Yucca Mountain News Clips - Thursday, June 17, 2004

Yucca Mountain News Clips
Thursday, June 17, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
June 17, 2004

Bill could improve security on trains with nuke waste

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A new railroad bill could provide $350 million for improved security for trains transporting hazardous material, which could include nuclear waste, as well as additional money to strengthen railroad security nationwide.

Various hazardous materials, including nuclear waste, are already shipped on trains throughout the country every day, but the Energy Department plans to ship 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, via railroad.

Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev, today co-sponsored the $1 billion railroad security bill that, in addition to dedicating money to hazardous material issues, would require the Transportation Department and Homeland Security Department to complete a railroad transportation security plan and implement other security measures.

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the train bombing in Madrid, Spain, earlier this year have brought increased attention to passenger and freight rail transportation.

"Even before the Madrid attacks, we knew that our rail lines were terrorist targets," said Porter, who is the vice chairman of the House Railroad subcommittee. "In my fight against plans to ship nuclear waste to Nevada, I have been reminding members of Congress and the public of the terrible vulnerability of the tracks that carry hazardous material. This is not just a Nevada issue, but a national issue that needs our support."

The bill does not specifically name nuclear waste or single out Yucca Mountain, but Porter said, "when I think about the hazards of Yucca Mountain, I am talking about the transportation of that waste across the country and those issues that impact the transportation of all hazardous materials."

Porter held a hearing in Las Vegas earlier this year that focused on the nuclear waste issue. Subcommittee Chairman Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., said today that hearing helped the committee members get a better understanding of the issue. Porter said a lot of the research that had been done for the hearing and other research on general railroad security helped the bill get done today.

Porter co-sponsored a bill Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., introduced last year that calls for a comprehensive study on the risks of transporting high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain by train, truck or barge. Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and four other House members have co-sponsored the bill, but no further action has taken place.

Today's bill would provide $350 million for hazardous shipment security, intelligence and information on rail security threats, additional railroad police and train tracking, and improved communication technology. It would also use $10 million for a unified railroad emergency operations center and $1.5 million for signal system improvements.

"All of these interact with that piece of legislation," Porter said, referring to the earlier Nevada bill.

The Nuclear Energy Institute maintains that spent nuclear fuel shipments have taken place for years with no release of radiation so moving the waste to Nevada poses no additional threat. NEI official have said it prefers "dedicated trains" that would ship the waste since only a few cars would hold it. The Energy Department, however, has not decided whether waste will be shipped by trains moving only spent nuclear fuel or among cars on trains unrestricted in what they can carry toward Nevada.

Specific plans on security, shipment routes and carriers are still being decided by the department.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 17, 2004

Yucca budget measure moves forward

Plan to dramatically boost funding of dumpsite faces stiff opposition

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department's desire to have Congress change how it gives money to the Yucca Mountain project moved forward this week, but its chief supporter acknowledged that it will be tough to finalize the policy.

A bill passed by the House Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee on Wednesday would provide the Yucca Mountain project with $750 million a year in each of the next five years.

That was the first step in the complicated appropriations process that could allow the department to access more money than it has in the past for the nuclear waste storage site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

It will remain unclear what will happen with the funding until the House Energy and Commerce Committee takes up the bill and the House votes on the separate Energy and Water spending bill, which contains the Yucca budget. Both may take place next week.

The bill approved Wednesday allows Congress to get the $750 million from a pool of money funded directly by a surcharge on nuclear power, so the project would not have to compete with other programs for federal money and the money in the pool could not be used for anything other than the Yucca project.

The initial bill, offered by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, would have allowed the funding change until the department completed construction on the surface facilities at Yucca, but the subcommittee approved an amendment by Rep. Ralph Hall, R-Texas, that limited the change from fiscal year 2005 through 2009. Congress would have to follow the regular appropriations rules for the project after that, unless it would approve another change.

This is a small but important step in the department's effort to fund the project, since other attempts to make the policy change have failed in the past. The department complains that the project is underfunded every year as the nuclear industry points to the $14 billion collected in the project pool that does not get used.

Critics of the plan, including state officials and Nevada's congressional delegation, say the step is bad for Nevada, since the department needs the policy change to keep the project on track for its 2010 opening date.

"The Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress are pulling out all the stops in their effort to fund Yucca Mountain," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "They are now attempting to change the law in order to guarantee that the majority of funding for Yucca Mountain does not have to compete with other national priorities such as clean water, flood control projects and renewable energy development."

"We should not spend another dime on Yucca Mountain until DOE adequately addresses nationwide concerns about the dangers of transporting nuclear waste across the U.S. and answers the hundreds of unresolved scientific questions surrounding the site -- including findings that canisters used in the dump will rapidly corrode and leak radioactive waste into southern Nevada water supplies," Berkley said.

It will get harder and harder for Congress to find money for the Yucca project as its budget grows to $1 billion and beyond in the coming years, unless the legislators want to take the money from other federal programs.

If the bill is finalized, Congress could provide at least $750 million without taking money from anything else. Anything above that amount would still have to compete for funding.

Barton, who leads the House Energy and Commerce Committee that will also have to approve the bill, said he wants to take it up in committee next week but said the "elephant in the tent" is that Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, will prevent the bill from moving through. He said it was unlikely to move because of Reid's opposition.

Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who already blocked the change from getting into the Senate budget policy, have clearly established their opposition to the policy. Reid is the top Democrat on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations bill and will be a member of the conference committee that will finalize the project's budget.

Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee approved the spending bill including the $131 million Yucca budget Wednesday. That marks a $750 million decrease from the department's $880 million request. The Senate has not taken action on its version of the budget yet.

Barton said he still might ask for a delay on the final House vote on the spending bill after his policy change gets through.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, strongly supports more funding for the Yucca project, but the schedule for additional action on the spending bill was not known Wednesday, Hobson's spokeswoman said.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 17, 2004

Editorial: Lies, lies and more lies

Las Vegas SUN

President Bush, as part of a campaign swing across the country, will visit Reno on Friday. In advance of that trip, Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot insisted in an interview with the Associated Press that the "president has been entirely honest" with Nevadans about the Yucca Mountain project.

Yes, Racicot is referring to the same man who during the 2000 campaign said that he would use "sound science" in deciding whether to recommend if 77,000 tons of nuclear waste should be buried here. It's also the same man who, less than a year after being sworn into office, found that it was safe to send nuclear waste here despite the known perils from shipping man's deadliest waste and burying it in a geologically unsafe location like Yucca Mountain. That wasn't "sound science," that was all about politics and appeasing the nuclear power industry. Despite what the White House might think, adding another layer of lies to the first -- which was that Nevada would be treated fairly -- won't work this time and will further anger Nevadans.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 16, 2004

House panel to study bill to reclassify fees

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- A House subcommitee will evaluate a bill today that could allow the Energy Department to tap into about $750 million a year for the Yucca Mountain project, without going through the usual budgeting process.

Nevada's congressional delegation strongly opposes the bill because it would make it easier for the department to spend money on the project, and they say it would lessen congressional oversight.

The bill would reclassify fees in the nuclear waste fund, an account funded directly by a surcharge on nuclear power to build a federal storage site for nuclear waste, now planned for Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, introduced in the bill February and it has six co-sponsors, all Republicans.

The bill needs to pass out of subcommittee, the full Energy and Commerce Committee and the full House and the Senate before becoming law.

So far, the House spending bill that covers Yucca Mountain only contains $131 million of the department's $880 million request for the project since this funding change has not yet been approved. The House Appropriations Committee expects to pass that bill today.

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Salt Lake Tribune
June 17, 2004

Progress of Yucca Mountain project is quite molehill-like

By H. Josef Hebert

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The proposal for a nuclear waste site in Nevada took a tiny step forward Wednesday as House members tried to resolve a budget problem that threatens to dramatically curtail work.

A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee approved legislation that would send a steady stream of money for the Yucca Mountain waste project over the next five years, so the facility could open on schedule in 2010.

But Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, the bill's sponsor, acknowledged there's no assurance the bill will get through the House and it's likely to run into trouble in the Senate. The full committee was expected to take up the bill next week, Barton said.

Meanwhile, proposed spending for the Yucca Mountain project for the 2005 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 has been set at only $131 million, well short of the $880 million requested by the Bush administration. At that spending level the program will be thrown into turmoil, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said.

Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman for the drafting of the spending bill that includes the Yucca program, said he could find no additional money because the administration linked $749 million of its request with congressional approval of Barton's legislation.

The Barton bill approved by a voice vote in the subcommittee Wednesday would require that at least $750 million a year collected over the next five years for the nuclear waste fund must be spent on the Yucca project.

The fund was created in 1982 specifically to pay for development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste facility. The money comes from a one-tenth of a penny per kilowatt assessment on users of electricity generated by nuclear reactors.

The fund "has been cannibalized over the years to pay for unrelated federal programs (and) ... to pay down the national debt," Barton said.

Barton acknowledged that the legislation would apply only to future revenue and not require drawing on the $15 billion the fund already has collected.

Attempts to tinker with the way Congress uses the fund have been unsuccessful in the past and are expected to run into trouble again. Some lawmakers believe at most a one-year fix of the problem -- enough to assure continue funding of the Yucca project next fiscal year -- may be all that will be possible.

While Barton expressed optimism about getting his bill through the House and clearing the way for more spending on Yucca Mountain, he acknowledged problems in the Senate.

It was unlikely that similar legislation would have much of a chance in the Senate given the strong opposition to the Yucca Mountain project by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who as the second-ranking Democrat could find ways to block it, Barton told reporters.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was talking with administration officials about ways to get more money for Yucca Mountain in the Senate, but has conceded it could be "very, very difficult."

The government wants to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste -- used reactor fuel now held at power plants in 31 states as well as defense waste -- at Yucca Mountain, northwest of Vegas.

Next year has been described as pivotal for the program since the Energy Department will begin the process for getting a permit from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and developing a transportation plan for the waste.

Margaret Chu, director of the DOE office that heads the program, has told lawmakers that if it does not get the full $880 million it would be impossible to meet the 2010 deadline for accepting the first load of waste.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 17, 2004

Northern Nevada Democrats accuse president of lying on Yucca Mountain

Associated Press

RENO, Nev. (AP) - On the eve of George W. Bush's first visit to northern Nevada, Democrats again accused the Republican president of lying about a southern Nevada issue - Yucca Mountain.

"President Bush came to Nevada four years ago and he lied," Chris Weller, chairman of the Washoe County Democratic Party said at a news conference on Thursday.

"He said it was based on sound science and he lied."

A handful of Democrats spoke out to reporters and television crews a day before Bush was scheduled to tout a booming economy and national security at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.

The Democrats, along with opponents of the war in Iraq and foes of the Patriot Act said they planned to be on hand outside Friday's visit by the president.

In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot said he didn't know whether Bush's support for a high-level nuclear waste dump in southern Nevada would figure in tightening his race against the expected Democratic nominee, John Kerry, who opposes the dump.

Racicot said the president has been entirely honest with Nevadans about Yucca Mountain. In the 2000 campaign, Bush said he would base his decision on "sound science" and not politics. Racicot said the president lived up to that promise.

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The Guardian
June 17, 2004

In Nev., Bush Likely to Promote Economy

Thursday June 17, 2004 7:01 PM

By Brendan Riley

Associated Press Writer

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - President Bush is expected to promote a booming economy and national security during a campaign visit Friday to Nevada, where controversy lingers over a high-level nuclear waste dump the president has supported and Democratic rival John Kerry has opposed.

Bush, in his second visit to Nevada as president, plans to deliver an afternoon speech in Reno after appearances in the state of Washington. His campaign chairman, Marc Racicot, said he didn't know whether Bush's support for the nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain will tighten a race he already expects to be close.

In 2002 the Bush administration and Congress approved a plan to store at Yucca Mountain 77,000 tons of radioactive waste held in 39 states. Nevada is challenging the project in the courts, and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., has opposed funding for the project.

Racicot said Nevada residents know that the president has been ``entirely honest'' about the Yucca Mountain plan. During the 2000 campaign, Bush pledged to base a decision on science instead of politics, which Racicot said the president has done. The Bush-Cheney campaign hopes Nevada voters will understand ``their obligations and duties'' in helping resolve a strategic problem on disposal of nuclear waste from across the nation, Racicot said.

Sean Smith, Kerry's Nevada communications director, questioned Bush's position on the controversial plan to send nuclear waste to the state.

``I'm amazed that guy is showing his face in this state,'' Smith said. ``The first words out of his mouth when he's here should be an apology for lying to us about Yucca Mountain.''

Kerry has opposed the project at Yucca Mountain, located 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, for 16 years, Smith said. However, Racicot accused Kerry of saying ``very opportunistically'' there won't be a nuclear waste dump in Nevada but not proposing an alternative.

The campaigns also disagreed on the quality of the economic recovery. Racicot said the economy is ``firing on all cylinders,'' with major job growth and other improvements, as a result of Bush's policies. But Smith said many of the new jobs pay poorly.

``The middle class really has been facing a squeeze under this administration. Bush has a lot of explaining to do,'' Smith said.

Nevada's registered voters are almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. In 2000, Bush won the state's four electoral votes by 4 percentage points, 50-46, over Al Gore. Nevada will have five electoral votes this year.

The state has a history of close elections, including Reid's 428-vote victory in 1998.

``That gives us comfort,'' Racicot said.

Racicot said demographic changes in Nevada - notably an influx of newcomers to the Las Vegas area - means Bush strategists should question their assumptions about the state. The 1st congressional district, mainly Las Vegas, supported Gore by 16 percentage points. Gore won the 3rd district, mainly an area surrounding Las Vegas, by just one-half of 1 percentage point while Bush carried the 2nd district, which encompasses the rest of the state, by 20 percentage points.

``We know we have to be competitive in the north and the south,'' Racicot said.

Kerry has been to Nevada twice since becoming a candidate, first in February and again in mid-May, both times to Las Vegas. The Massachusetts senator hopes to make other visits in coming months, including one to Reno, Smith said.

Bush's visit to Reno ``only underscores how afraid the Republicans are of losing this state to John Kerry,'' Smith said. ``And they should be scared.''

On the Net:

Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com

Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com

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Las Vegas Review-Journal
June 17, 2004

Bush to talk up economic gains in visit to Reno

Campaign chairman says presidential race to be 'very, very close' among Nevada voters

By Brendan Riley
The Associated Press

CARSON CITY -- President Bush will talk about a booming economy and national security on Friday in Reno during his second visit to Nevada since his 2000 election, his campaign chairman said.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot said Bush's stop in this battleground state, which he narrowly won four years ago, won't be his last this year because Nevada voting "is going to be very, very close."

Bush plans to deliver an afternoon speech at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center after appearances in the state of Washington.

Racicot said he didn't know whether Bush's support for a high-level nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, support that came after the 2000 election, will figure in tightening his race against the expected Democratic nominee, John Kerry, who opposes the dump.

Nevadans, he said, "know the president has been entirely honest with them" about Yucca Mountain. In the 2000 campaign, Bush said he would base his decision on "sound science" and not politics, and Racicot said the president lived up to that promise.

Democrats have scoffed at that notion.

Racicot also said the campaign's hope is that Nevada voters will understand "their obligations and duties" in helping resolve a strategic problem on disposal of the nuclear waste that has collected over the years throughout the nation.

Nevada, with almost equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans, has a long history of very close elections, Racicot said.

"That gives us comfort," he said.

Those contests include the closest U.S. Senate race in the nation's history, the late Howard Cannon's 48-vote victory over Paul Laxalt in 1964. A recount gave the Democratic winner an 84-vote victory over Republican Laxalt, who in 1974 won a Senate seat by only 611 votes.

Democrat Harry Reid, who lost that race, eventually made it to the Senate in 1986, and won a third term in 1998 by only 428 votes.

Those contests, Racicot said, show that Nevadans "think for themselves. And if they do, we've got a darn good chance."

Kerry has been to Nevada since becoming a candidate, first in February and again in mid-May, both times to Las Vegas. Kerry hopes to make other visits in coming months, including one to Reno, said Sean Smith, Kerry's Nevada communications director.

Smith said Bush's visit to Reno "only underscores how afraid the Republicans are of losing this state to John Kerry. And they should be scared."

"I'm amazed that guy is showing his face in this state," Smith said. "The first words out of his mouth when he's here should be an apology for lying to us about Yucca Mountain."

Smith said Kerry has a 16-year record of opposing the Yucca Mountain project.

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Lahontan Valley News
June 17, 2004

Bush's visit good for Northern Nevada

LVN Staff Writer

June 17, 2004

It is good to see President Bush making time in his busy schedule for a visit to Northern Nevada this week.

The president is scheduled to talk about the economy and national security Friday during an appearance at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center.

Northern Nevada is a little off the beaten path as presidential visits go. The last time the region hosted a sitting U.S. president was in 1997 when Bill Clinton visited Incline Village.

Bush's visit on the eve of a close presidential election is testimony to a divided nation. In this environment candidates do not have the luxury of neglecting a single state or region, even a sparsely populated state like Nevada where only five electoral votes are at stake.

Nevada is considered a "battleground state" because it was one of 18 states in which the last presidential election was settled by a margin of less than 7 percent. Bush won the Silver State by only 21,597 votes in 2000 and could lose it this time around if he is not careful. Pundits are predicting a closer race as the political spectrum shifts from Republican to Democrat with the unprecedented growth of Las Vegas, a Democratic stronghold.

Northern Nevada is a good venue for a Bush visit because it is a Republican stronghold and a model of economic prosperity and optimism - two virtues he and his campaign want to project. Bush is less likely to get blasted in Reno for not taking a tough stand against the storage of nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain, which is a hot-button issue in and around Las Vegas because of its proximity to the city.

He can also reinforce his image as a friend of small-town America by showing up in a small town. Rural America is the constituency that put Bush over the top in the last election, and he needs to make sure his grip on this demographic is iron clad.

A Bush visit will be good for Reno and Northern Nevada, too, by focusing national attention, if only for a few hours, on the region's economic fortunes, progressive business climate and quality of life. Hopefully, local civic and business leaders will take advantage of this opportunity to focus attention on rural issues, like access to medical care, rural poverty and natural resource management.

For one politically charged afternoon Reno has an opportunity to live up to its reputation as "The Biggest Little City in America."

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Reno Gazette-Journal
June 17, 2004

Democrats organize protest to challenge Bush´s policies

Anjeanette Damon

President Bush´s visit to Reno has local Democrats frenetically organizing a throng of protesters to challenge his policies on Iraq, education and the economy.

State and county Democratic officials are joining with local and national organizations, including anti-war coalitions, labor unions, a national anti-Bush nonprofit and other liberal-leaning groups to picket outside the Reno-Sparks Convention Center during the president´s planned speech Friday.

“We absolutely welcome the president to Northern Nevada, and we intend to show him the respect anyone in his office deserves,’ said Brian Hutchinson, who will be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention for Bush´s rival, U.S. Sen. John Kerry. “We feel this is an excellent opportunity for this president to finally tell the truth to the people in Nevada.’

Chiming in on common criticisms from Nevada Democrats, Hutchinson said Bush lied when he promised during his 2000 campaign to base his decision on where to send the nation´s nuclear waste on “sound science.’

Less than two years later, Bush approved the Yucca Mountain dump site despite lingering scientific questions about its safety.

Kim Banks, 28, of Reno, said she is going to take a day off from work to attend the protest.

“Because I hate Bush, and I want him to know it,’ she said as she filled out a voter registration form. “I don´t think we have any right to be at war.’

Her friend, Brandy Ellis, 35, of Reno, also planned to protest.

“I think the job market could be better, and I´m totally against this war,’ he said.

Some Bush supporters waiting to get a ticket to the speech said that Democrats had the right to protest.

“But it´s such a waste of time,’ said Julie Johnson of Sparks, who waited with her husband to get tickets. “It won´t make any difference.’

Bush-Cheney campaign officials would not comment on the protest.

Organizers are sending e-mails to lists of people, and volunteers are calling registered Democrats to urge them to attend the protest.

“We´re just trying to keep up with the number of calls we´re getting,’ said Pam duPre, executive director of the Washoe County Democratic Party. “People feel very strongly that the Bush administration is letting us down.’

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Reno Gazette Journal
June 17, 2004

New Kerry chief focuses on Yucca

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — U.S. Sen. John Kerry´s new Nevada campaign chief said Wednesday she thinks federal plans for a national nuclear waste dump in the state will be a defining issue in the November presidential election.

Anne Sheridan pointed to what she called President Bush´s “broken promise’ to Nevada to rely on sound science to decide whether to bury the nation´s most radioactive waste in Nevada. Sheridan previously served as the national organizer for Transportation Safety Coalition, a group opposed to the Yucca Mountain project.

In 2002, the Bush administration and Congress overrode state objections and picked Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation´s nuclear repository. The Energy Department hopes to open it in 2010.

Opponents claim the selection overlooked scientific shortcomings.

Bush campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt accused Kerry, D-Mass., of using Yucca Mountain “to distract voters from Kerry´s troubling record on the economy and defense.’

“The president based his decision on sound science,’ Schmitt said.

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Las Vegas Mercury
June 17, 2004

Backstory: The most contradictory man

By Michael Green

Why did so many Americans love Ronald Reagan? Besides being a pleasant sort whose policies won considerable support, he embodied one of our classic characteristics: He was as contradictory as we are.

He was a New Deal Democrat who became a Republican, a rags-to-riches story who presided over our worst maldistribution of wealth to the rich, a soft touch who slashed social programs that served the neediest, a lover of freedom who aided the communist witch hunt of the late 1940s and '50s. He attacked evil empires and coddled dictators, but overruled his advisers to improve relations with the Soviets. He espoused family values, but was our only divorced president and often got along poorly with his children.

If those contradictions aren't enough for you, consider his ties to Nevada.

Reagan's ascent especially boosted the fortunes of Paul Laxalt, a popular governor and senator who chaired his campaigns. As a junior senator from Nevada, Laxalt figured to be a minor cog on Capitol Hill. His close friendship with Reagan gave him and Nevada influence they otherwise couldn't have had.

That helped when Nevada didn't want the MX, the goofiest missile system ever--a bunch of fake missiles and one live one on railroad cars running around tracks in Nevada and Utah; the Soviets would have to take out all of the missiles to get the dangerous one, then we could take advantage of their vulnerability. Right.

Reagan listened to Laxalt, among others, and eliminated the MX--and Reagan rarely met a weapons system he didn't like. Yet Reagan was president when Yucca Mountain became the preferred site for nuclear waste. At first, that reflected the views of his Nevada GOP friends. They learned their lesson later--or too late. If George W. Bush is truly his heir, would Reagan have lied about sound science?

Laxalt's connections helped several prominent Nevadans move up in the Reagan years--County Commissioner Bob Broadbent to the Interior Department, Frank Fahrenkopf to Republican Party leadership, Sig Rogich to advertising and spin eminence. They helped counter the perception, which persists in too many places, that Nevada was just a mob haven.

At the time, though, local FBI Agent-in-Charge Joe Yablonsky believed this really was a mob haven. He was partly right. Laxalt and some of his friends pushed for his removal. Despite their ties to Reagan, Yablonsky's sting operation went on, catching and convicting several influence-peddlers.

As California's governor, Reagan and Laxalt, his Nevada counterpart, formed the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency to protect the lake--in other words, conservatives creating more government. Yet Reagan supported policies that destroyed other environmental gems and supported the Nevada-rooted Sagebrush Rebellion, whose leaders wanted the federal government to leave them alone to do as they wanted to public lands.

Many think Reagan simply cut government, but he knew enough to raise taxes when necessary. Many think he ended the Cold War and his defense buildup undoubtedly contributed--and certainly helped the Western economy, which, ironically, suffered when the Cold War ended. But Mikhail Gorbachev took greater risks, and before giving him and Reagan the credit, ponder the prediction of Jean Monnet, the architect of European unity in the 1950s: "We won't change Russia, but the computers will."

Reagan and Nevada also share the benefits and problems of persona. No president since Franklin Roosevelt used the media so brilliantly to push his policies and construct his image--just as Las Vegas constructs its image, and sometimes suffers for it. One critic called Reagan an "amiable dunce," yet he was better read than he appeared--or possibly wanted to appear. Like Bush, Reagan was "misunderestimated." He used the powers of his office superbly. Whether he used them wisely always will be debated.

In retrospect, Reagan looks better to many because the current occupant of the White House looks so much worse. At least Reagan didn't think being president made him dictator for life, but few remember that his unnecessary invasion of Grenada followed from the attack on U.S. Marines in Lebanon, and he acted before informing the British government, which controls Grenada. In comparison to the immorality and lying in connection with Iraq, though, it looks statesmanlike. And if the Rug denies knowing his aides twisted the facts to go to war and the law to justify torture, Reagan claimed not to know Oliver North and company trampled the Constitution.

Many Republicans cite their party's success as one of Reagan's legacies. Well, Rush Limbaugh claimed Democrats wanted his funeral to be "bipartisan"--after spreading the vicious lie that Democrat Paul Wellstone's funeral was partisan. Bill O'Reilly lamented the polarization of politics after Reagan and demanded respect for the presidency. Few in the media have contributed more to polarization or shown less respect for being honest about presidents when they aren't his fellow Republicans than the man Al Franken aptly calls O'Lielly.

If those Republicans who regularly trample the truth are part of Reagan's legacy, it disgraces his memory. Even those who disagreed with him didn't hate him, and he didn't seem to hate anyone, either. Then again, his biggest legacy may have been best expressed by Rosalyn Carter years ago: We like Ronald Reagan because he makes us feel comfortable with our prejudices. Some are more comfortable than others.

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Washington Post
June 17, 2004

Washington In Brief

Senate Backs Aid For Ex-Weapon Workers

The Senate approved a plan yesterday to have the government, not federal contractors, compensate Cold War-era nuclear weapons workers who were sickened from exposure to toxic substances while on the job.

The amendment to the Senate defense bill would also transfer the program to the Labor Department. Lawmakers had complained that the Energy Department, in its administration of the $100 million program, has paid out only $140,000 in claims over the past four years.

"It became clear that the program has not been working as intended and this measure will help correct the situation," said Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.

The Energy Department now helps current and former workers at its weapons plants file claims for lost wages and medical expenses under state compensation programs, but it relies on contractors that operated the plants to pay them. Some of those contractors are no longer in business. Under the Senate plan, the government would pay the claims once it has evidence that a worker's illness was job-related. Payments would be based on compensation laws in states where the claimants worked. Most of the nearly 25,000 claims the Energy Department has received are from people who worked at weapons-making facilities.

The House-passed defense bill would make smaller changes to the program, such as raising fees paid to medical experts who review claims, but would keep it in the Energy Department.

House Panel Approves More Military Spending

The House Appropriations Committee approved a $416.9 billion defense measure, including $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The panel added $685 million for diplomatic costs in both countries that, like the military money, the Bush administration had said would not be needed until at least January.

Committee members also added $95 million for victims of starvation and fighting in Sudan and Chad; a requirement for a White House report by Oct. 1 on the expected U.S. costs in Iraq and Afghanistan; and language curbing contracts with private companies to manage reconstruction in Iraq.

The committee also approved a $28 billion energy and water measure that cuts President Bush's request for work on a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. It increases spending for water projects in lawmakers' home districts, but eliminates funds that Bush wants for the development of some new nuclear weapons.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 16, 2004

Lawmakers Tackle Nuclear Project Budget

By H. Josef Hebert
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The proposal for a nuclear waste site in Nevada took a tiny step forward Wednesday as House members tried to resolve a budget problem that threatens to dramatically curtail work.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee approved legislation that would send a steady stream of money for the Yucca Mountain waste project over the next five years, so the facility could open on schedule in 2010.

Meanwhile, proposed spending for the Yucca Mountain project for the 2005 fiscal year beginning in October has been set at only $131 million, well short of the $880 million requested by the Bush administration. At that spending level the program will be thrown into turmoil, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has said.

The fund "has been cannibalized over the years to pay for unrelated federal programs (and) ... to pay down the national debt," Barton said.

Barton acknowledged that the legislation would apply only to future revenue and not require drawing on the $15 billion the fund already has collected.

Attempts to tinker with the way Congress uses the fund have been unsuccessful in the past and are expected to run into trouble again. Some lawmakers believe at most a one-year fix of the problem - enough to assure continue funding of the Yucca project next fiscal year - may be all that will be possible.

While Barton expressed optimism about getting his bill through the House and clearing the way for more spending on Yucca Mountain, he acknowledged problems in the Senate.

It was "unlikely" that similar legislation would have much of a chance in the Senate given the strong opposition to the Yucca Mountain project by Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, who as the second-ranking Democrat could find ways to block it, Barton told reporters.

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., was talking with administration officials about ways to get more money for Yucca Mountain in the Senate, but has conceded it could be "very, very difficult."

The government wants to bury 77,000 tons of nuclear waste - used reactor fuel now held at power plants in 31 states as well as defense waste - at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 16, 2004

State: Yucca rail would go through LV

By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- Nuclear waste destined for Yucca Mountain will still move through the Las Vegas Valley, as an Energy Department plan to use a rail route through Caliente won't prevent its shipment through the state's most populous region, state officials claimed.

The Energy Department plans to ship most of the waste to the proposed nuclear waste storage site at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas via train, including a new rail line to be built in Lincoln County.

In a 120-page document sent to the Energy Department May 25, the state attempted to make clear that choosing the Caliente corridor option doesn't mean that no waste would come to Clark County. The state sent comments to the department for the department's draft environmental report on the rail line.

"Any waste coming to Yucca Mountain from Southern California and Arizona would have to go through Las Vegas, and in winter months, rail shipments coming from Texas through New Mexico and Arizona and into California would pass through Barstow, (Calif.), and the only route it would have to Yucca Mountain from there would be through Las Vegas," wrote Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects.

In the April announcement designating the Caliente route, the department said the private carriers would pick the routes, which could include the Burlington Northern-Santa Fe or Union Pacific lines. The Union Pacific Line runs along Interstate 15, and connects Los Angeles and Long Beach, Calif., with Salt Lake City and the eastern United States. Most of the waste is stored in East Coast states.

"The Caliente route, therefore, does not do as it is advertised," Loux said.

The state said that "even if DOE (the Energy Department) shipped an average of three casks per train, there could be 2,854 shipments over 24 years, or an average of two train shipments per week, through Las Vegas."

The state has been saying that a rail route wouldn't keep the waste out of Las Vegas,even before the department finalized the Caliente selection in April.

Bob Halstead, the state's transportation consultant, said at a nuclear waste conference in March that all rail shipments to Yucca Mountain, except those from the Pacific Northwest and Idaho, could travel to Caliente through downtown Las Vegas under credible alternative routing scenarios.

"In addition to the potential impacts on residents, the proximity of the Union Pacific mainline to the world-famous Las Vegas Strip and to other major commercial properties creates truly unique local impact conditions," Halstead wrote in a paper prepared for the conference.

The Energy Department did not return calls seeking comment.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 16, 2004

Letter: Yucca decision made long ago

Again we have a politician playing politics with the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain. In a June 13 commentary, "Bush is playing politics with Yucca," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., blames President Bush for his ill-conceived decision on Yucca Mountain.

Don't be fooled by Berkley's commentary, folks. The Yucca decision was made long before President Bush came into office. Why would the government spend millions of dollars to study, explore and dig tunnels, if it wasn't going through with this program?

I don't like having a nuclear dump site in our state either, but don't play politics -- go to the root of this problem and ask yourselves why Yucca was chosen and why was it allowed to proceed? You'd have to go back several administrations.

Mark Smith

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Washington Post
June 16, 2004

Glaring Omission

Wednesday, June 16, 2004; Page A26

George F. Will's June 10 op-ed column attacking Sen. John F. Kerry's opposition to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository did not mention the conclusion of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Congress created this nonpartisan 11-member board; the president appoints scientific experts from a list provided by the National Academy of Sciences.

The board concluded last year that the design for Yucca Mountain is deficient and that the nation's first high-level nuclear waste repository probably would leak. This conclusion was ignored by Mr. Will.

Paul W. Hansen
Executive Director
Izaak Walton League of America
Gaithersburg

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Reno Gazette-Journal
June 16, 2004

Bush to talk about economy, security

Brendan Riley
ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Bush will talk about a booming economy and national security on Friday in Reno during his second visit to Nevada since his 2000 election, his campaign chairman said.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot said Bush´s stop in this battleground state, which he narrowly won four years ago, won´t be his last this year because Nevada voting “is going to be very, very close.’

Bush plans to deliver an afternoon speech at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center after appearances in the state of Washington.

Racicot said he didn´t know whether Bush´s support for a high-level nuclear waste dump at Nevada´s Yucca Mountain — support that came after the 2000 election — will figure in tightening his race against the expected Democratic nominee, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, who opposes the dump.

Nevadans, he said, “know the president has been entirely honest with them’ about Yucca Mountain. In the 2000 campaign, Bush said he would base his decision on “sound science’ and not politics, and Racicot said the president lived up to that promise.

Racicot also said the campaign´s hope is that Nevada voters will understand “their obligations and duties’ in helping resolve a strategic problem on disposal of the nuclear waste that has collected over the years throughout the nation.

Nevada, with almost equal numbers of registered Democrats and Republicans, has a long history of close elections, Racicot said.

“That gives us comfort,’ he said.

Those contests include the closest U.S. Senate race in the nation´s history, the late Howard Cannon´s 48-vote victory over Paul Laxalt in 1964. A recount gave the Democratic winner an 84-vote victory over Republican Laxalt — who in 1974 won a Senate seat by just 611 votes.

Democrat Harry Reid, who lost that race, eventually made it to the Senate in 1986, and won a third term in 1998 by just 428 votes.

Those contests, Racicot said, show that Nevadans “think for themselves. And if they do, we´ve got a darn good chance.’

The campaign chairman also said demographic changes in Nevada — notably an influx of newcomers to the Las Vegas area in southern Nevada — means Bush strategists can´t rely on “a presumption that may have been there in the past.’

“We know we have to be competitive in the north and the south’ of the state, he said, adding that Bush, Vice President Cheney and other members of the Bush administration plan to campaign “in virtually every part of the state.’

While Nevada is seen as a battleground state, Bush´s Reno stop and a visit to Las Vegas in November are far below his trips to other key states — including 17 to Ohio, 18 to Missouri, 22 to Florida and 28 to Pennsylvania — all of which have more electoral votes than Nevada´s five.

Kerry has been to Nevada since becoming a candidate in February and mid-May, both in Las Vegas. Kerry hopes to make other visits in coming months, including one to Reno, said Sean Smith, Kerry´s Nevada communications director.

Smith said Bush´s visit to Reno “only underscores how afraid the Republicans are of losing this state to John Kerry. And they should be scared.’

“I´m amazed that guy is showing his face in this state,’ Smith said. “The first words out of his mouth when he´s here should be an apology for lying to us about Yucca Mountain.’ Smith said Kerry has a 16-year record of opposing the Yucca Mountain project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Racicot said Kerry has “very opportunistically’ said there won´t be a nuclear waste dump in Nevada — but hasn´t proposed an alternative.

Racicot also said the nation´s economy is “firing on all cylinders,’ with major job growth and other improvements as a result of Bush´s policies.

But Smith said many of the new jobs pay poorly.

“The middle class really has been facing a squeeze under this administration. Bush has a lot of explaining to do,’ he said.

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San Francisco Chronicle
June 16, 2004

New Kerry campaign chief in Nevada focuses on Yucca issue

Sen. John Kerry's new Nevada campaign chief said Wednesday she thinks federal plans for a national nuclear waste dump in the state will be a defining issue in the November presidential election.

Anne Sheridan pointed to what she called President Bush's "broken promise" to Nevada to rely on sound science to decide whether to bury the nation's most radioactive waste in Nevada. Sheridan previously served as the national organizer for Transportation Safety Coalition, a group opposed to the Yucca Mountain project.

In 2002, the Bush administration and Congress overrode state objections and picked Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the nation's nuclear repository. The Energy Department hopes to open it in 2010.

Opponents claim the selection overlooked scientific shortcomings.

Bush campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt accused Kerry, D-Mass., of using Yucca Mountain "to distract voters from Kerry's troubling record on the economy and defense."

"The president based his decision on sound science," Schmitt said.

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Las Vegas SUN
June 16, 2004

House OKs $10B Contract for Accenture

By Alan Fram
Associated Press

House OKs $10B Contract for Accenture

WASHINGTON (AP) - A drive to block a massive federal contract awarded to Accenture LLP for tracking visiting foreigners was all but scuttled Wednesday by the House, despite arguments that the company should be punished for avoiding some U.S. taxes.

The near party-line 234-197 vote by the GOP-led chamber meant that language disallowing the contract - valued at up to $10 billion over the next decade - was likely to be removed later this week from a $32 billion bill financing the Department of Homeland Security.

The Accenture contract would benefit a wide array of subcontractors, and is strongly supported by the business community and the House Republican leadership. Accenture opponents say the company shrunk its tax bill by moving its headquarters to Bermuda, but conceded they face an uphill fight and were hoping the Senate would keep the issue alive.

"These companies have an obligation to the United States of America to pay their taxes," said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. "If you want to feed at the public trough, you have to pay your taxes."

The vote came as Congress belatedly plunged into its budget work for 2005, with leaders hoping to finish as many of the 13 annual spending bills as they can by the Oct. 1 start of the government's new fiscal year. Lawmakers took action on everything from adding money for U.S. diplomats in Iraq to ending the U.S. Capitol Police's new mounted police force.

The Accenture vote was no surprise - similar provisions have been killed or weakened over the last two years. The bill was expected to retain language barring the Homeland Security department from entering future contracts with companies headquartered offshore.

Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., said DeLauro's amendment was designed to "score some political points" and was picking on a company that pays all the taxes it legally owes.

In other work Wednesday:

-The House debated a $19.5 billion measure, financing the Interior Department and other land and cultural programs, that increases spending for battling wildfires but eliminates funds for buying new land for parks.

-The House Appropriations Committee approved a $416.9 billion defense measure, including $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The panel added $685 million for diplomatic costs in both countries that, like the military money, the Bush administration had said would not be needed until at least next January.

Committee members also added $95 million for victims of starvation and fighting in Sudan and Chad; a requirement for a White House report by Oct. 1 of the expected U.S. price tag in Iraq and Afghanistan; and language curbing contracts with private companies to manage Iraqi reconstruction.

-The House Appropriations Committee approved a $28 billion energy and water measure that cuts President Bush's request for work on a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. It boosts spending for water projects in lawmakers' home districts, and eliminates funds Bush wanted to develop some new nuclear weapons.

-A subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $32 billion measure for the Homeland Security Department that adds money for protecting rail systems Bush did not request. The bill does not address the Accenture contract.

-A House Appropriations subcommittee approved $2.8 billion for Congress' own operations, excluding Senate money that chamber will add later. The total is the same as this year's, though the House's own budget would grow by 3.6 percent to $1.04 billion.

The panel also voted to abolish the six-horse, seven-officer mounted police force the Capitol Police started this spring, which Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., called "a police fashion accessory."

It also defeated an amendment by Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., that would have forbidden departing House members from filing complaints with the House ethics committee - in effect barring Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas, from pursuing his ethics charges against House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.

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The State
Jun. 16, 2004

Carter joins foes of SRS waste plan

Former president says dangerous residue could get into groundwater

By SAMMY FRETWELL
Staff Writer

Former President Jimmy Carter is criticizing a Bush administration plan to leave radioactive waste in South Carolina, rather than ship it to Nevada for burial.

In a statement released late Monday, Carter urged Congress to reject the plan championed by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

The proposal is a dangerous, ill-conceived attempt to reverse more than two decades of federal policy by leaving high-level waste at the Savannah River Site, said Carter, who was asked by environmentalists to take a position.

Graham´s plan “would abandon at S.C.´s Savannah River Site the same high-level waste I fought to contain as governor of Georgia,´´ Carter said.

Graham and U.S. Department of Energy spokesman Joe Davis disputed Carter´s charges, saying the plan is a safe and realistic way to clean up. The DOE wants to leave only small amounts of waste in the tanks, Davis said.

But Carter´s statements add to an increasingly lively dispute over disposal of some of the world´s deadliest nuclear waste.

Some 37 million gallons of liquid waste is contained in about 50 aging steel tanks, which, in some cases, have begun to leak. This waste could kill a person instantly. It also can linger in the environment, in some cases, for thousands of years. The waste was produced by the atomic weapons-making process.

Since the early 1980s, the government has planned to ship high-level waste from SRS and other federal nuclear weapons complexes to a long-term disposal site. That site is at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

Now, the Department of Energy wants to change the law so the agency can leave some high-level waste in the storage tanks at SRS near Aiken. The DOE tried to reclassify the waste previously, but a court decision said it had no authority to do so.

The DOE says it will remove 99 percent of the waste but will have a hard time getting residual amounts out of the tanks. The agency wants to mix any tank waste that can´t be cleaned out with a grout to stabilize it. Graham estimated that leaving some waste in tanks will speed cleanup efforts by two decades and save $16 billion.

“What we´re trying to do at Savannah River Site is to remove 37 million gallons of high-level liquid 23 years ahead of schedule so it won´t leak into groundwater,´´ Graham said Tuesday.

Carter, U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings and other Democrats are skeptical. They say leaving high-level waste in the tanks is an environmental hazard that sets a bad precedent.

Letting high-level atomic waste remain in SRS tanks could one day allow the material to seep into groundwater and rivers or lakes from the corroding steel tanks, Carter said, noting that a large aquifer beneath SRS provides drinking water to much of the Southeast.

Critics say Graham´s proposal gives the DOE too much leeway to leave larger amounts of high-level waste at SRS than the government now says will be left. Davis and Graham disputed that.

Carter, who served as president from 1977-81, said the Graham proposal has received little input from the public and, if nothing else, needs more study before Congress decides what to do with all the waste

By a razor-thin margin, the Senate declined two weeks ago to strip Graham´s amendment from the defense authorization bill. It is expected to be discussed again, perhaps as early as this week.

Carter also said Graham´s plan sets a “disturbing precedent for high-level cleanup nationwide.´´ The DOE is threatening to withhold cleanup funds unless states go along with its plan to reclassify the waste, Carter said.

Graham and Davis said the government can´t proceed until uncertainty about cleanup is cleared up.

“I think he´s one of our finest ex-presidents, and his characterization of the issue is completely inaccurate, scientifically and otherwise,’ Graham said.

Reach Fretwell at (803) 771-8537 or sfretwell@thestate.com.

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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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