, where nothing ever seems to be dead, the nuclear industry’s supporters have worked feverishly to try to revive the project. They have spent millions of dollars lobbying Congress and millions more on lawsuits against the federal government to try to force the issue. They’ve attacked the president and the Energy Department and most recently launched a smear campaign against Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who has been the lone member of the commission to stand opposed to the foolish plans.

Amodei and Heck should be in Washington fighting for the state and making sure their party’s leaders and other members of Congress clearly understand that Nevada and nuclear waste don’t mix. The wishy-washy, halfhearted statements they’ve made don’t cut it. They have to be unequivocal in both public and in the caucus room: Yucca Mountain is a bad plan and terrible policy, and Nevadans don’t support it or anything that will bring high-level nuclear waste here.

•••

What do you think? Send your thoughts in a letter — no more than 250 words. Include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Anonymous letters will not be considered. E-mail: [email protected].