Yucca Mountain News Clips
Sunday, June 13, 2004
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 13, 2004
Bush adviser says Yucca decision did not violate pledge
Process relied on 'sound science,' Rove says
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
President Bush's top political adviser said the administration's approval of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository did not violate a 2000 promise to Nevada voters to base such a decision on "sound science, not politics."
"He believed then, as he did after the laborious process that he went through after becoming president to review the recommendations and to ask questions of the Department of Energy and others, that this is a decision based on sound science," Karl Rove said in an interview during a day of fund-raising events in Las Vegas and Reno on Saturday.
Rove said Bush dealt with low-level nuclear waste siting issues in Texas when he was governor, and learned "that he really had to keep politics out of it and keep the science in mind."
The man called "boy genius" by the president and "Bush's brain" by critics, said Bush also was satisfied that any decision he made on Yucca Mountain would be vetted in the courts or during the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing proceedings, which themselves could take three years.
"The courts are going to deal with the question of, 'Was this done in the proper basis?' " Rove said. "This issue ought to be dealt with straightforward and without politics."
Rove, 54, lived in Sparks from 1961 to 1966 and attended Dilworth Middle and Sparks High schools. He has a sister and a brother in Northern Nevada and said he looked forward to eating Basque food with them Saturday night.
During the interview in Las Vegas, Rove criticized, although not by name, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for telling Nevadans during a fund-raising trip last month that if he is elected president, "Yucca Mountain will not be a repository."
"Anybody who comes to Nevada and pledges it's not going to be there is going to have to explain how he's going to achieve that result," Rove said. "They'll need to explain to Nevada and to the rest of the country what they're going to do with the material that's at 111 sites and in 39 states.
"I do think he has a responsibility to explain how he hopes to achieve that goal because there is a law, a process in place, that has been validated time and time again over the last 20 years by votes of Congress," Rove said. "And he also has an obligation to explain to the people of 39 other states what's going to be done with the material in 39 other states.
"If you want to take it out of politics and you want to address it, and it just so happens to be an election year, you're obligated to offer up those kinds of details. This is not a bumper-sticker issue. This is an issue that requires a great deal of serious thought and explanation."
Rove got to see some very large bumper-sticker slogans about Yucca Mountain, the war in Iraq and gas prices as he made his way into the Rancho Bel Air home of developer Barry Becker to raise campaign money for freshman Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., just before 1:30 p.m.
He gave a thumb's up to a group of 25 protesters outside the gated community and smiled at a woman whose sign said "Peace is Patriotic" and to several men holding a banner that said: "Bush/Rove & Co. = Four More Wars."
One protester dressed as Yucca Man, wearing a silver hazardous materials suit complete with protective helmet and face shield.
When told Rove said Bush based his Yucca decision on science, Democratic Party Chairwoman Adriana Martinez lowered her protest sign and said: "Lies again. Lies, lies, lies."
Yucca Mountain is about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Rove spoke to about 75 people inside the house, raising $50,000 for Porter, according to Republican consultant Mike Slanker.
During the interview, Rove also defended a legal memo that said torture "may be justified" when interrogating suspected terrorists. Jay Bybee, then a Justice Department official and now a federal judge in Las Vegas, signed the memo.
"The president did not authorize torture," Rove said, adding that the United States is meeting its obligations under international law.
"I think that Americans understand that terrorists don't consider themselves uniform services bound by the Geneva Convention," Rove said. "The people who cut off Nick Berg's head in front of a video camera did so not because they felt bound by any international agreement. They're killers. They're cold-blooded killers."
Rove also defended the president's call to renew the Patriot Act, saying the measure has been politicized into something it's not. He said roving wiretaps authorized by a judge, for example, are used in other cases.
"I frankly don't see that terrorists are less dangerous to us than drug dealers, Medicare fraud or organized crime," Rove said.
After his activities in Las Vegas, Rove flew to Reno to raise money for the state party. The amount raised in Reno was not immediately available.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
June 13, 2004
Presidential advisor stumps for Bush
Anjeanette Damon
Visiting Reno for a Republican fund-raiser Saturday, presidential adviser Karl Rove defended Bush´s decision to store nuclear waste in Nevada, called for a national energy policy to lower gas prices and attacked Democratic presidential rival Sen. John Kerry.
In an interview with the Reno Gazette-Journal before the fund-raiser, Rove said Nevada “is a state you can´t take for granted,’ adding that the Bush campaign will target the explosive number of new residents here, as well as Democratic and independent voters.
The fund-raiser for the Nevada Republican Party that Rove attended at the Reno Hilton was closed to the news media.
As President Bush´s top political adviser, Rove is credited with engineering the president´s 2000 win, in part, by identifying and persuading swing voters.
With an almost evenly divided electorate and a history of narrowly decided presidential races, Nevada is considered a battleground state in the race for the White House that could swing the election.
Rove´s visit comes six days before Bush is scheduled to visit Reno to address supporters.
In a 15-minute telephone interview, Rove addressed the top issue on which Nevada Democrats attack Bush, saying the president disregarded politics when he approved the plan to store the nation´s most radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Southern Nevada.
“It was not a decision he made lightly, and he certainly did so after receiving pointed comments from political opponents and friends,’ Rove said. “He said he would make the decision on sound science, and he did do exactly that.’
Rove also pushed Bush´s energy plan, which relies on exploring the western United States, including the Alaskan Arctic Reserve, for more oil.
Rove said the plan also includes conservation measures and a hydrogen car initiative.
“All of these things make us less dependent on foreign sources of oil, but some like high energy prices because they think it is a way to bring about less use of oil and gas,’ he said, launching an attack against Kerry of Massachusetts. “Sen. Kerry supported a 50-cent a gallon tax and also voted to keep the 55 mph speed limit.’
Kerry spokesman Sean Smith called Rove´s comments about the gas tax ridiculous.
“That was a statement John Kerry made 10 years ago about an energy policy,’ Smith said. “He doesn´t advocate for it now, and he hasn´t for a decade.’
Rove further attacked Kerry for his vote against banning what opponents call partial-birth abortion and Kerry´s indication he would appoint judges to the U.S. Supreme Court that would uphold Roe v. Wade, a decision that protects a woman´s right to choose.
“He is way far out there on the extreme,’ Rove said.
Smith said Rove´s attacks are motivated by fear.
“This administration is scared,’ Smith said. “They are coming to Nevada because they see it slipping away from them. And they should be scared because John Kerry is attractive to voters in this state.’
In the interview with the RGJ, Rove also defended the USA Patriot Act, which has been criticized by civil libertarians, saying it is an important tool in the fight against terrorism.
Responding to news reports that Bush may not re-appoint Attorney General John Ashcroft, Rove said: “I´m focused on Nov. 2. It´s up to the president and his Cabinet members to decide. (Ashcroft) is a good friend of the president, and he has great respect and admiration for him.’
Rove was greeted by 36 protesters at the Reno Hilton on Saturday. Organized by the Washoe County Democratic Party, they started gathering about 6 p.m. along Glendale Avenue outside the hotel-casino, waving signs protesting Bush´s polices. Handmade signs read, “We´ve be railroaded,’ “Nice of Bush to Send the Brain,’ and “Nevada Children left Behind.’
They hoped that Republicans attending the fund-raiser might take a minute to read their messages.
“I don´t know it will change their mind, but they need to remember that not everybody agrees with them,’ said Lisa Kornze, 29, of Reno.
In the interview earlier, Rove said that Bush´s planned visit to Reno on Friday is designed to “rally the faithful and the committed and reach out to discerning Democrats and independents.’
Bush is scheduled to talk at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center to invited guests only.
Reporter Beryl Chong of the Reno Gazette-Journal contributed to this story.
Karl Rove, 53, President Bush´s chief strategist and a consultant to several other Republicans, is credited with engineering Bush´s gubernatorial win in Texas and his 2000 presidential win. The Denver native grew up in Colorado and Utah and lived in Sparks from 1961 to 1966. In 1980, George H.W. Bush hired Rove to help him run for president.
In 1981, when the elder Bush became vice president, Rove started a consulting business, Karl Rove & Co. Bill Clements, the first Republican in a century to become Texas governor, was his first client. Rove has been advising George W. Bush since he announced he was a candidate for Texas governor in November 1993. Bush has called Rove a close friend and confidant, and a man with good judgment.
Source: www.FamousTexans.com
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Christian Science Monitor
June 13, 2004
Nuclear-weapons challenges rise
Bush and Pentagon call for new kinds of nukes - and a missile defense system - as bombs' toxic legacy lingers.
By Brad Knickerbocker | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
At a time when all eyes are on fighting what the Pentagon calls the "Global War on Terrorism," the United States is having to address the past, present, and future of nuclear conflict.
• Sixty years after the Manhattan Project produced the first and only atomic bombs ever dropped on an enemy, the US continues to struggle with how to permanently dispose of the radioactive and chemical byproducts of its cold-war weapons of mass destruction. The Senate recently voted to allow the Energy Department to reclassify such waste so that it could stay in place, even though some of it is leaking into the air and ground water.
• As the nature of warfare changes, the Bush administration is considering new kinds of nuclear bombs. These include smaller "tactical nukes" meant to pack a bigger punch than any conventional weapon, as well as "bunker busters" designed to penetrate an enemy's deep command and weapons-storage sites.
• And in case Russia, North Korea, or some other nuclear power should fire missiles at the US, the administration is pushing ahead on ground-based systems to try to knock down incoming warheads.
Some experts see signs that space-based missile defenses - of the type envisioned in former President Reagan's "star wars" initiative 20 years ago - may be in the works as well.
All of this is highly controversial and very expensive.
Defending against missile attack
Last month, 31 former government officials urged the Bush administration to delay the national missile-defense deployment scheduled for later this year. Interceptor missiles are to be deployed in Alaska and California. These former senior defense and arms-control officials, representing every administration since Dwight Eisenhower's, say the Bush program is "missing major components." "This is like rolling out a new automobile that is missing tires, steering wheel, and brakes and hasn't been tested on the open road," says Philip Coyle, former Pentagon chief of operational test and evaluation.
In his first year as president, Mr. Bush unilaterally withdrew the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, which had been designed to preserve the longstanding regime of "mutual assured destruction" by denying either the US or the former Soviet Union the ability to launch a first strike and survive. Like Mr. Reagan, Bush and other critics of the ABM Treaty believe the US should be able to defend itself not only from Russian missiles but from those launched by North Korea or other "rogue states."
Critics point to more likely threats not addressed by ballistic missile defenses: low-flying cruise missiles or "dirty bombs" filled with smuggled radioactive material.
Still, many see deployment of missile defenses as logical if not required for national security. "The threat has changed since the cold war," says military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute. "There are more countries with ballistic missiles, and their behavior is less predictable."
Nukes that go smaller, deeper
This same concern about a more complicated and more dangerous world also drives the administration's desire to accelerate research on nuclear weapons designed for 21st-century threats. "Nuclear attack options that vary in scale, scope, and purpose will complement other military capabilities [to deter] adversaries whose values and calculations of risk ... may be very different from and more difficult to discern than those of past adversaries," states the Pentagon's most recent Nuclear Posture Review.
That range of options is reflected in the Defense Authorization Bill now being considered by the Senate. It includes $27.6 million for the development of the 100-kiloton bunker buster and $9 million for new "low yield" weapons (less than 5 kilotons, or about one-third the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima).
The programs don't cost much, in Pentagon terms. But much is scheduled to be spent in coming years. And, coupled with Bush's attack-first approach to dealing with perceived enemies, a modernized nuclear arsenal raises alarms. "I am deeply concerned that this administration may well be encouraging the very nuclear proliferation we seek to prevent - through its policy of preemption combined with the pursuit of new nuclear weapons," says Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D) of California.
A House subcommittee last week refused to provide money for a bunker buster, a low-yield nuke, and for a new plant to produce plutonium triggers for the warheads. The spending is also under attack in the Senate, as Senators Feinstein and Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts seek this week to eliminate this year's funding for next-generation nukes.
Reclassifying weapons-site waste
Meanwhile, dealing with the oldest generation of nuclear weapons remains a serious problem. In South Carolina, Idaho, and Washington State, nuclear waste - some of it highly radioactive - has been stored for decades, waiting for a more permanent solution. In Washington, some of those buried storage tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have begun leaking, sending their toxic brew of radioactivity and chemicals used to produce plutonium into the ground water that flows into the nearby Columbia River.
A federal judge has ruled that under the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the US Department of Energy (which oversees nuclear weapons programs) must dispose of high-level radioactive waste in deep underground vaults beneath Yucca Mountain, Nev. But as part of a defense authorization bill, the Senate recently voted to allow the Energy Department to reclassify sludge in some tanks so that it can stay in place. Safely turning it into a grout-like substance, proponents argue, could save billions of dollars. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D) of Washington tried to amend the bill to remove that provision, but lost on a tie vote. She vows to keep fighting.
"There are 50 million gallons of radioactive waste at Hanford and I want it cleaned up," Senator Cantwell says.
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New York Times
June 12, 2004
Agency Is Seen as Unfazed on Atom Waste
By Matthew L. Wald
WASHINGTON, June 11 - The plan to bury nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain may need major revisions, but the Energy Department is pressing ahead with the project, according to some independent scientists appointed by President Bush to review the project.
The Yucca repository, near Las Vegas, is years behind schedule and the Energy Department is facing financial penalties for its failure to begin accepting waste from civilian reactor operators in 1998, as mandated under contracts the department signed with utility companies two decades ago. Many of those reactor operators are incurring substantial extra costs as they run out of storage space.
The Energy Department acknowledges some uncertainty about the design, but is promising to apply by the end of this year for a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the repository.
Supporters argue that if the repository turned out not to work as expected during its first few decades of operation, physical changes could be made and that, for now, the plan should proceed.
But the design concept is vulnerable to corrosion, according to the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a panel of scientists appointed to review work of the Energy Department.
Last year the board warned that humidity in Yucca Mountain's tunnels could dissolve salt from the rock there, which could then corrode "drip shields," metal tents made of a sophisticated alloy that are meant to keep the containers that would hold the waste dry.
The idea that the drip shields will protect the containers "is based mostly on assumptions that could be unrealistic and overly optimistic," the board said, and the Energy Department's predictions of how the drip shields would perform for thousands of years "are speculative."
After months of criticizing the design, the board on Tuesday issued a report that spoke highly favorably of the way Belgium was planning its own nuclear repository.
There, the report said, pressure to build a repository is not strong, and thus when changes are made in the design, "the changes do not appear to be viewed as a failure of or a roadblock to the program."
"Rather, the changes seem to be part of an incremental learning process of developing a design that is both safe and implementable."
Norman L. Christensen Jr., a professor at Duke who is on the board, said that the Energy Department was far more "schedule driven" than nuclear waste agencies in other countries, largely because of the pressure from Congress and the nuclear industry to get the job done.
Professor Christensen said the observation about Belgium was not meant to be critical of the Energy Department, but the schedule "certainly makes it more difficult" to pick the best approach. "They don't have the luxury of saying, golly, maybe we need to go back and revisit some of these basic ideas about design," he said.
Another scientist, Paul P. Craig, who served on the board from 1996 until January of this year, wrote in an article to be published in a few days in the newsletter of an environmental group that "the Department of Energy is rushing ahead with a defective Yucca Mountain design."
He predicted that the containers would leak their radioactive materials into the rock, where it would be carried by underground water flows to wells used for drinking water and irrigation.
"What's needed now is a presidential decision instructing the D.O.E. to slow down the Yucca Mountain program and to get the science right," he wrote in the newsletter, Science for Democratic Action, published by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, a nonprofit group based here.
The geology of the mountain, a volcanic structure 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is more complicated than anticipated, he said, and the chemical reactions that would occur in the repository are not clear. But since Congress chose the site and the department has spent billions of dollars on the program, finding that it is not suitable "would present an enormous political problem."
The board has been arguing that corrosion might be more likely because of the department's plan to space the waste canisters close together, so that heat given off by the waste would boil water. That would keep the canisters dry in the early years, but scientists disagree about what would happen as the wastes cooled.
But Michael D. Voegele, the chief science officer for the project, said that building a larger repository, so that the wastes could be spaced farther apart, could add $15 billion to the cost, would raise the risk of an accident during construction, and would raise worker exposure to radiation. And a cooler repository would have a different set of risks, he said, no smaller than the current design.
"It's very obvious to ask, is the reason we are staying with the design, we've got the need to meet those schedules," Dr. Voegele said. "The answer is no."
Dr. Craig, the eight-year member of the board, compared the Energy Department to NASA, and said that the flaws in the space agency that came to light after the shuttle crash last year were similar to the Energy Department's. Both agencies, he said, were hard at work on technically complicated, first-of-a-kind projects, with financing problems and high expectations by outsiders for on-time delivery.
But Dr. Voegele rejected the comparison, and he said the nuclear waste repository was mostly a passive structure, and could be changed as time went on. "This isn't something we've shot into space and can't get back," he said.
One supporter, Steven P. Kraft of the Nuclear Energy Institute, the trade association of the nuclear utilities, said that the belief that the design could not change as the years went by, even after the first wastes were loaded into mountain tunnels, was like "suggesting that the automobile you'll drive today is the automobile your kids will drive 50 years from now."
Simple changes like adjusting the ventilation of the tunnel could compensate if problems were found in the first few decades, he said.
"If they were so schedule-driven," he said, "we'd be moving fuel by now, and we're not."
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 12, 2004
Letter: Yucca tour
To the editor:
I signed up last year for a tour of Yucca Mountain and was thrilled when they called yesterday inviting me later this month.
The woman on the phone verified my name and asked for my date and place of birth of birth. That was OK. But when she asked for my Social Security number, I refused to give it over the phone. She said I could e-mail it to her, but that isn't encrypted. I refused. She said I could not take the tour without providing my Social Security number. I was speechless and declined the tour.
I have no problems with going through security like you do at the airport, but I felt this was out of line.
Karen J. Smith
Las Vegas
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 12, 2004
Bush plans Reno campaign stop
Visit next week not open to public
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
President Bush will make his second trip to Nevada next week when he stumps Friday for supporters in Reno.
The White House released Bush's travel plans Friday, listing next week's 1:50 p.m. speech at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.
Tracey Schmitt, spokeswoman for the Bush-Cheney campaign, said the Nevada campaign will identify those who will be offered tickets to the event.
Bush is scheduled to speak about the economy and the war on terrorism.
"The campaign will be identifying those who would be interested in hearing the president's optimistic message," Schmitt said.
The event is not open to the public, and Bush is not expected to take questions from Nevada media.
The visit to the state marks the second of his presidency, but his first to Reno.
He was in Las Vegas in November for a Medicare news conference at Spring Valley Hospital and a fund-raising luncheon at The Venetian.
But his first trip to Nevada this campaign year will be spent solely in Reno after spending the morning in Washington state.
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has visited Nevada twice this year, both times in Las Vegas. In February he spoke to a public rally at a high school and took part in the state's presidential precinct caucuses the next day.
He was in the state last month speaking to the Teamsters Unity convention and raising money.
Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, will be in Nevada today for fund-raising events in Las Vegas and Reno.
Nevada Republicans have focused considerable energy on Northern Nevada this election year, choosing to hold the state convention in Reno.
Northern Nevada has a greater percentage of Republicans. The six Republicans in the state's constitutional offices work there.
Some think that swing voters in Northern Nevada are going to make the difference in the state, one of 17 so-called battleground states nationwide.
But Bush's trip to Reno will not be without protest. Northern Democrats, working with a group called Turn Nevada Blue, plan a sizable protest. In Las Vegas today, when Rove raises money for Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., Democrats are planning a protest near the entrance to developer Barry Becker's neighborhood, focusing on Bush's support of the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
Both presidential campaigns have focused considerable attention on Nevada, considered by some to be among the top-five contested states in the nation.
In addition to Kerry's two visits, a number of surrogates including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros have visited. Former Los Angeles City Councilman and former California Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa will campaign for Kerry in Las Vegas on Monday.
The Bush-Cheney campaign has countered with two visits from first lady Laura Bush and one visit from Vice President Dick Cheney this year. Numerous surrogates, including Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, Cabinet secretaries and Bush-Cheney chairman Marc Racicot have made trips to Nevada this year.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
June 12, 2004
President plans Reno visit next week
Friday afternoon: Bush to address supporters at convention center.
Anjeanette Damon
Marking Nevada´s emerging importance in the race for the White House, President Bush is scheduled to make his first visit to Reno next week to speak to a throng of supporters about the economy and the war on terror.
Bush is set to address an invited crowd at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center at 1:50 p.m. Friday, according to campaign officials.
The general public is not invited.
Tickets will be distributed by campaign volunteers, Bush-Cheney spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said.
Schmitt estimated about 5,000 people could attend the event, but said that number may change.
“That is just fantastic,’ said Jim Clark, a Washoe County Republican, who hopes to attend. “I think things are going pretty well for him right now. The situation in Iraq and the economy is coming around. Hopefully, he´s just there to take credit.’
Although only Bush supporters will be invited inside to hear the president, local Democrats are planning to demonstrate next week and vowed to deliver their own message to the president.
“We will most definitely find a way to make sure the president doesn´t leave town without letting him know what we think about the direction this country is headed and our opinion on his ability to lead this country for another four years,’ said Pam duPre, executive director of the Washoe County Democratic Party.
Bush´s visit is listed on his official calendar and a White House spokesman said the stop is not a campaign event.
“He´s going to make remarks about his top priorities for the country, including winning the war on terror, keeping the country safe and making sure the economic recovery continues to create thousands of new jobs,’ spokesman Trent Duffy said.
The visit comes one week after Bush´s chief political advisor, Karl Rove, is set to speak at two Nevada Republican fund-raisers and follows a string of visits in Las Vegas by first lady Laura Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.
The presidential contest is expected to be fierce this election, making Nevada´s five electoral votes important to both campaigns. In 2000, Bush won the state by 21,597 votes, following narrow wins by Democratic former President Bill Clinton in 1996 and 1998.
Nevada´s battleground status is further marked by an outpouring of more than $1.4 million in campaign television commercials aired in the Reno market this year by Bush and his Democratic rival, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts. A group of anti-Bush non-profits also have been advertising in the state.
“Nevada is an important state for the President,’ said Attorney General Brian Sandoval, the Bush-Cheney campaign´s Nevada chairman. “It´s a priority for him, hence the reason he is visiting here.’
“We´re hoping for a big turnout and think that it will be,’ said Jack Finn, spokesman for Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who will attend. “The president will do very well in Nevada.’
Statewide, about 42 percent of registered voters say they are Republicans, according to the Nevada Secretary of State´s office. More than 18 percent of voters have registered as independent, no preference or minor parties.
Before coming to Reno, Bush will swing by Washington, another battleground state, to address soldiers at Fort Lewis and attend a fund-raiser for George Nethercutt, the Republican candidate for Senate.
The Kerry campaign has made Yucca Mountain a top issue in Nevada, continually reminding voters of Bush´s approval of the plan to store the nation´s most radioactive waste there.
During his 2000 campaign, Bush promised to use “sound science’ in deciding where to locate the dump. Democrats contend he broke his promise by approving the Yucca Mountain site before science prevailed.
Sandoval, whose office has sued the federal government to stop the dump, said it will continue to be an issue in the campaign.
“It is an issue on which we have agreed to disagree and we will let the courts decide,’ he said.
Mayor Bob Cashell, a Republican, said he hopes to hear Bush talk about his decision on Yucca Mountain and address how the waste will be transported.
“We want to make sure what safety precautions we have to protect us,’ Cashell said. “If I get a private meeting with him, I´ll take a shot at that.’
Arjun Dhingra, a 25-year-old banking sales manager and Reno young Republican, said he hopes the president will rally the conservative base and speak about successes in Iraq.
“It´s a big deal when the president comes to your state,’ he said. “We tend to get overlooked sometimes because there are larger battleground states that he needs to be in. But we´re a much more important state now and it´s a state he doesn´t want to lose.’
For more information contact the Washoe County Republican Party: 851-246
Doug Abrahms of Gannett News Service contributed to this report
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York Daily Record
June 12, 2004
Regulations
NRC plans changes
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will change its regulations on the use of the agency's electronic Licensing Support Network and electronic hearing docket for the expected licensing hearing on the potential disposal of high-level radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
The primary purpose of these regulations is to establish standards for the electronic submission of documents for the hearing.
The NRC regulates Three Mile Island is Dauphin County and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station.
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Pahrump Valley Times
June 11, 2004
DOE rejects Yucca funding request
By Ken Ritter
Associated Press
The Energy Department has rejected Nevada's demand for $4 million more to oversee plans to build the nation's nuclear waste dump in the desert northwest of Las Vegas.
Nevada already received nearly $1 million in Yucca Mountain oversight funding this year, the department said.
Bob Loux, state nuclear projects director, said he wasn't surprised by the refusal, and said the state might ask the courts or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for relief.
"We'll petition the NRC to stop the process until we have sufficient money to actually carry out our oversight and review responsibilities under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act,'' he said June 3.
In a recent letter to Loux, Margaret Chu, chief of the federal agency's radioactive waste program, said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham doesn't have discretion to tap the more than $13 billion in a national Nuclear Waste Fund to underwrite Nevada's participation in upcoming licensing hearings before the regulatory commission.
Nuclear power plant operators have been contributing to the fund since the 1980s to pay for disposal of radioactive waste building up at power plants and storage facilities in 39 states.
Chu said it was up to Congress to appropriate money for state oversight of the federal plan to entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive waste beneath Yucca Mountain, in Nye County, 50 miles northeast of Pahrump and 20 miles north and east of Amargosa Valley and Beatty, respectively.
"The state's recourse is to (go to) Congress,'' she said.
Loux, the state's top anti-Yucca administrator, said the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 guaranteed the state would get money to monitor Yucca Mountain.
Besides the $4 million the state was seeking this year, it will ask for $14 million next year, Loux said.
The state has sued to stop the repository, and is preparing to fight the Energy Department's application for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to open the dump in 2010. The Energy Department has said it intends to submit the application by the end of this year.
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Pahrump Valley Times
June 11, 2004
Handout Wanted
Town to ask county for ambulance funds
By Breanne Hubbard
PVT
Two new ambulances might appear in Pahrump after all. It's just a matter of who is going to foot the bill.
The Pahrump Town Board made a decision at its May 25 meeting not to approve Fire Chief Scott Lewis's request to go to bid for two new ambulances totaling $200,000. Instead, members decided Tuesday to ask the cash-strapped county for money.
Town Manager Richards said that the town approved an ambulance enterprise fund budget that figures to lose roughly $423,000 next year. Richards would like to reduce the deficit by requesting Payments Equal to Taxes funds from Nye County. PETT funds are paid to the county by the Department of Energy for the land value of Yucca Mountain.
The amount Richards suggested the board request was $400,000 and would be used for ambulances and operations.
According to Richards, the PETT funding wouldn't be available until later in the year, after the Nye County Board of Commissioners decides how to prioritize the funds. Due to the delay in funding, Richards thinks it would be beneficial to the town to make a formal request to the county commissioners for an annual subsidy.
"I would be pleased to make that presentation," Richards said. He wanted to run the request by the board first, because he wasn't sure if it was in his jurisdiction as town manager.
Board member Richard Billman made a motion to approve the proposal by Richards and board member Ed Bishop made the second.
Billman agreed with a member of the audience about needing to find money for the service. "If there's any way I could make cuts, I'd certainly make them," Billman said.
Board member Charlotte LeVar wanted to know if fire-rescue had received the brothel fee yet. Finance Director Michael Sullivan told LeVar that the money usually isn't received until the end of the last quarter of the fiscal year.
Nye County Commissioner Candice Trummell, speaking as a private citizen, said she was concerned the board would ask for money because the county is already having financial shortfalls.
Trummell did say the board was expecting additional requests for money and made a decision at a county meeting in May that they wouldn't be able to help. Trummell is "fairly confident" that the commissioners still stand with that decision.
"I don't believe this will solve the problem," Trummell said.
Trummell let the town know that she has placed an item on the county agenda to look into taking back the ambulance service "as an option."
Resident Harley Kulkin said that it's a shame the commissioners would plan a trip to Washington, D.C., to go over things that "they know nothing about, but won't help a service the town needs.
"I really think they need to get their priorities straight," Kulkin said.
Resident and former town board member Charlie Gronda wanted to know where the county plans on getting the money for the ambulance service if taken from the town.
"I don't think it's a problem (of) who has the ambulance service, I think it's how to fund it," he said.
County Commission Chairman Henry Neth said Pahrump is paying 10 to 11 cents on a hospital district that doesn't even exist. He suggested the town board redirect the district funds and move them to a fire district.
"This is about the third or fourth time that I have suggested this," Neth said.
Even with commissioners warning the town that the county doesn't have the money, the motion passed 3-2, with LeVar and Chairwoman Paula Glidden opposed.
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Pahrump Valley Times
June 11, 2004
Still Growing Strong
500 residents move to town first quarter
By Doug Mcmurdo
PVT
Pahrump grew by nearly 500 residents the first three months of 2004, according to figures released this week by Nye County Planning Director Ron Williams.
While those figures are robust, the next population estimates released in September will likely show a dramatic increase in population from April 1 through the end of this month, given the rapid growth that has impacted the valley this spring.
To put things in perspective, Pahrump's population grew by 1,331 residents from March 31, 2003 to March 31, 2004. Nye County's population as a whole, 38,085, is up 556 from Dec. 31, most of that growth, obviously, occurred in Pahrump.
In the north county, Tonopah lost 16 residents from Dec. 31 to March 31, and stands at 2,805. Smoky Valley gained two residents and stands at 1,702. Gabbs is holding steady with 367 residents, the same as last winter. While small, census figures for northern Nye have remained stable since 2001.
The central Nevada community of Beatty has 1,057 citizens, according to Williams, an increase of 22 since Dec. 31. Amargosa Valley also experienced a modest growth increase, from 1,253 to 1,264.
According to Williams, Nye County uses its population estimates to monitor and assess baseline conditions for the Yucca Mountain Project, to prepare baseline projections for the county and its communities, to provide a basis for comparison with the estimates of others, and for public and private agency planning and management purposes. Nye County's procedure uses formulas benchmarked to the 2000 Census of Population and Housing. These formulas include factors that, for each Nye County community, related utility connection counts to the number of households and persons per household. The figures are based on number of utility connections multiplied by 2.37 persons per residence.
Pahrump experienced a 300 percent growth rate throughout the 1990s. After a lull earlier this decade, housing starts spiked dramatically earlier this spring, meaning the next population estimate for the months of April through June could add perhaps as many as 1,000 - and as many as 1,500 - new residents in the three-month time span.
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Pahrump Valley Times
June 11, 2004
Sheriff explains county 911 telephone service
By Gina B. Good
Special to The PVT
Early last month the Nye County Board of Commissioners met in Tonopah and unanimously denied Sheriff Tony DeMeo's request to reroute 911 emergency calls from Tonopah to Pahrump.
While Tonopah residents applauded the decision, the sheriff thinks his proposal might have fared better if he'd had the opportunity to fully explain the complex issues surrounding the county's 911 emergency service. "I know the commissioners want the best system possible - but even the residents and commissioners who are knowledgeable in certain fields (of communications technology) didn't quite get the full picture," he says.
The controversy at the meeting centered on the rumored closure of the Tonopah dispatch center. "My intent is not to close Tonopah dispatch," declares DeMeo. "That does not make sense. I want to enhance the emergency system for the whole county with technology that allows responders better information. I also want a dedicated 911 operator to ensure emergency calls are not missed."
Questions in Tonopah focused on communications between dispatch and emergency responders in the field, dispatch hiring practices, county mapping and the ability of dispatchers in Pahrump to direct emergency services in Tonopah without being familiar with the area. The sheriff was also asked about his plans for an advanced communications system as well as radio frequencies that were promised months ago and have not been secured.
Amargosa dispatch
closure
To understand the hiring issues and possible reasons Tonopah residents fear their dispatch center will close, it's necessary to look back to July 3, 2003, when the Amargosa dispatch center was closed. To set the record straight, the sheriff said he had not planned to close that substation, but the county commissioners froze three dispatch positions due to budget constraints, meaning no one could be hired to fill vacancies. The good news for Amargosa is an additional deputy was assigned, so they have twice the police presence now than prior to January 2003, when DeMeo's first term began.
"Before I took office, my intent was to keep Amargosa open and add a valuable service for Nye County deputies - and taxpayers - by using Amargosa as a call-in report center," said DeMeo. "The majority of downtime with deputies is the report system. Deputies are usually hunt and peck typists, while dispatchers type at least 45 words per minute."
Keeping deputies out in the field rather than typing reports was DeMeo's goal. Deputies could call a dispatcher with their reports (even while on-site at an accident). "The dispatcher would input the report and send it back to the deputy for review," explains the sheriff. One benefit for the public might mean accident reports would be accessible faster for insurance claims.
When the county commissioners froze dispatch positions, the sheriff closed the Amargosa substation, merged the existing employees into Beatty and Pahrump and placed the call center program on hold for the time being.
Tonopah staffing
County Commissioner Joni Eastley mentioned that open dispatch positions in Tonopah had not been filled. "We've lost people in Tonopah due to attrition," explains DeMeo. "It's a tough job and dispatchers work the same hours as deputies - 24/7. They work weekends and holidays, depending upon their seniority. So people leave to take jobs that give them a more normal family life."
According to the sheriff, testing for open positions has been ongoing but people have not been able to either pass the initial written test or they have failed the background check. One person was allowed to take the written test twice and still could not pass. "I am not willing to lower my standards for dispatchers," DeMeo said. "These are the people we count on to be a lifeline between our deputies and the public. They are a vital part of public safety."
Beatty can't be closed
Former Nye County Sheriff Wade Lieseke attended the Tonopah meeting and spoke out against DeMeo's proposal. According to DeMeo, the former sheriff said he had considered centralizing dispatch and closing the Beatty substation but backed off due to public resentment.
"I don't see how anyone would have even considered closing Beatty," says DeMeo. "Beatty dispatch cannot be closed because we have a detention center there with remote supervision of inmates. If we closed down dispatch, we'd have to close down that detention unit. That is not prudent. Deputies in Amargosa and Beatty would have to travel to either Tonopah or Pahrump to drop off a detainee. The Pahrump detention facility has problems and sometimes it's overpopulated. If Beatty closed, deputies working in Beatty and Amargosa would have to drive up to two hours to Tonopah to process their prisoner, then come back. Those areas would be without police protection for 5 to 6 hours, or I'd have to call in a deputy on overtime to protect the citizens."
Sheriff DeMeo also stressed that the county needs full-time presence in Beatty since it is part of the Yucca Mountain corridor. "We could do remote tracking (of vehicles carrying nuclear waste) through any dispatch center, but I believe it's in the best interest of public safety and national security to keep Beatty dispatch open."
Quality of
communications
Commissioner Candice Trummell questioned the quality of communications at the sheriff's office. According to the sheriff, he found "very disturbing" communications problems early in his administration and has been working to remedy them.
"We do not have interoperability in the county," he says. "If Tonopah dispatch goes down none of the other substations can dispatch in their stead. It's the same for all the dispatch centers; they can't take over for one another. They can't talk to the deputies to send them on calls. I'm working on developing communications platforms for the (entire) county to have that interoperability. But that takes time and money."
The sheriff's displeasure with the current communications system is even more apparent as he explains the disparity between communities in Nye County. "I was livid when I found out the communications equipment in Amargosa and Beatty is not up to par with the equipment in the rest of the county. To have a portion of our population without the same type of 911 as the rest of the county is unacceptable. My proposal would have corrected that situation. Not by closing any dispatch centers or centralizing dispatch as a whole, but by centralizing 911.
"What I gather from the county commissioners is that I have to operate three separate 911 centers in Beatty, Tonopah and Pahrump - with three times the equipment and three times the cost. We'll need trunk lines going into those three areas and every dispatch center will need equipment. Nye County taxpayers will foot the bill for that."
The sheriff's plan for centralizing the 911 functions for the county was to bring telephone trunk lines from Tonopah to Pahrump and have a dedicated 911 operator for the whole county located in Pahrump. Staffing for the 24-hour, seven-day-a-week job would come from transferring the three open positions in Tonopah to Pahrump. In a separate move, the positions currently frozen by the county commissioners would eventually be used to staff Tonopah.
Amargosa and
Beatty lag behind
Residents might assume that all 911 phone calls are created equally in Nye County. To the sheriff's dismay, they are not.
Tonopah and Pahrump have engineered 911 lines - phone lines specifically for emergency calls. Beatty and Amargosa, however, still operate on a plain old telephone system (POTS), which means if there is a break in the line the sheriff's office is not aware of a missed emergency call. "The only time we know we missed a 911 call from those areas is if somebody calls later to tell us," says DeMeo. "When the previous administration was engineering the 911 system, they should have looked at that. Now we are in the processes of correcting that issue."
Another problem is the communications equipment in Beatty and Amargosa does not have the capacity to show incoming phone numbers. In an emergency, someone could phone for help and the call could be terminated for various reasons before the caller gave a location. Currently, dropped calls to those areas must be traced in order to find the originating telephone number and address.
"Enhancing 911 countywide (to show phone numbers) with a dedicated operator using an engineered line was my intent," says DeMeo.
Working with the feds
The federal government mandates 911 compliance and Nye County has an additional mandate from the FCC: By the end of 2005 the county must be "Phase II" compatible, meaning the sheriff must have the ability to track and locate 911 calls made by cell phones. "That compliance hinges upon the county commissioners giving us the money for equipment and personnel," says DeMeo.
Commissioner Trummell asked about radio frequencies promised many months ago but had not yet been secured. "Unfortunately, we can't rush the FCC," laments DeMeo, who explained he is waiting for the FCC to approve VHF frequencies requested last year.
The FCC is only one agency involved in Nye County's 911 system. The subject is further complicated by federal limitations set on telephone companies. The county must work its way through local service providers plus deal with long distance carriers.
It was suggested during the commission meeting that phone calls could be forwarded from existing 911 lines to another substation. While it is physically possible to do that, the phone company counts that forwarded call as a completed 911 emergency call to the original destination. Then, if the forwarded call doesn't actually reach dispatch, the county assumes liability for that missed call. According to DeMeo, shortcutting the safeguards built into the 911 system puts the county in direct liability. "It's complicated to explain because we have to comply with federal mandates," he says. "Eventually we are going to need a 911 trunk system from Tonopah to Pahrump and Beatty."
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American Nuclear Society
June 11, 2004
ANS takes action on Yucca Mountain
Chairman David L. Hobson
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Room 2362-B
Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6020
Dear Chairman Hobson:
On behalf of the 11,000 members of the American Nuclear Society (ANS), I am writing to convey our support for funding of the Department of Energy's Nuclear Waste Disposal program at Yucca Mountain at $880 million in fiscal year 2005. The Department's budget request for this program assumed enactment of legislation to reclassify the fees collected from utilities and paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund as discretionary offsetting collections. As the legislation has not been enacted, we understand the severe constraint this places on the ability of your subcommittee to fund the program at the suggested level within the allocation you have been provided. Still, we believe the need to support this funding level is compelling.
Without $880 million in 2005, the Department will be unable to complete and submit the license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by December. A significant delay in this schedule will impede the ability of the Department to begin operations at Yucca Mountain by 2010. While the nation's commercial and defense high-level waste is currently safely managed at numerous locations throughout the country, isolating these wastes in one geologic repository is critical to support growth in the use of nuclear power and ensure uninterrupted operation of our fleet of plants.
As your subcommittee deliberates on many important issues related to Yucca Mountain and nuclear science and technology, please do not hesitate to call upon the resources of the American Nuclear Society for assistance.
Sincerely,
Larry Foulke
ANS President
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State of Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects
www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
nwpo@nuc.state.nv.us
775-687-3744
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