Quantcast
MobileRJ | RSS TwitterTwitter FacebookFacebook E-mail Alerts
Home manage Las Vegas Review-Journal
  Jobs Cars Homes Shopping Travel Weddings Golf Best of Las Vegas Photo   Search:

RECENT EDITIONS
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

sponsored by
News
Apr. 10, 2009
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Nevada seeks to derail Yucca train plan

State files motions with transportation board

By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
More Info

WASHINGTON -- If there is likely to be no nuclear waste repository in Nevada, there is no need to think about building a nuclear waste railroad, attorneys for the state are saying to a federal board considering an Energy Department rail plan.

Nevada lawyers filed a motion Tuesday asking the Surface Transportation Board to suspend a DOE application to build a rail line from Caliente to the repository site at Yucca Mountain.

Most Popular Stories
  • Three suspects arrested in shooting death of police officer
  • Three suspects arrested in shooting death of police officer
  • FATAL SHOOTING: Police again mourn comrade
  • NORM: Biden finds rank has its privileges
  • NORM: Walton: Coach deserved a punch
  • Two of three suspects in slaying of officer could face death penalty
  • DEADLY HOME INVASION: Police suspect link to family
  • Station Casinos posts $455 million third-quarter loss
  • Las Vegas police shoot at man fleeing after traffic stop
  • Las Vegas police shoot at man fleeing after traffic stop
  • NORM: 'Girls Gone Wild' creator feels heat
  • UNLV sacks football coach Sanford




    • Support and funding for the Yucca project "has all but vanished" given the Obama administration's opposition to storing nuclear waste in Nevada, and its stated intention to cut deeply into the project's 2010 budget, attorneys said.

    In effect, with the repository's fate up in the air, DOE is proposing to "construct and operate what could ultimately be a rail line to nowhere," they said.

    Nevada tried out its argument in an 83-page filing to the federal transportation board. It underscores a point that, to the chagrin of some Nevada officials, the state must continue to battle the Yucca project in court and before federal and state agencies even though President Barack Obama has said he is against it. The Department of Energy has made no move to withdraw various applications for water, land access or transportation planning.

    For more than a year, the three-member Surface Transportation Board has been weighing DOE's request for a certificate to build a rail line along a 319-mile rural Nevada corridor to the Yucca site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

    If the Surface Transportation Board declines to suspend DOE's rail proposal, the state submitted a backup request for the application process to be reopened.

    Nevada asked for permission to make new arguments against the railroad. New issues have emerged in the year since DOE filed its application, state attorneys said.

    For instance, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Homeland Security have issued new safety and security rules for rail that have not been incorporated into DOE's plans, they said.

    Also this week, Nevada and California filed separate notices in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that they intend to file lawsuits against the Department of Energy's rail plan, officials said.

    The department's formal record of decision for the Caliente rail route that was issued last October relied on studies that "failed to analyze significant environmental impacts," according to a copy of Nevada's 10-page filing before the court in San Francisco.

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

    Newsvine Digg Fark Technorati reddit StumbleUpon del.icio.us Slashdot Propeller Mixx Furl Twitter MySpace Facebook Google Bookmarks Yahoo! Bookmarks Windows Live Favorites Ask MyStuff myAOL Favorites

    Leave Your Comment 6 Reader Comments
    Terms & Conditions
    The following comments are provided by readers and are the sole responsiblity of the authors. The reviewjournal.com does not review comments before publication nor guarantee their accuracy. By publishing a comment here you agree to abide by the comment policy. If you see a comment that violates the policy, please notify the web editor.

    Some comments may not display immediately due to an automatic filter. These comments will be reviewed within 48 hours. Please do not submit a comment more than once.
    Current Word Count:

    Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

    The law is the law wrote on April 10, 2009 08:41 PM: The Executive Branch does not make the law, instead it executes the law.

    Senator Reid is responsible for making the law. Once the Nuclear Waste Policy Act has been amended by Congress, then the Executive Branch can follow the new law.

    There is a very limited amount that the Obama administration can do to change the current course on nuclear waste policy until the current law is changed. Senator Reid is the Majority Leader, and it's his job to identify a better policy and get Congress to pass it.


    davelv wrote on April 10, 2009 05:23 PM: The state's petition will be rejected because Yucca Mountain is still a federal law, passed and reaffirmed by multiple Congresses. DOE is just following the law as it is required to do unlike Obama, Reid and Chu.


    Abe Van Luik wrote on April 10, 2009 12:09 PM: And why are we wasting money fighting the tentacles of a monster that has been pronounced dead? Because we can? Because we can afford to?

    So what expense have we just gone to to remind several federal agencies to mind the revised rules that apply to them? Didn't they know that already?

    I'd sooner see a few more teachers funded in our schools than to continue to pay to have these silly legal pranks continue in the name of my state. How embarrassing.


    aBadReid wrote on April 10, 2009 07:55 AM: Frank, you wrote:

    "So the DOE still hasn't withdrawn any of its plans for this massive waste of money? Nice to know they're in the spirit of everyone making sacrifices."

    Like the post after yours stated, it's still Federal Law to proceed with Yucca Mountain. If you want to talk waste, talk to Harry Reid! He is trying to stop this project with no plan B in site.

    Why is this wasteful? Well YOUR tax dollars are CURRENTLY paying for litigation fees to the Nuclear Power Companies because a promised facility was not provided for them as the LAW stated. This is hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

    Another waste? Well, there is no end of those law suites in site, especiallly now that Reid and Obama have killed the project and no other resolution is foreseeable in the near future (I'm guessing 20 plus years).

    Also, IF the law gets changed, expect even more law suites from the power companies (this is actually why Obama and Secretary Chu have NOT pulled the license application process that the NRC is currently investigating).

    The facility is within three years of starting construction, then you get this derailment from the "CHANGE". Well, enjoy paying for the CHANGE as it's here to stay for a while.

    If you would like more detailed information visit http://aBadReid.com.

    Knowledge is power. Get educated, know the facts!

    Above all, get Reid out in 2010!


    former_yucca_insider wrote on April 10, 2009 07:25 AM: @Frank, As of today, DOE is still required by federal law to continue with plans for the repository-- regardless of what Harry Reid or Barack Obama say. Come back when you have a valid, intelligent comment.

    Sacrifices have nothing to do with Yucca Mountain-- except the sacrifice by ratepayers of $9 billion for what has become an empty promise.


    Frank wrote on April 10, 2009 07:12 AM: So the DOE still hasn't withdrawn any of its plans for this massive waste of money? Nice to know they're in the spirit of everyone making sacrifices.