Yucca Mountain News Clips
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
July 27, 2004
Nye commission resolves to support Yucca project
The Nye County Commission, which has repeatedly touted the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain as a boon to rural Nevada economies, last week unanimously passed a resolution in support of what commissioners deem "a safe respository" at the site.
If approved, the Yucca Mountain project would send up to 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste through a 319-mile path in Nye and Lincoln counties before being placed inside the mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
According to the resolution, the county is determined to work "cooperatively with appropriate federal entities, rural Nevada communities along the transportation route and other parties willing to constructively engage in the development of a repository that is safe and offers significant economic benefit to Nye County ..."
Local and state leaders have pledged to fight the nuclear waste dump, saying the federal government has yet to prove the material is not dangerous.
The federal Energy Department in June missed a key deadline to send millions of pages of documents detailing the project to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 27, 2004
Nevadans ponder best message for Silver State
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
BOSTON -- Clinton. Gore. Hillary.
To Democrats, they are the past president, the elected president and perhaps the future president. Their presence Monday at the FleetCenter rekindled thoughts of the past, particularly the anger of the 2000 election.
When Nevada Democrats think back, at times, it makes it harder for them to stay on the message the Democratic National Convention hopes voters learn during the next three days: Sen. John Kerry's plans for the country.
In other words, stay positive.
Although that message might be the one to win voters, the gut reaction of most Nevada delegates is there's a need to criticize President Bush.
"You have to tell people how Bush's policies have negatively impacted Nevada citizens," said Steven Horsford, Nevada's national Democratic committeeman. "It's not bashing to say the president has a failed record for Nevada."
Whichever message plays better to the undecided voters in the Silver State will ultimately swing Nevada, and possibly the Electoral College map for the nation.
Delegate Dan Hinkley said most voters would respond better to a respectful message. But when asked whether his pin showing Bush as Vice President Dick Cheney's ventriloquist dummy was respectful, Hinkley quickly answered, "No."
"I don't respect Bush, but I'm not on the stage," Hinkley said, referencing speeches from the podium that have been well-screened by the Kerry-Edwards campaign in advance.
Delegates said it's not bad to remember 2000 as a lesson, one which Al Gore put to rousing applause Monday: "Let's make sure not only that the Supreme Court does not pick the next president, but also that this president is not the one who picks the next Supreme Court." The balancing act in Nevada is critical, as much of the convention continues to focus on 16 battleground states. A few are considered capable of switching from the Bush column to Kerry's in November.
"This election could hinge on Nevada, and we think we have the right message," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., chair of the delegation, said during a breakfast meeting.
At the breakfast in the Lenox Hotel, Richard Trussoni, who served on Kerry's Navy swiftboat crew in Vietnam spoke about the Democratic nominee as a man "who never demanded respect, he earned it."
State party chairwoman Adriana Martinez said it was fine for Gore to reference the 2000 election and for President Carter to remark that America wants "a leader, not a misleader."
President Clinton made a quick reference to every vote counting, then went onto the convention's message.
"We Democrats will bring to the American people a positive campaign, arguing not who's good and who's bad, but what is the best way to build the safe, prosperous world our children deserve," Clinton said.
Martinez said if framed that way, the message will resonate.
"If we're talking about the issues we'll be fine. Every time you talk about the issues, you can't go wrong, whether it's Yucca Mountain or the economy."
Nevada Democrats in Boston continue to say Bush's decision to approve a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain will help them.
Nevada is the only state in the nation with a specific reference in the convention platform, a reference that pledges opposition to the storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Sen. Harry Reid, who often criticizes Bush and his policies, said Monday that the speech he will give prime time Wednesday has been screened by the Kerry-Edwards campaign.
"They didn't say they objected to anything," Reid said with a smirk.
The National Republican Committee is in Boston this week presenting daily news conferences designed to show the Democratic convention as an "extreme makeover" of Kerry.
On Monday, Congressman Jon Porter, R-Nev., took part in a conference call for the Bush-Cheney campaign, highlighting what he said is right with the current president.
"I think that there have been so many things happening with the Nevada economy lately, the best months we've ever had," Porter said in an interview after the call. "The growth proposals of the president and Congress are the right direction."
Some delegates want a bit more liberalism at the convention, both in idea and in the way the debate is framed for Nevada voters.
"It's lame," delegate Danielle Cook, a 23-year-old Carson City resident with long pink hair. "Why shouldn't we talk strongly and act strongly?"
During a reception honoring Clark County Commissioner and national Democratic black caucus chair Yvonne Atkinson Gates, filmmaker Michael Moore said he wanted Kerry to inspire Americans who haven't voted before.
"I encourage the Democrats to have a spine, to have a backbone," Moore said to about 150 in a crowded reception room at the Sheraton in Back Bay. "Democrats, do not run from the liberal label."
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Reno Gazette-Journal
Notebook: Nevada´s delegates fight for Yucca plank
Doug Abrahms
BOSTON — Nevada representatives were able to keep a resolution against building the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in the Democratic Party´s platform despite efforts to remove it.
Democrats wanted to address broad issues rather than make a long list of specific items that could alienate some voters, said Bill Stanley, Nevada´s representative on the national party´s platform committee.
Some in the party wanted to remove the plank that opposed Yucca Mountain and replace it with a stance against transporting and burying nuclear waste unless proven scientifically sound, he said.
“If you opened up Pandora´s box, every state would want to rush in’ with their own pet projects, said Stanley of Las Vegas.
But Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Las Vegas, fought hard and was able to keep it in Kerry´s presidential platform, he said.
The platform now reads: “We will protect Nevada and its communities from the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, which has not been proven to be safe by sound science.’
Democrats hope to use the Yucca Mountain issue to swing the battleground state to Kerry.
* * *
Nevada attracts attention
Nevada Democrats are getting calls from national and international media asking them which way the Silver State will swing on Nov. 2, said Jon Summers, spokesman for the state Democratic Party.
Summers said he has talked to all of the major networks this week, along with the BBC and Economist magazine recently.
“Everyone knows that Nevada is important in this election,’ he said.
It also means that Nevadans will be deluged with more political advertising until the November election.
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Birds of a feather
Jim Wallace, a delegate from Carson City in largely Republican Northern Nevada, finds comfort in being in Boston this week.
“It´s nice to be around so many Democrats for a change,’ Wallace said.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
Tuesday, July 27, 2004
Party´s Yucca stance might tip the balance among Nevada voters
Jeff Donn
Associated Press
BOSTON — Some state Democrats believe Nevada´s five electoral votes could decide the presidency on the strength of one issue: whether to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
Nevada´s Democrats have seized on the leverage of their closely contested state in a tight election season to showcase their resistance to the project within the proposed party platform. The presumed Democratic nominee, U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, is opposed to the Yucca project.
The platform is set to be adopted, with the anti-Yucca plank, at the party´s national convention this evening in Boston, party leaders say.
“We have a battleground state, and we believe that Yucca Mountain will make the difference,’ said Dina Titus, a Nevada convention delegate and minority leader of the state Senate.
President Bush has backed Yucca as the nation´s first permanent storage site for nuclear waste. With Americans almost equally split between Bush and Kerry, some Nevada delegates contend that Kerry´s opposition can push him over the top in Nevada and, if the electoral race is very tight elsewhere, in the nation.
“This is a fabulous plank,’ said U.S. Rep. Shelley Berkley of Las Vegas, the delegation leader. “I
think it clearly demonstrates the difference in the positions between the two parties.’
Republicans reacted by accusing Democrats of politicizing the project, which has attracted considerable bipartisan backing in the past. Democratic supporters have included Kerry´s vice presidential running mate John Edwards, the North Carolina senator. Edwards has since assured Nevada party leaders he will rally to Kerry´s stand against the project.
“It has never been a partisan issue until this year, when Sen. Kerry is attempting to leverage it,’ said Robert List, a former Republican governor of Nevada and now a political consultant to the Nuclear Energy Institute trade group.
“Ultimately, Nevadans will vote on a broader theme,’ added Yier Shi, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee.
Republicans contended that lower taxes, the fight against terrorism, and even issues like crowded highways will eclipse Yucca Mountain for most Nevada voters. However, the project has met fierce resistance in the state, including from some Republicans.
The Energy Department wants to open the repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas in 2010. It would collect 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste from nuclear reactors, military operations, and other industrial plants in 39 states. The waste would be entombed in tunnels 1,000 feet below ground.
President Bush won Nevada by 3.5 percent of the vote in the 2000 election against Al Gore. During Bush´s campaign, he promised a Yucca decision based on “sound science.’ He went on to authorize selection of the Yucca site in early 2002. Later, Congress overrode Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn´s veto of the project.
“In Nevada, we see George Bush as lying to us about Yucca Mountain,’ said Adriana Martinez, a Las Vegas delegate and chairwoman of the state Democratic Party.
Opponents fear a release of deadly radioactivity through an accident or terrorist attack on the repository or shipments to it. The Energy Department says both the site and its shipments will be safe.
The Democratic plank reads: “We will protect Nevada and its communities from the high level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain which has not been proven to be safe by sound science.’
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New York Times
July 27, 2004
High Accident Risk Is Seen in Atomic Waste Project
By Matthew L. Wald
WASHINGTON, July 26 - An Energy Department plant under construction in Hanford, Wash., that is designed to remove highly radioactive waste from leaking tanks and immobilize it in glass has a 50 percent chance of a major accident over its 28-year lifetime, according to an independent government audit.
The audit, which drew little notice when issued three years ago by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has recently gained prominence through the efforts of Robert Alvarez, an adviser to the energy secretary in the Clinton administration.
The regulatory commission, whose report cited several design problems, was the last outside agency to perform an in-depth engineering review of the project. Since then, the Energy Department has altered the design, and has also sped construction in an effort to cut decades and tens of billions of dollars off the cost of solidifying the waste, which is left over from half a century of nuclear weapons production.
In a second report, however, the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional auditing agency formerly known as the General Accounting Office, criticized the department earlier this month for carrying out major construction before the design is complete, a risky technique called fast-tracking. The plant "departs from conditions appropriate for fast-track management," the G.A.O. said.
The Energy Department maintains that it has resolved the design problems and that it has no alternative to fast-tracking the project if it is to meet its promises, issued to the State of Washington and the Environmental Protection Agency in signed agreements, to empty the tanks into glass canisters by 2028.
Plans are for the factory, which the department hopes to open in 2011, to use technologies that have never been demonstrated on so broad a scale. It is to carry on a process called vitrification, in which the wastes, some of which will be radioactive for millions of years, are dissolved in an extra-strong form of glass and poured into steel canisters, which are then welded shut.
The plan is to bury the canisters eventually at Yucca Mountain, Nev., in a "glassified" form that is far more stable than the salts, sludges and liquids in 177 underground tanks now at the Hanford nuclear reservation. Many of those tanks have leaked, and some have oozed waste into the Columbia River.
But Mr. Alvarez, the former adviser to the Energy Department, said that the plant would have as much radioactive material inside as a nuclear reactor and that "the likelihood of it getting out is much greater."
Mr. Alvarez is the author of a paper on Hanford that has been accepted for publication by Science and Global Security, a peer-reviewed journal at Princeton. In an interview, he referred to the Hanford cleanup as "perhaps the most expensive, complex and risky environmental project in the United States." He said he was unable to determine what changes the Energy Department had made since the regulatory commission's report that would reduce the risk of a major accident at Hanford.
Roy J. Schepens, manager of the Office of River Protection, an Energy Department unit in Richland, Wash., that is in charge of the waste tanks and the vitrification project, said the commission's conclusions about the chances of a major accident concerned previous efforts at the site by a private company, BNFL, formerly British Nuclear Fuels Limited.
When BNFL's price estimate rose to $14 billion from $3.2 billion, the Energy Department dropped that company and hired another, Bechtel National, to build the plant as a government-owned project. The commission, which generally regulates only private facilities, then left the site.
Responding to the most recent criticism, by the Government Accountability Office, John Britton, a spokesman for Bechtel National, acknowledged construction problems, including improper testing of a stainless-steel tank that is supposed to hold liquid used in scrubbing the gas given off by heated waste.
"We had some quality-assurance issues with the vendor," Mr. Britton said, though adding that construction was going well.
Mr. Schepens, the Energy Department official, pointed out that a Congressionally created independent body, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, monitored Hanford. He also said there had been many design improvements since the regulatory commission's audit.
Among them are plans for hardware that would limit the flow of radioactive waste into the glass; water in the waste can cause steam explosions when hitting molten glass. Another change is continuous mixing of the wastes and venting the tanks where it is stored, to get rid of hydrogen, an explosive gas produced by radiation in the tanks.
Mr. Schepens said the risk of an accident at the plant would be comparable to that at a civilian reactor, though Mr. Alvarez pointed out that the department had a history of melter accidents.
The cost of the project undertaken by Bechtel National has risen to $5.7 billion, a third more than the estimate. One reason is that the Energy Department decided to make the plant bigger so it could get the vitrification done more quickly. Another is that trying to build the plant while it was still under design caused costly delays.
The accountability office said it feared that the department might end up with a plant that could not treat all the waste. In fact, the department built a vitrification plant in South Carolina in the 1990's to deal with similar wastes and is still trying to resolve operating problems there. One of the problems is hydrogen gas in the system that prepares waste for the melter.
In a letter to Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said the regulatory commission's estimate of the accident risk was "quite startling." The senator said that "it is not at all clear how and if D.O.E. has responded to the N.R.C.'s findings regarding safety issues at the waste treatment plant."
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Carolina Morning News
July 27, 2004
Vox Carolina
Carolina Morning News
"It's great to see you did away with the Vox Populi. Maybe the Bush bashing will stop."
(Editor's note: The Vox has not gone away. Some days we receive no calls worthy of publication.)
"Now that 15 containers have been found to leak radioactive substances at Savannah River Site, Senator Lindsay Graham has said nothing about his plans to keep them in South Carolina rather than have the U.S. government move them to Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Does anyone know how earthquake resistant the SRS storage site is? Summerville experienced an earthquake last week."
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Las Vegas SUN
July 26, 2004
Biggest Yucca obstacle may be budget
Congress has yet to boost funding
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- While a court battle threatens to derail the Energy Department's plans to ship nuclear waste to Nevada, the department could see the Yucca Mountain project delayed by a budget crunch.
Nevada officials have placed their hopes to kill the project on the courts, which issued a favorable ruling earlier this month, but so far the budget could be the key.
Congress began its monthlong summer break Friday without passing the budget for Yucca Mountain project.
Without requested increases to work on the project next year, the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have said they will have a hard time meeting the project's self-imposed deadlines.
The department says it must submit its license application for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, in December, but will need money from Congress to keep the project on schedule.
It also may need new scientific guidelines, after a federal appeals court struck down Environmental Protection Administration standards that say the repository must keep radiation from the environment for 10,000. The court said the EPA did not follow National Academy of Sciences recommendations, which were for a much longer period of time.
The Energy Department is expected to appeal that ruling in court, and work will continue during any appeals, but the department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission still faces the immediate problem of a lack of money for Yucca Mountain work.
Congress has little time when it comes back from recess before the November election. If it does not pass the 13 spending bills individually, all of the outstanding spending bills could be rolled into one large one, called an omnibus, or Congress could pass a continuing budget resolution, leaving the agencies to work at this year's budget levels until next year.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Nils Diaz told Congress last month that a continuing resolution "would delay the NRC's review of the Department of Energy's high-level waste repository application," according to a letter to the Senate made public Wednesday.
The commission requested $69.1 million to work on the license application next year, a $36 million increase from this year. Diaz said keeping the funding level at just over half its request "would disrupt our preparation to review the DOE application and delay our review of that application, once submitted."
Planned tests for containers used to ship the spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain would also be put on hold, Diaz said.
For the department's budget, the House has passed only $131 million for the project, despite the department's $880 million request. The House Energy and Commerce Committee approved a bill that would permanently change the way Congress puts money toward the program, allowing Yucca Mountain money to come directly from the Nuclear Waste Fund, which is funded by a surcharge on nuclear power, without having to compete with other federal programs. But even supporters of the bill say it is unlikely to go through the Senate.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham has told Congress that the license application deadline would be "at risk" if the budget stayed at $131 million.
The Senate has not come up with a budget number yet. The Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee plans to hold meetings when Congress returns in the fall, but what will happen yet is not clear, according to the committee.
In the Senate, the department will run into Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who has led the delegation's fight to cut funding for Yucca Mountain.
The Energy Department will not speculate about what it can accomplish at the $577 million level it would likely receive under a continuing resolution, the same amount received this year, and it is hard for anyone to predict what level would be approved in an omnibus spending bill.
"We are early in the budget process," department spokesman Joe Davis said. "We are watching the process very closely and will make decisions accordingly."
Congress passed the 1987 law that singled out Yucca Mountain to be the only site to be study for the nuclear waste repository in an omnibus bill, which can serve as a catch-all for various projects and other legislation.
David Cherry, spokesman for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in Washington spending money creates the impression that things are moving ahead.
"If the money wasn't there, many people would say, 'Wait a minute,' and the project is less likely to move forward," he said.
Cherry said by providing less money, Congress is sending a signal that there's some reluctance toward the project.
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CBS News
July 25, 2004
60 Minutes: Yucca Mountain
(CBS) For nearly 50 years, the U.S. government and the nuclear regulatory industry have been trying to figure out what to do with massive quantities of deadly radioactive waste that has been piling up at nuclear power plants and munitions factories since the dawn of the atomic age.
Right now, it's sitting in temporary storage facilities, many of them near major metropolitan areas, vulnerable to accidents, environmental disasters and terrorism.
Every possible solution has been explored, from dumping it in the ocean to launching it towards the sun. Finally, President Bush, the Department of Energy, and the U.S. Congress decided that all of that nuclear waste should be moved to Nevada and buried under a mountain in the middle of the desert.
Needless to say, people in Nevada aren't crazy about this idea, and, as Correspondent Steve Kroft reported last fall, they believe most Americans will agree when they find out how the plan might affect them.
Yucca Mountain sits on federal land in Nevada, not far from Death Valley, in a remote stretch of desert, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The nearest commercial establishment is a brothel 15 miles away.
If the U.S. government has its way, this will be the final resting place for 70,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste. Beginning in the year 2010, it will be shipped here from all over the country by truck or by rail, and stored under the mountain in tunnels for the next 10,000 years -- which is how long the waste will remain deadly.
Mike Voegele, the chief scientist at Yucca Mountain, gave 60 Minutes a tour.
Even in stainless steel casks lined with lead or depleted uranium to absorb the radiation, the nuclear waste will still be so hot and so dangerous it will have to be moved with remote-controlled machinery.
"The temperature might be in the range of 300 degrees Fahrenheit," says Voegele. "Very, very hot."
The nuclear waste is currently being kept in temporary facilities scattered across 39 states, in cooling ponds and in storage buildings outside nuclear reactors. Some of it sits adjacent to rivers or on top of water tables. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham says 161 million Americans live within 75 miles of one of these sites.
“We think that it just stands to reason that consolidating the waste in one facility in a very remote part of America will make it much easier to protect on a long-term basis,’ says Abraham.
How important is the Yucca Mountain Project to the United States?
Abraham says it's critical: “We need to find a permanent storage facility so that communities that have the waste building up can get rid of it. And without doing that, we'll have not only environmental challenges, but we, I think it will undermine our energy security and our national security.’
With the president and Congress on board, billions of dollars already in the ground and only one more regulatory hurdle to clear, using Yucca Mountain to store nuclear waste might seem like a foregone conclusion. But the battle is far from over, and the state of Nevada is in full-scale revolt.
A coalition of elected officials, environmentalists and businessmen is waging a guerrilla war to kill a project they believe has been shoved down their throats.
One of them is Brian Greenspun, the president and editor of The Las Vegas Sun: “Congress started looking around and said, ‘OK, let's bury it someplace.´ ‘OK, who has only two senators and only one representative, no political clout whatsoever? And who lives in a place that is perceived, at least, to be nothing but desert and wasteland?´ And they said, ‘Ah-ha! Nevada.´"
The federal government still owns 87 percent of the land in Nevada. But people here say all roads - not to mention rail lines - lead to Las Vegas. When the Yucca Mountain project was first proposed 20 years ago, Las Vegas was still a fairly small city.
Today, with a population of 1.6 million, it's the fastest growing metropolis in the country. Approximately 5,000 people move here every month, and there are 35 million tourists who come here every year.
City fathers say if you look at the existing transportation routes, as much as 85 percent of the nuclear waste could have to come right through the metropolitan area on its way to Yucca Mountain.
“Makes no sense to me. Who wants to be the unlucky person who's here outside a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip when one of those trucks turns over and the nuclear waste spills?’ says Greenspun. “And you know it's going to happen. Accidents happen.’
The mood in Nevada is one of outright defiance. The state is trying to kill the project by denying water to Yucca Mountain, on the grounds that it is not in the public interest. And Las Vegas has passed a law making it illegal to haul nuclear waste through the city.
Mayor Oscar Goodman says he plans to enforce it: “If it comes by rail, the only rail goes right through the heart of my city. And I guarantee you one thing: as long as I'm the mayor, it ain't comin' through.’
How does he plan to stop it?
“If I have to put up barriers up and arrest whoever is trying to transport it, I promise you that's gonna be done,’ says Goodman. “I´m dead serious.’
Mayor Goodman says this isn't just a case of Las Vegas or Nevada screaming "not in our backyard." The nuclear waste will have to travel through a lot of backyards before it gets to Nevada.
The Department of Energy (DOE) hasn't disclosed exactly how it plans to get all that nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain, except to say that it will be transported by rail and heavily guarded truck convoys over the interstate highway system, and require between one and six shipments every day for 24 years.
But Dr. Robert Halstead, who's been a transportation adviser to the state of Nevada since 1988, says if you take a map of the U.S. transportation system and mark the locations of nuclear facilities, you get a pretty good idea of potential shipping routes.
“They would heavily affect cities like Buffalo, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, in the Chicago metropolitan area, in Omaha,’ says Halstead. “Coming out of the south, the heaviest impacts would be in Atlanta, in Nashville, St. Louis, Kansas City, moving across through Salt Lake City, through downtown Las Vegas, up to Yucca Mountain. And the same cities would be affected by rail shipments as well.’
Halstead said when Congress voted last year to go forward with the Yucca Mountain project, it did so based on poor or non-existent information about how the plans would affect their states or congressional districts.
Does Halstead think the DOE is intentionally holding back that information?
“Sure. I think it's part of DOE's political strategy to withhold information about the transportation impacts from the Congress. Period,’ says Halstead.
Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate, agrees: “Stuff isn't gonna suddenly appear out of the sky and be in Yucca Mountain. You have to get it there some way. And that's the problem.’
Reid says the devil in the Yucca Mountain project is in the details.
“How are you going to haul the most poisonous substance known to man across the highways and railways of this country? Thousands of miles through cities, towns, past farms, past businesses, churches, schools, residences,’ says Reid.
“This is the big secret that the DOE has. We'll give you that later, folks in America. In the meantime, we'll just say we have a repository in Nevada."
If most of the nuclear waste moves by rail (a plan now favored by the Department of Energy), the city most affected would be Chicago, where shipments from the East Coast would have to be consolidated, then re-routed to Yucca Mountain.
“One out of every three rail shipments would go through the metropolitan Chicago area,’ says Halstead. “One out of every six rail shipments would actually go through downtown Chicago within a mile or so of Lake Michigan and the Art Institute.’
Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham didn't deny it.
“I think there's a general understanding that we move hazardous material in this country. I think there's an understanding that the federal government knows how to do it safely,’ says Abraham.
“No routes have been finalized. We haven't made decisions yet. We are gonna do it safely. We're gonna do it in concert with local communities and state governments.’
And Abraham says the government has been transporting nuclear waste for the past 30 years, but most of the shipments have been relatively small and not clear across the country. While there have been a few minor accidents, none of them have resulted in significant releases of nuclear materials.
“I would stress that, that we move much hazardous material via rail and via truck in this country today. And we know how to do it in a fashion that is safe for the public,’ says Abraham. “We are, we are not going to endanger the public.’
The casks used to transport nuclear waste have been smashed into concrete barriers, broadsided by roaring trains, dropped from high altitudes and burned in jet fuel for 90 minutes. They've stayed intact, but how secure are these casks? How durable are they?
“They're among the best containers that humans know how to make to contain hazardous materials,’ says Halstead. “On the other hand, the payload is so hazardous that only a tiny fraction has to escape in an accident or in a terrorist incident in order to have a disastrous or even a catastrophic clean-up cost.’
Halstead says the casks are not designed to withstand all disasters, like the Baltimore Tunnel fire in July of 2001, when a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed and burned for four days with temperatures inside the tunnel reaching 1,000 degrees.
But it's not just accidents Sen. Reid fears. He worries about terrorism.
“Every one of these trucks, every one of these trains, is a target of opportunity for a terrorist to do bad things,’ says Reid. “I mean, you talk about a dirty bomb. I mean this is, this is really a filthy bomb.’
Twenty years of tests and studies have demonstrated the vulnerability of the shipping casks to a variety of possible terrorist weapons, concluding they can be breached by explosive charges or anti-tank weapons.
“These caravans so far are going to be 300 feet long -- a football field long,’ says Greenspun. “Going 35, 40 miles an hour across the federal highways. Do you think it's going to be hard to hit that with anything? Even I could hit it.’
Could they be blown open by a demolition charge? Could they be blown open by a shoulder-fired rocket?
“Well, the question I think you should be asking is not whether those casks can be attacked only, but whether or not the current location of the nuclear waste is a more vulnerable target,’ says Abraham. “We have invested $4 billion in the science and the safety. And based on that investment, I am confident that we know how to do this in a way that's safe. Yes, it can be trusted.’
But trust is a rare commodity in Nevada when it comes to the federal government. Many people, like Greenspun, still think of themselves as nuclear guinea pigs. He remembers watching atomic bomb tests with his father back in the 1950s.
“He would take us up to the top of Mount Charleston when we were little kids, so that we could watch the blasts. You could see the mushroom cloud go off. And we thought that was the neatest thing in the whole world,’ recalls Greenspun.
“And then, minutes later, this pink cloud would come over and we would get sprinkled with dust. No one ever thought anything of it. Thirty-forty years later, we are the thyroid cancer capital of the world.’
This is a fact that has not escaped the notice of Mayor Goodman, who keeps a copy of a 1957 handbook on those nuclear tests put out by the Atomic Energy Commission.
“They say that fallout of this contaminant, this radiation, this deadly material, can be inconvenient. That's the way they expressed it,’ says Goodman. “So I'm not going to help the federal government lie to us again. Nope, not, not during my administration.’
The state of Nevada is still battling to keep Yucca Mountain from opening. It sued the federal government to stop the project, and it's trying to stall the Department of Energy's efforts to get a license to operate the site.
Nevada also has recruited a powerful ally in its fight. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry told Las Vegas voters that he's against the project. There will be no Yucca Mountain nuclear waste depository in a Kerry administration.
© MMIV, CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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San Francisco Chronicle
July 25, 2004
Letters to The Editor
Yucca Mountain is not the site
Editor -- Your editorial, "Yucca Mountain's troubled history" (July 18), got it right when you observed that "haggling, political posturing and legal maneuvering" have dominated decision-making with respect to the proposed nuclear-waste dump site in Nevada.
But you are wrong in concluding that "the best option isn't finding another site, but funding and properly designing Yucca Mountain."
The recent federal appeals court decision does nothing more than affirm what federal law and national policy have long held as the paramount requirement for a repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Whatever site is chosen, be it in Nevada or anywhere else, must meet minimum radiation health protection standards for the period of time during which significant risks to people and the environment will occur -- not merely for some arbitrarily concocted compliance period. Yucca Mountain simply cannot do that.
The notion that Congress can fix the problem by legislating over the court's decision so as to "shore up the facility's design shortcomings" is absurd. No amount of tinkering with designs or manipulating health and safety regulations is going to make Yucca Mountain suitable.
Rather, the federal court's decision provides an opportunity for the country to revisit the nuclear-waste disposal issue, admit that the obsessional focus on Yucca Mountain has been a serious mistake and get about the task of finding real, workable solutions to the nuclear waste problem.
Joseph C. Strolin
Administrator
Planning Division
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects
Office of the Governor
Carson City, Nev.
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San Francisco Chronicle
July 25, 2004
Letters to The Editor
Editor -- Regarding your editorial: A national radioactive waste dump at Yucca Mountain would not only be Nevada's problem. Yucca is only 200 miles from Los Angeles -- not that far depending on the wind direction, in the event of an earthquake, accidental fire or terrorist attack releasing large amounts of radioactivity.
If the dump opens, the U.S. Department of Energy proposes shipping thousands of containers of high-level radioactive waste on California interstates, railways and even off the coast on barges. The majority of these shipments would come from atomic reactors or nuclear weapons facilities in other states.
A severe accident or successful attack upon just one of these shipments could cause an unprecedented catastrophe for an entire area. In addition to transport dangers or catastrophic accidents at Yucca, leaks from the dump would also imperil California. Yucca's groundwater flows to California, just 30 miles downstream. A nearby dairy exports large amounts of milk products to California, risking contamination of the food supply.
President Clinton was right to veto efforts to rush its opening long before the scientific studies were done, and the courts were right to require that regulations protect future generations from the waste's long-lasting hazard.
KEVIN KAMPS
Nuclear waste specialist
Nuclear Information and Resource Service
Washington, D.C.
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Las Vegas SUN
July 26, 2004
Nevada delegates excited to be in Boston
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
BOSTON -- Energy filled the room as Nevada's delegates to the Democratic National Convention kicked off the four-day event with a mix of enthusiasm and hope.
At their first official breakfast today, delegates talked about their excitement and predicted Kerry winning the state in November and taking the presidency.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., is slated to accept the party's presidential nomination on Thursday. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina will accept the vice-presidential nomination on Wednesday.
Delegate Dwayne Chestnut from Las Vegas said he was looking forward to the "second American Revolution" and delegate Ida Gaines, also from Las Vegas said she was excited "to be part of the history that's going to be made."
The delegates can attend a variety of events and workshops throughout the day before heading to the Fleet Center for the main speeches this afternoon.
Altria Group, the parent company of Kraft and Philip Morris sponsored the breakfast, held at the Lenox Hotel in Boston where most of the delegation is staying.
Convention organizers have made clear that this week is to learn more about Kerry and put him in the White House.
"This is the most important election in our lifetime," said Terry McAuliffe, chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Sunday. "When everybody leaves this convention they are going to leave with an assignment to get John Kerry and John Edwards elected."
The convention's theme "Stronger at home, respected in the world" will be broken into different themes each night, with tonight's being the "Kerry-Edwards Plan For America's Future."
Former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former Vice President Al Gore are some of tonight's main speakers.
The delegates know where the Democrats and John Kerry stand on issues important to Nevada, like Yucca Mountain. Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., reminded attendees that Nevada is the only state to be specifically named in the party's platform, which will be adopted this week. The platform calls for a stop to the planned nuclear waste storage site at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Nevada delegates think Yucca Mountain will be a deciding issue.
Delegate Edna Flores of Henderson said she was excited to be here this week and wants to "send Mr. Bush back to Crawford."
The city of Boston officially welcomed the delegation Sunday night with a party at the USS Constitution museum at the Navy Yard in the Charleston neighborhood. Delegates toured the historical ship, nicknamed Old Ironsides, after eating dinner inside the museum.
The city has been taken over by the 35,000 attendees here for the convention.
"It's nice to walk down the street and see other people who are Democrats," said former Nevada congressman James Bilbray.
Delegate Jim Wallace from Carson City said it's "nice to be around so many Democrats for a change."
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 25, 2004
Presidential Poll: Race in Nevada a tossup
Nader factor and Yucca Mountain could tip scales in Silver State
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
The presidential race in Nevada has tightened significantly and is beginning to reflect its national status as a battleground, according to a statewide poll of likely voters conducted for the Review-Journal and reviewjournal.com.
The Republican ticket of George Bush and Dick Cheney led the Democratic ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards 46 percent to 43 percent. Seven percent were undecided, and 4 percent went for Ralph Nader, heading the independent ticket.
That's significantly closer than a similar poll conducted in March, which showed Bush up 49 percent to 38 percent over Kerry with 9 percent undecided.
The poll of 625 voters was conducted from Tuesday to Thursday by Washington, D.C.-based Mason-Dixon Polling & Research. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.
If Nevadans could bet the election in sports books, pollster Brad Coker said, "the odds would be dead even."
Some factors that could tip the state for Bush include Nevada's strong economy and Nader's potential to take votes away from Kerry. But Kerry could nullify Bush's edge on those fronts as a result of the Yucca Mountain issue, the poll suggests.
Voters were asked whether Bush's approval of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository would make them more likely or less likely to vote for him, or if it would have no influence in their decision.
Statewide, a majority of voters said it would have no impact on their presidential vote. But among undecided voters, 31 percent said they would be less likely to vote for Bush because of his Yucca Mountain decision.
"Yucca really kind of jumps out as an issue," Coker said. "It could be the Achilles' heel for Bush because amongst that little group of undecided voters, by about a 3-to-1 margin, it's working against him."
Rebecca Lambe, executive director of the Nevada Democratic Party, said she believes Yucca Mountain will make a difference this November.
"This is a situation where you had a presidential candidate who said one thing and turned around and did another," Lambe said, adding that when Yucca is framed alongside issues of the war, job losses and the uninsured, the state will go for Kerry.
Kerry voted consistently against Yucca Mountain in the Senate and has vowed to halt the project if he is elected.
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who is co-chairing Bush's re-election campaign in the Silver State, said he doesn't think Yucca Mountain will make a difference.
"The president is on record and we're on record," Sandoval said. "The president is going to wait and see what happens (in court) and we'll agree to disagree on that issue."
Bush-Cheney spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said the campaign believes the election is about two issues: strengthening the economy and winning the war on terrorism.
What Yucca could do to Bush, Nader could do to Kerry.
Steve Wark, a Republican political consultant who said he aided the effort to get Nader on the ballot in Nevada, said he thinks Nader can help the president.
"Any third party candidate with appeal to an electorate will garner some votes in the general election and most of the votes that Ralph Nader will garner will come from Democrat leaning voters," Wark said.
Lambe said Democrats will realize that "a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush."
Coker said he believed the race in Nevada probably will lean more to Kerry after this week's Democratic National Convention and could even out again after the Republican National Convention in late August.
Kerry's climb in the poll since March shows the presumptive Democratic nominee withstood "that first big wave of attack ads," Coker said. The Bush campaign was advertising heavily in Nevada around the time of the March poll.
Coker also said Kerry gained from increased public concerns about the war in Iraq and from his selection of Edwards as his running mate.
The same poll showed 46 percent of voters recognize Bush favorably, compared to 40 percent unfavorably. Kerry's recognition is split in thirds between favorable, unfavorable and neutral. Nader is recognized favorably by 19 percent compared to 45 percent unfavorable.
Bush is supported more by men, while Kerry gets more support from women. The breakdown in counties statewide falls along voter registration with Kerry winning in Clark, Bush winning in Washoe and Bush winning decisively in rural Nevada.
The Kerry campaign was "elated" with the poll, said Sean Smith, Nevada spokesman for Kerry. He said the numbers show Kerry within range of putting the state back into the so-called blue column, after Bush's 3.5 percentage point margin of victory in Nevada in 2000.
"We're in a dead heat with him after we were down 11 points in March," Smith said. "We haven't even had our convention yet."
Schmitt said the Bush-Cheney campaign "always anticipated a close race."
"The polls are where we thought we'd be," she said.
Asked why Kerry has improved in the Nevada poll, Schmitt said polls reflect just a snapshot in time "and the last few months have produced some disturbing images from abroad."
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 25, 2004
Democrats arriving in Boston
Convention delegates intent on ousting Bush
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
Nevada Democrats are arriving in Boston this weekend with the fervor of the famed midnight ride centuries ago through the city's north end and with a similar urgency about getting a message to the people.
"I'm afraid if Bush stays in office, we are just totally going to lose all rights," said Nevada delegate Deborah Trudell. "We've got to stop it. He's got to be stopped."
Trudell and 31 other delegates will be officially welcomed "by sea" tonight in a party on the USS Constitution, a prime location granted Nevada largely because of its status as a battleground state.
Delegates hope that after Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry accepts his party's nomination Thursday night, the energy and enthusiasm that have thus far marked this election year will carry their nominee through the next 100 days to the election.
"A lot of people have talked about beating Bush, talked about electing John Kerry," said delegate Dina Titus, Nevada's national committeewoman and the state Senate minority leader. "Now we're in the final stretch in making sure people are energized and knowing how important this election is."
From tonight's reception on one of Boston's most famed attractions to breakfast speakers and party invitations, Nevada delegates will be made to feel as though they matter.
"I've gotten so many invitations I don't know which ones to go to," said state party chairwoman Adriana Martinez. "After Boston, we have a mission to continue telling voters how important this election is, how close Nevada is and how their vote matters."
The convention theme -- "Stronger at home, respected in the world" -- is designed to stress Kerry's credentials, particularly as they relate to homeland security and the war on terrorism. Kerry's crew mates and the soldier whose life he saved in Vietnam will be featured prominently.
"The ability that I have is to speak as someone who knows John and saw how he acted in combat," said Jim Rassmann, during a campaign visit in Las Vegas Thursday. "He cared intensely about his crew's well-being. A good leader leads from the front and John did that. After every firefight he talked to every member of his crew."
Rassmann was a Green Beret traveling by boat on the Bay Hap river behind Kerry's boat on March 13, 1969, when both were ambushed by enemy fire and exploding land mines on the riverbank. Rassmann's boat was blown out of the water and Kerry, who was hit in the arm with shrapnel, turned his boat around into the ambush to save Rassmann.
On Thursday, Rassmann, a retired Los Angeles county sheriff now living in coastal Oregon, phoned veterans in Nevada on behalf of Kerry.
"I've never been political before but I know his character," Rassmann said in the interview.
On Thursday, he will introduce former Sen. Max Cleland, who will introduce Kerry for his acceptance speech at the Fleet Center.
One of Kerry's crew mates will speak to the Nevada delegation at breakfast Monday at their hotel, the Lennox.
Delegate Dwayne Chesnut, 68, said he'll appreciate the focus on national security. Chesnut, a retired energy consultant who initially backed Gen. Wesley Clark's bid for the White House this year, said he thinks the war in Iraq has been "a terrible mistake."
"I think it made the situation far worse," Chesnut said. "I think it's decreased our security."
The Nevada delegation is, like the nearly 5,000 national delegates and alternates, a diverse group.
Of the 32 delegates, five are Hispanic, four are black, two are American Indians and two are gay. The group is split evenly between women and men. The youngest is Carson City's 23-year-old Danielle Cook; the oldest is 78-year-old Las Vegan Edna Flores, who says she doesn't believe someone can be both "compassionate and conservative."
Washoe County Democratic Party Chairman and delegate Chris Wicker said the convention will help Kerry in Northern Nevada despite the Republican voter registration edge there.
"We will get enthusiasm that we bring back to help convince some swing voters and moderate Republicans that we truly are on the wrong track with this president," Wicker said.
Wicker said Washoe County's 68,000 Democrats could make the difference in Nevada this year and could be the voting bloc that turns Nevada for Kerry. He is hoping an expected post-convention trip by Kerry and presumptive vice presidential nominee John Edwards to battleground states will include a stop in Reno.
Delegate Marilyn Melton, a lifelong Republican who became a Democrat last November, would like a little help convincing her friends that they have to change parties as well.
"I'm just like a reformed smoker," said Melton, 70, a Reno artist. "If I can change two or three people to come with me, I can make a difference."
Her Republican friends will have more than just Democrats to watch this week as the Republican National Committee plans news conferences with Bush surrogates in Boston to counter the message and try to offset an expected double-digit bounce in the polls for Kerry after the convention.
The RNC has launched www.DemsExtremeMakeover.com, a site to counter the Democratic message.
Local Democrats will be watching the convention, especially Sen. Harry Reid's speech Wednesday night, in a more festive manner. Workers and employees at the state party in Las Vegas will have a pizza party at Magura's on Vegas Valley Drive to watch Reid's prime-time speech.
Rep. Shelley Berkley, who is Nevada's delegation chairman, will be on stage in prime-time Thursday night with all House Democratic women. She is also vice-chair of the platform committee which helped craft the draft platform and its stated opposition to the Yucca Mountain project.
Nevada is the only state mentioned by name in the platform draft, which will be voted on by the delegates.
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval, Bush's campaign chairman in Nevada, said Friday the platform plank has not yet been adopted.
"Certainly that's one issue to the people of the state of Nevada," Sandoval said of Yucca Mountain. "Also important to this state is homeland security, the war on terrorism and the economy. With regard to the Kerry campaign, I haven't heard a plan. All we can go on is his Senate record."
Sandoval has sued the Bush administration over the siting of the repository at Yucca Mountain. He reiterated Friday that "we agree to disagree" with the president on Yucca. Kerry has consistently voted against Yucca Mountain while in the Senate.
Steven Horsford, Nevada's national committeeman and, at 29, the youngest elected DNC member, said he thinks the convention will help build on the momentum first realized with huge turnout at the party's presidential caucuses in February.
"We will be working to keep Nevada on the radar screen," Horsford said.
Chesnut will be spending much of the four-day convention trying to hook up with people in other states he met through the Internet because of his interest in Clark, the liberal activist group Moveon.org and Michael Moore's film "Fahrenheit 9/11."
"When Bush was elected, I mean selected in 2000, my initial reaction was `Well, we've lived through some bad presidents,' " Chesnut said. "But when I looked around and realized they were systematically destroying the things this nation is built on, I had to do more."
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Las Vegas SUN
July 23, 2004
Columnist Jon Ralston: Shape of campaign to come
Jon Ralston hosts the news discussion program Face to Face on Las Vegas ONE and publishes the Ralston Report. He can be reached at (702) 870-7997 or at ralston@vegas.com.
•••
Weekend Edition
July 24 - 25, 2004
With just over three months until the general election and only 44 days until the primary, we know much less than we should know.
And that's just the way most of the candidates like it -- from the race for the White House to contests for the statehouse.
As summer wanes and the campaigns begin to gear up for the stretch run, expect trivialities and inanities to overwhelm substance and nuance. And that's just the way most voters like it -- motivated by blind anger and willful ignorance (they are easier) rather than thoughtful deliberation and acquired knowledge.
Instead we have frothing over foolishness -- the poor, poor pitiful Linda Ronstadt story is a prime example as is the almost unfathomable debate about how many voters will cast ballots based on a movie. I only pray that the proverbial alien from Mars doesn't alight here now to see how we make our campaign decisions.
On the remote chance that voters might actually want to cast an informed ballot this year, here's a thumbnail sketch of the shape of things to come and how, if you try, you can change that shape. I'll be asking these questions -- as will others, I hope -- in debates during the next 100 days, but you should, too:
Federal: The only contested races here are for president and Congressional District 3.
What we know: The presidential race is close, both parties are spending a fortune in Nevada and fraud could be problematic.
What we don't know: Whether George W. Bush will ever come here to answer questions. Whether John Kerry really expects us to believe he will stop Yucca Mountain.
What you should ask: All other issues being equal, if you are one of the small number of undecided folks left, why shouldn't the question of whether the next president will agree to block any attempt to change the radiation standard for the dump, thus killing the project, be determinative? I'd like to see both go on record.
What we know: Rep. Jon Porter is a low-key legislator who pretty much is a rubber stamp for the party leadership. Tom Gallagher is an ex-casino executive with a lot of money who is hoping to capitalize on Democratic fury in the presidential race to defeat Porter.
What we don't know: If Porter's style is a benefit or hindrance to his effectiveness in the long run. If Gallagher will ever buck the party leaders any more than Porter would.
What you should ask: Whether either man can name a single innovative idea they have and whether they can name one issue besides Yucca Mountain on which they would be independent from the leadership.
Initiatives: There are too many to name. Instead of what this process was conceived as -- a weapon of last resort -- it is now being abused as a weapon of mass organization by both parties. Let's just look at two.
What we know: A bunch of opportunists want to repeal taxes and bring education spending to the national average.
What we don't know: What will happen to the economy if we erase about $700 million in the state budget over the next two years but force the Gang of 63 to fund education to the national average.
What you should ask: What do the tax repealers propose to cut out of the budget? Why do the education spending advocates think lawmakers shouldn't decide what level of funding is appropriate, as opposed to some arbitrary number imposed by this process?
State Senate: The outcome of two Republican primaries could fundamentally change the nature of the GOP Senate caucus, affect who leads the upper house and thus determine what laws are passed. Never have two legislative primaries been freighted with this kind of significance.
What we know: Assemblyman Bob Beers will portray incumbent Ray Rawson as a big spender who even, as Beers' Web site alleges, has used his job to become "personally enriched." Rawson will depict Beers as a person who cruelly wants to cut programs for poor people, even grandparents, and who doesn't care about facts.
What we don't know: What Beers will do if he becomes a senator, including whether he will support a southern leader. What Rawson will do if the tax repeal passes -- what will he cut?
What you should ask: Ask Rawson to explain why he supported the nearly billion-dollar tax increase. Ask Beers exactly what he would have cut.
What we know: State Sen. Ann O'Connell is painting herself as a friend of education and children as well as an anti-tax icon. Her opponent, Joe Heck, is tarring her as a pro-taxer who signed onto more than a billion dollars in tax increases and is responsible for the sad state of education funding.
What we don't know: If Heck really believes O'Connell is a liberal big spender. If O'Connell really thinks she's seen as a friend of education.
What you should ask: Why did O'Connell sign onto those tax bills and vote on some in committee if she eventually took a pass because of her late husband's ties to the banking industry? Why did Heck think a gross receipts tax was a good idea and will he be able to be independent from the gaming/Establishment forces backing his campaign?
That's a start, but I wonder how much good it will do.
What's even more frightening than how little we know right now is how little anyone will want to know as votes are cast on Election Day.
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Las Vegas Sun
July 25, 2004
Columnist Jeff German: Democrats looking to bounce back in '04
Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4067.
•••
Weekend Edition
July 24 - 25, 2004
Nevada Democrats knew something special was in the works in February when rank-and-file members showed up in record numbers at party caucuses to make John Kerry their choice for president.
In Las Vegas the crowd of 6,000 party faithful at Chaparral High School, about 10 times the turnout in 2000, was so big that it spilled over onto the football field.
It was the beginning, Democrats say, of the party's dramatic resurgence from an all-time low just two years earlier.
In 2002 Democrats lost all six constitutional offices in the state, including governor, as well as the new Congressional District 3 seat. Two of their brightest stars not only went down to defeat but later were charged in a federal political corruption probe.
At the Democratic "victory" celebration at the Riviera on election night, a dejected Sen. Harry Reid, the state's leading Democrat, looked like he was presiding over a wake. There was nothing to celebrate.
That's still the case today. But Nevada Democrats head to Boston this week for their national convention brimming with optimism.
"When you see the kind of enthusiasm we're seeing on the Democratic side of the aisle, you're thinking this could be an historic year," says Richard Urey, the top Washington aide to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Las Vegas.
Most of this enthusiasm isn't because Kerry is an exciting presidential candidate. It's attributed to animosity toward President Bush and the way he has handled Iraq and the economy.
At their well-attended state convention in April, Democrats vented their anger by passing a platform plank calling for Bush's impeachment because of missteps in Iraq.
Such frustration is reflected on a broader basis in the national polls which, remarkably at this stage of the race, show Bush and Kerry in a dead heat.
"This election matters more to people than it did two years ago," says Mike Sloan, a Mandalay Resort Group executive and longtime Democratic operative who is a delegate in Boston. "It's about their future and their children's future."
But Nevada Democrats have more than just rhetoric to give them reason to smile.
Through aggressive registration drives the party has pulled neck and neck with Republicans in the number of registered voters in the state.
Just last week Democrats surpassed Republicans in registration numbers in the crucial Congressional District 3 race, where Democrat Tom Gallagher is trying to knock off Republican Rep. Jon Porter. The polls have this a tight race, which is giving Democrats a bonafide chance to pick up one of the biggest political plums of the campaign.
Another plus for Democrats this campaign season is the increased involvement of organized labor, the party's traditional ally. A district judge's decision last week to put the AFL-CIO's minimum wage petition back on the ballot is firing up labor leaders, who are working hard to get tens of thousands of their members to the polls.
The biggest test of whether Democrats are on the comeback trail will be whether they're able to help Kerry win the state in November. At the moment their chances look petty good when you factor in Yucca Mountain.
As pointed out here before, there is a huge difference between Bush and Kerry on this issue. Bush is working to put the dangerous nuclear waste dump 90 miles outside Las Vegas, while Kerry is promising to put a halt to the multibillion-dollar project.
A Kerry win in November won't signal a return to glory for the Democrats, but it will bring them up from the depths of despair in this state.
And it will demonstrate that elections do indeed matter.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
July 24, 2004
New Mexico's advice sought on Yucca Mountain dump
The Associated Press
CARLSBAD, N.M. -- A government panel is looking into New Mexico's experience with a federal nuclear waste dump to see if that could be helpful in planning for a proposed high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
A National Academy of Sciences panel on radioactive waste transportation met for two days this week in Albuquerque to talk about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad and the proposed dump, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The $2 billion WIPP, which accepted its first shipment in March 1999, stores radioactive waste from defense work 2,150 feet underground in ancient salt beds. The material has a lower radioactivity level than the material that would go to Yucca Mountain.
"It's not about dose. It's about trust," said W. Scott Field, WIPP coordinator for the New Mexico Office of Emergency Management.
Federal officials argue that WIPP has a good record. The repository has accepted nearly 3,000 shipments without a single leak of radioactive material, said Paul Detwiler, head of the U.S. Department of Energy's WIPP office.
Amy Sue Goodin of the University of New Mexico's Institute for Public Policy in Albuquerque said the public has shown greater acceptance of WIPP over the years. The institute has done extensive public opinion surveys on the repository for about a decade.
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Nevada Appeal
July 24, 2004
Nevada asking NRC for money to fight Yucca
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS - Nevada is asking the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for millions of dollars to continue fighting government plans for a national nuclear waste dump in the state.
"We are coming to you with hat in hand but with a justifiable argument why we should get assistance," Joe Egan, the state's lead anti-Yucca lawyer, told commission officials Thursday in Washington.
The state got no immediate commitment from Jack Strosnider, head of the commission's office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, and staff members from the Office of General Counsel in Washington.
Janet Kotra, an NRC senior project manager, said the commission might not be able to grant the request, but said the state should get a decision later this year.
Kotra said commissioners in 1985 interpreted NRC regulations to rule out such financial assistance and that decisions about federal funding for the state's Yucca efforts might be up to the Energy Department.
The Energy Department has given the state $1 million for Yucca activities this year and rejected state requests for more. The state has sued, arguing it is entitled to more funding under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982.
It also submitted a 34-page funding request to the NRC in May.
"Without financial assistance for Nevada, the Yucca Mountain licensing proceeding will be seriously compromised by Nevada's inability to participate meaningfully and by the lopsided nature of the parties and their respective resources," the petition said.
The Energy Department plans to submit an application to the NRC by the end of the year for a license to open the repository in 2010.
The state opposes the Yucca plan, and Bob Loux, state director of nuclear projects, has projected the cost of fighting the license application at $10 million a year for at least four years.
Included in the NRC request is $2 million to examine repository performance, $1.8 million to continue corrosion research, $800,000 for hydrology work and $600,000 for transportation analysis.
Nevada also seeks $4.75 million to pay Egan and his law firm, based in McLean, Va.
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Las Vegas SUN
July 23, 2004
Nevada gov announces 102 appointments
Associated Press
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - Gov. Kenny Guinn said Friday he has appointed and reappointed 102 people to 51 Nevada boards and commissions.
Most are reappointments, including former Gov. Dick Bryan, Larry Brown and Paul Workman, all of Las Vegas, to the Nuclear Projects Commission.
Among the new appointees are Jean Stoess of Reno, the first woman to be elected a Washoe County commissioner, named to the Board of Medical Examiners; and Lew Dodgion, former state environmental protection chief, to the Environmental Commission.
Myla Florence, who recently retired as head of the state Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation, was appointed to the state Commission on Aging; and Kathleen Sandoval, married to Attorney General Brian Sandoval, was reappointed to the Board of Examiners for Marriage and Family Therapists.
Sean Carnahan of Reno was reappointed and Dale Lay of North Las Vegas was appointed to the state Public Works Board; and Tami Bass of Las Vegas and Tom Goodson of Fallon were reappointed to the state Parole Board.
Junwen Zhang of Las Vegas was newly named to the state Oriental Medicine Board; Christopher Heavey of Las Vegas was named to the Board of Psychological Examiners; and Tamara Higgins of Sparks was appointed to the Library and Literacy Council.
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Las Vegas SUN
July 24, 2004
Diverse Nevada delegation heads to Democratic National Convention
By Brendan Riley
Associated Press
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) - The 32 Nevada delegates headed to their party's national convention in Boston say the economy, health care and Iraq are their biggest concerns. Most don't see gay marriage as a big issue, almost all are pro-choice, and more than half liked John Edwards for vice president even before John Kerry picked him as his running mate.
A survey by The Associated Press shows nearly a third of the delegates to the July 26-29 convention see the national economy and jobs as their top concern, followed by 28 percent who listed Iraq and 25 percent who view education as their big issue.
Twenty of the delegates favored Edwards for vice president prior to Kerry's choice of the North Carolina senator; and 13 would like to see Sen. Hillary Clinton run for president in 2008 in the event Kerry loses this year or does win but doesn't seek a second term.
The delegates are confident Kerry can win, despite some fears he could be hurt by independent Ralph Nader's candidacy. And they're outspoken in their criticism of President Bush.
"If Bush wins, I'm moving to Canada and requesting political asylum. (America) will not be safe," said delegate Danielle Cook of Carson City. "Our civil liberties are being trounced upon, under the pretense of security. Without our freedom, we are not America."
Delegate and former Rep. Jim Bilbray of Las Vegas echoed many delegates' concern about the economy and jobs.
"Americans are losing jobs. We've got to get our country back on track. People are hurting out there," Bilbray said.
"The economic situation is a lot worse than the Republicans lead us to believe," said delegate Jim Wallace of Carson City. "Outsourcing jobs overseas is a huge issue, and raising the minimum wage is a big deal."
Delegate Jon Hunt of Las Vegas, whose son saw combat during a nine-month stint in Iraq, was critical of U.S. foreign policy.
"Although our soldiers have done their duty and met their obligations, the (Bush) administration has not," Hunt said.
"We need an exit strategy out of Iraq," said delegate Rusty McAllister of Las Vegas. "I don't think the Bush administration has one yet. They're still debating what it should be."
Delegate and educator Larry Mason of Las Vegas says his big concern is special education funding because it "has been placed on the back burner."
"The federal government is funding us at 12 (percent) to 15 percent, and every president has promised to at least get close to 40 percent," Mason said.
Three of the delegates put the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain - a project favored by President Bush - high on their list of major issues.
Delegate Randy Soltero of Las Vegas said he's talked to some Republicans who aren't willing to change parties "but they are willing to vote for Kerry because of Bush's support for Yucca Mountain."
"It's horrible that these people want to put this (dump) in our backyard," said delegate Deborah Trudell of Las Vegas. "They make the crap and want to give it to us."
More than three quarters of the delegates don't think Nader will take enough support away from Kerry to give Bush a second term - but some of those delegates admitted to some wishful thinking.
"I think people are educated enough based on what happened last time that they won't go that way," said superdelegate Yvonne Atkinson Gates of Las Vegas about whether Nader's candidacy could hamper Kerry.
"But it's very frightening," she said. "He's doing nothing but hurting Democrats."
Wallace is among the minority of Nevada delegates who think Nader can cost Kerry the election. He says Nader will get 2 percent to 5 percent of the vote "and right now that's enough to steal the election."
"Nader should put his megalomania in a bag and do something good," he said.
All but two of the 32 Nevada delegates are pro-choice on abortion.
Delegate Pam duPre of Reno summed up the general view: "I'm against the federal government making decisions that are none of their business."
"It's a woman's choice," Trudell said. "If they want to stop abortion, then they need to educate the public, and have birth control that's easy to get, that doesn't take an act of God to get a hold of."
Twenty-one delegates don't object to gay marriages - including nine who are in traditional marriages.
"It's not a matter of favoring gay marriage, it's about discriminating against fellow Americans," said delegate and Rep. Shelley Berkley of Las Vegas. "I can't understand, I can't imagine how we as Americans who believe in freedom and equality for all could discriminate."
"I'm in total favor of it," Trudell said. "How dare these freaks tell other people what they can do or not do."
Of the 32 delegates, 26 are white, including five with Hispanic roots. Four are black and two are American Indians.
There's an even division of men and women on the delegation. Half are married, and nearly 40 percent range in age from their mid-40s to mid-50s. Eight are Catholics, five list no religious denomination, one is an atheist and the rest represent a variety of other beliefs.
The delegates were selected in a process that began on Valentine's Day in high school gyms, churches and even saloons, as the state's Democrats gathered to say who they like best among their party's presidential contenders. Participants at the precinct caucuses elected delegates to the county conventions in March where more polling took place and was followed by a firm endorsement for Kerry at the state Democratic convention in April.
The delegates will listen to a steady stream of revved-up, partisan speakers, vote on the party's platform and on the nomination of Kerry and Edwards during the four-day convention in Boston.
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On the Net: Nevada Democratic Party: http://www.nvdems.com
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Pahrump Valley Times
July 23, 2004
County aligns with DOE on Yucca
By Phillip Gomez
PVT
Nye County went on record Tuesday aligning itself with the federal Department of Energy in its plans to develop the Yucca Mountain Repository and the National Transportation Project through the Caliente Corridor.
The latter is the proposed 300-mile-long rail line to deliver high-level nuclear waste to Nevada. The railroad corridor would transect Lincoln and Nye counties.
The resolution formally puts Nye County in opposition to the state of Nevada regarding the federal project. The language of the resolution states that Nye County "intends to fully, constructively and energetically support development of a safe repository at Yucca Mountain."
"As the Yucca Mountain project progresses, it becomes more and more important for Nye County to take a positive role in the project," the agenda description reads. "We have two choices. We can either let the project happen to us or we can help make the project happen in a way that most benefits the citizens of Nye County."
Among other items, the county also supports "creation of synergistic scientific engineering, educational and entrepreneurial economic opportunities in the county," and "maximizing jobs and economic opportunities for Nye County citizens."
Commissioner Candice Trummell said afterwards the resolution advances the county's position on the politically sensitive issue, making it more "proactive."
In the U.S. presidential race, Yucca Mountain recently made news when Democratic party strategists reconciled vice-presidential candidate John Edwards' position in favor of the repository with that of his running mate, putative Democratic presidential contender John Kerry, who has spoken against the Nevada location for the repository.
In the commissioners' "whereas" clauses, the resolution states that Nye County's "Community Protection Plan" has established a vision for protecting the community. Another dependent clause adds, "whereas the Department (of Energy) is beginning the process of identifying repository and transportation facilities which could be located off-site and is considering other means of maximizing local economic opportunity ..."
Nye County has invested in development of the Amargosa Valley Science and Technology Park near Lathrop Wells to take advantage of economic opportunities in construction and operation of the Yucca Mountain facility.
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Pahrump Valley Times
July 23, 2004
Aerial photos taken by DOE
By Phillip Gomez
PVT
Small airplanes will be buzzing around Lathrop Wells in the Amargosa Valley toward the end of the month, performing aerial surveys of land contours for a proposed new access road into the Yucca Mountain Repository facility on the Nevada Test Site.
"We didn't want anyone to be surprised to see these little planes flying around," said the Department of Energy's Suzy Mellington in a presentation before the Nye County commissioners in Amargosa Valley Tuesday.
The DOE has been taking aerial photos as well for the planning of the National Transportation Project, or the Caliente Corridor for the rail line that will bring nuclear waste into Nye County, assuming plans follow through.
But starting late next week the buzzing and land markers will have to do with siting a new roadway for entry into the facility at Yucca Mountain. The road used by DOE employees and visitors on tour buses has already worn out, according to the DOE officials.
A Las Vegas contractor will be flying overhead taking exact GPS coordinates of 16-foot X's and Y's, made of sticks and paper, positioned on the ground. Detailed topographic maps at one-inch contour intervals will be made of the digital photo data.
"As part of any engineering effort, the first thing you have to do is understand the topography," said Scott Wade, who made the presentation with Mellington to the commissioners.
The new access road, if built, would be generally in the area where Nevada Highway 95 and Highway 373 intersect on Bureau of Land Management land, Wade said. No activity is planned to take place on private land holdings, Wade said. The road will lead to the Yucca Mountain facility, running approximately 20 miles in length.
The project should take about two weeks to complete, he said.
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KOB-TV
July 23, 2004
N.M. advice sought on planned Nevada nuclear waste dump
Associated Press
CARLSBAD (AP) - A government panel is looking into New Mexico´s experience with a federal nuclear waste dump near Carlsbad.
The National Academy of Sciences panel wants to see if the state´s experience could be helpful in planning for a proposed high-level nuclear waste dump in Nevada.
The panel on radioactive waste transportation met for two days this week in Albuquerque to talk about the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad and the proposed Yucca Mountain dump in Nevada.
Federal officials argue that the Carlsbad facility has a good record in nearly 3,000 shipments.
The $2 billion facility stores radioactive waste from defense work more than 2,100 feet underground in ancient salt beds.
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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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