Waste Plan Under Attack

WASHINGTON -- Democrats used their weekly radio address Saturday to lash out against the Bush administration’s plan to store the nation’s nuclear waste at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

“The state of Nevada has vetoed this plan ... but now the president and the Republican leadership in Congress have indicated that they are going to move ahead with the plan anyway,” said Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.).

The Democrats’ decision to use their radio platform to press the issue--the latest move in a furious campaign on both sides of the debate --appears to reflect the position of Democratic Party leaders, however, more than the anticipated votes of the party’s rank and file.

Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, last month vetoed the federal plan to ship 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste from across the nation for storage at Yucca, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

A House committee voted, 41 to 6, to override Guinn’s veto, and 17 Democrats voted with the majority. The six opposed were all Democrats, including three from California. The House is expected to back the White House plan by a wide margin when it comes to a vote, likely this week.

Those opposed to the Yucca site believe their best chance for success lies in the Senate, where 51 votes to uphold Guinn’s veto would kill the plan. President Bush in February signed off on the Yucca Mountain plan, saying it was “important for our national security and our energy future.”

Those opposed to using Yucca Mountain warn that it sits in an earthquake zone. They caution against going forward with the plan before all scientific studies are completed.

“An even more devastating incident would be a terrorist attack,” Berkley said in Saturday’s address. “We already know that Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are looking for a ‘dirty bomb.’ These waste transports are exactly the type of target-rich environment they are looking for.”

To get the votes needed to block the plan, the anti-Yucca forces have said they would need to sway about 15 senators. They have conceded that the task will be difficult, despite having Nevada Democrat Harry Reid, who serves as whip, leading their side.

The anti-Yucca effort suffered a serious setback in March when Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), who had vowed to use procedural delays to block it if necessary, learned that a statute regarding votes in nuclear matters barred him from doing so.

In recent weeks lobbying by both sides has intensified.

Public Citizen, a Washington-based advocacy group, on Friday chided staff members from 22 congressional offices for taking part this weekend in a trip to Las Vegas sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute. The trip, they said, includes a visit to the site, as well as a stay at the Four Seasons Hotel.

“I did not hear Public Citizen whining when the publisher of the Las Vegas Sun [who is opposed to the plan] was overnighting in the Lincoln Bedroom when President Clinton was in office,” said NEI spokesman Steve Kerekes. In 2000, Clinton vetoed a Republican-led bill designating Yucca Mountain as the nuclear waste repository.