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Dec. 25, 2008
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'COME TO THE TABLE': GOP says Yucca site a solution

Negotiating for benefits might be best, party argues

By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
More Info


Sue Lowden
State GOP chairwoman says Yucca Mountain repository would be difficult to kill.

WASHINGTON -- Fresh from their tour of Yucca Mountain earlier this month, Republican Party leaders are turning up the volume on their calls for Nevadans to reconsider the proposed nuclear waste site as a possible salve for the state's budget woes.

At the same time, they are stepping up pressure on Sen. Harry Reid as Yucca's No. 1 foe to show whether he has the muscle to shut down the project once and for all.

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    • Republican state Chairwoman Sue Lowden led 60 members of the party's Central Committee on the Dec. 12 tour of Yucca Mountain, about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

    She wrote in her blog Monday that after hearing a presentation from project Director Ward Sproat, she thinks the program will be difficult to kill.

    Sproat and other supporters argue that to pull the plug, Congress has to repeal or amend the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, which authorized a repository and led to the targeting of Yucca Mountain. Judging from test votes taken in recent years, little appetite exists in the House of Representatives to abandon the site.

    If Yucca Mountain cannot be killed, Nevada could find itself with nuclear waste and no benefits "we might be able to negotiate for if we would only come to the table," Lowden said.

    On the same day, Clark County Republican Party Chairman Bernie Zadrowski said in an e-mail to party members there should be more debate and questions asked about Yucca Mountain and possible benefits "before the gavel is swung."

    "Can we even trust that (Reid) has Nevada's best interest at heart by prematurely declaring the project dead?" Zadrowski said. "What if it isn't dead, and we get caught blindsided without these important questions being answered?"

    "Over the years we've heard Sen. Reid talk about killing the Yucca Mountain Project," Lowden wrote. "But what we haven't heard is Sen. Reid's plan to introduce, pass and have President Obama sign a bill to repeal the NWPA. Why not?"

    "With that in mind, I urge Sen. Reid to immediately propose repealing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act," Lowden wrote. "As Senate Majority Leader, Sen. Reid clearly has the power to place such a vote at the head of the calendar when Congress reconvenes after President Obama is inaugurated."

    "As the second most powerful Democrat in the country -- with a Democrat in the White House, Democrat control of the U.S. Senate and Democrat control of the U.S. House of Representatives -- if such a repeal is unsuccessful, what will that tell us? It will tell us it's time for Gov. Jim Gibbons to appoint a negotiator."

    Reid has been credited by supporters and blamed by opponents for stalling the repository for years by routinely cutting millions of dollars from the Energy Department's annual budgets.

    Barack Obama and every other Democrat who ran for president pledged to oppose the project in part because Reid arranged for Nevada to become an early stop in the party's caucus schedule.

    As a Senate leader, Reid has bottled up bills that would advance the project, and Democrats who lead energy and environment committees routinely defer to him on anything having to do with Yucca Mountain.

    As far as ending the project outright, Reid does have a strategy but is not about to share it with Lowden or anyone else, his spokesman Jon Summers said Tuesday.

    "Senator Reid has already started working with Obama and (Energy Secretary-designate Steven) Chu on a plan to kill the dump," Summers said. "However, we're not going to publicize a step-by-step strategy."

    Regarding Lowden's call for Nevadans to re-examine Yucca Mountain, "Ms. Lowden would be well-served to do some homework on this issue rather than repeating talking points from the dump's supporters," Summers said.

    "If Yucca Mountain was such a good idea and there were actually benefits to negotiate, why aren't other states fighting to take it away from us?"

    Political analysts are scratching their heads as to why Republicans appear to be attaching themselves to Yucca Mountain when public opinion polls continue to show majorities of Nevadans do not want it.

    Mark Peplowski, who teaches at the College of Southern Nevada, said it appears the GOP is trying out a possible campaign issue for 2010, when Reid is up for re-election and is going to be a major Republican target.

    If Reid cannot deliver Yucca's head on a platter, he could be made the fall guy who Republicans will argue deprived the state of millions of dollars in possible benefits, according to that line of thinking.

    "It is abundantly clear they are trying to set up some issues to help whoever runs against Harry in 2010," Peplowski said. "They are trying to find some Nevada issues that are going to reinvigorate the red base. I don't know what else they have got right now."

    But, Peplowski added, "As strong as public opinion is against Yucca Mountain, I don't know how they can hope to drive public opinion away from Harry on this unless they can somehow prove that Harry has been asleep at the wheel. And that will be difficult to do given that Harry has managed to cut back funding even against a Republican (pro-Yucca) administration."

    Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.

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    BMused wrote on January 05, 2009 09:28 AM: Whoa, New Resident... where did you get the idea that the military will be guarding Yucca Mountain? It will be a restricted site on federal land with the Department of Energy providing security, most likely with a contractor guard force similar to what is in place today at the Nevada Test Site.


    New Resident wrote on January 05, 2009 08:40 AM: I have a few questions to ask about this. One, if the stuff is safe where it is for the next 50 years, why is it not safe in Yucca Mountain. Second, with a number of plants shut down and the waste being guarded by contractors, how is this safer than putting it in Yucca Mountain where it will be guarded by the military? The intent it to be able to pull the waste out once the technology for reusing the waste is available and Yucca is being designed for this purpose. As for transporting nuclear waste, we've been doing that safely for over 50 years. I do not understand the opposition here.


    Aida Hidalgo wrote on December 29, 2008 07:51 PM: It's in Nevada's best interest to accept an eternal repository, in exchange for federal benefits. Yucca Mountain is the best option. Let's make this a reality. Thanks!


    willard Roker wrote on December 27, 2008 07:13 AM: We should welcome YMP with open arms and in return all NV tax payers should get a $40,000 tax credit, $80,000 for married filing jointly.


    Dan wrote on December 26, 2008 11:32 AM: I find it interesting how so many people are calling people who understand and learn about a subject 'liars' when they happen to disagree with their opinion.

    I have visited the site, listened tot he physical geological science being utilized for the last three decades to prepare the application, and agree with the scientific methods being utilized. I guess according to all the opposition this makes me a liar.

    I support the application for Yucca Mountain geological spent fuel storage to continue to be evaluated by the NRC in accordance with the rational President-Elect Obama offered many times on the campaign trail, utilize science to make informed decisions.


    Nevada kid wrote on December 26, 2008 12:09 AM: The main point is that the Nuclear Waste Policy Act says that Yucca Mountain must be developed as the national repository for nuclear wastes.

    Senator Reid cannot change this, unless he comes up with a better idea.


    Michael Ray Thompson wrote on December 25, 2008 02:18 PM: Hey, I'm a big Republican, but Yucca Mountain is bad policy and bad for the Nevada environment. Maybe there's more that I need to know about it, but as of now it stinks!


    John&CO. wrote on December 25, 2008 02:06 PM: You people are crazy!

    The Yucca Mountain repository is coming whether we want it or not. There have been over 3 decades of time and over a trillion dollars invested in that time.

    Does anyone really think they're just gonna walk away? Think again.

    Nevada needs to do like Alaska did and get something out of it. Every year, every Alaskan citizen gets a check from the state for the oil pipeline that runs through the state.

    Nevada nees to get something out of the site that is inevitably going to be run down our throats.

    How about paid college education for Nevada graduates? How about cutting or car insurance rates in half? Or how about doing like some states and having a $50 limit on car registration fees per vehicle.

    Something that gives back. It's coming people. Do you want to get nothing for it?

    The state keeps investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorneys and spokespeople to put up a fight. What a waste of resources.

    Even if there was a magnitude 6 earthquake at the Yucca Mountain site tomorrow, it will not stop it from coming. They would simply use data from that to show how "safe" it really is despite an earthquake.

    It's coming and so many people think they can do something about it. What a joke.


    confessed crook and lobbist Bob Loux wrote on December 25, 2008 12:28 PM: Lisa call me I am a confessed crook and lobbist Bob Loux to get the latest talking points. I can take you to the top of the Mountain.


    Baby Talker wrote on December 25, 2008 12:24 PM: rick702 read the LA and stop the baby talk

    http://www.nrc.gov/waste/hlw-disposal/yucca-lic-app.html


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