Yucca Mountain News Clips
Friday, August 27, 2004
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 27, 2004
Nevadans' letters present Yucca arguments to nuclear officials
Review-Journal
In a letter Thursday, a Nevada official urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to protect its staff from bullying by the Department of Energy when it weighs a license application for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
"I write you because Nevada is counting on the NRC to provide a fair forum for examining the validity and acceptability of DOE's submission," states the letter from Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency chief Bob Loux.
"That is not going to happen unless the commissioners protect the NRC staff from bullying by the DOE," Loux wrote to NRC Chairman Nils Diaz.
Loux claims the Energy Department is violating an agreement to resolve key technical issues before submitting a license application by December. Specifically, he says, DOE is failing to address risks posed by volcanic activity where deadly, spent nuclear fuel will be entombed.
In another letter on Tuesday, lawyers from the state warned NRC General Counsel Karen Cyr that docketing the license application without having a valid radiation protection standard in place "would be like ignoring 'the elephant in the room.' "
The state said the law requires an application to be turned in only with an acceptable standard in place. In July, a federal appeals court rejected a 10,000-year radiation standard, saying it defies a National Academy of Sciences recommendation for a much longer protective period.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 27, 2004
JOHN L. SMITH: Kerry's TV ad makes him clear-cut winner of Yucca Mountain argument
It's time for the GOP to change the subject. I think the Republicans have lost the Yucca Mountain argument.
It's unofficial, of course, but a blistering television advertisement leaves no doubt about Sen. John Kerry's position against the proposed nuclear waste facility. It's hard to imagine a comeback clever enough to offset the body blow on an issue that's still sensitive to many Nevada voters.
The 30-second spot, which began airing statewide this week, was introduced to reporters Wednesday by Sen. Harry Reid. The Nevada Democrat punctuated Kerry's on-air rhetoric -- "I will not let it happen" -- with some thumping jabs of his own.
"This is an issue that shouldn't be very confusing," Reid said. "One guy is with us, and one guy's against us."
Kerry's statement, however, that President Bush "promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada and then went back on his word" was inaccurate, although Reid was in denial. Bush actually said he would base his decision on "sound science" and not politics, which at least proves the president has a sense of humor.
There are still plenty of places to hit Kerry, but short of finding a diary entry in which he admits prevaricating about the Yucca project, Republican image-makers would be wise to move on.
STEIN'S SHIRTS: Steve Stein leaves no doubt about whom he's not backing for president. The veteran defense attorney and former federal prosecutor has ordered T-shirts printed with "ABB" on the front and back in red, white and blue lettering.
"Anybody But Bush," that is.
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Las Vegas SUN
August 27, 2004
Letter: Bush's Yucca ad is misleading
The new Bush ad featuring Yucca Mountain is incredibly misleading. Some of the facts used in the ad are from the mid-1980s, at which point the project was still being researched.
Let us not forget that when the real deal came to a vote, John Kerry voted against Yucca Mountain and Bush gave it his signature -- even while the safety of using the mountain as a nuclear waste repository was, and still is, uncertain.
We must not forget the facts and let Nevada be swayed by lies and distortions.
Jason Underwood
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Las Vegas SUN
August 26, 2004
Another Yucca ad set to air in Nevada
By Kirsten Searer <searer@lasvegassun.com> and Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Las Vegas SUN
It's Round 4 of the Yucca Mountain television war.
The Democratic National Committee will launch its own 30-second television ad in Nevada defending Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's record on the Yucca Mountain project.
The ad will begin running tonight or Friday, two days after the Kerry-Edwards campaign released its own ad on the nuclear waste storage debate in response to one the Bush campaign starting airing one earlier this week.
"We are not going to let George Bush continuously mislead the people of Nevada," said Nick Shapiro, committee spokesman in Washington, D.C. "Nevada remembers his promise from four years ago and, plain and simple, he broke that promise. John Kerry has stood with Nevada when it counted and when he's elected president, he will make sure the Yucca Mountain project is stopped."
In the new spot, the DNC says Bush's ads have been deemed "false," "misleading," and "wrong" and "Now George Bush is attacking John Kerry on Yucca Mountain."
The ad closes by saying, "It's John Kerry Nevada can count on. All we've gotten from George bush is broken promises and negative attacks."
Shapiro did not know specific details on the cost of the ad, only that is was "significant" and the Yucca ad will replace a health care themed ad the committee is now airing in the state. The committee will still air an ad featuring retired Gen. Tony McPeak, former Air Force chief of staff, that focuses on Kerry's strong national security credentials.
Meanwhile, the Kerry-Edwards campaign released its own television ad Wednesday to refute recent claims that Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry has a tarnished record on Yucca Mountain.
The 30-second spot shows a close-up of Kerry speaking plainly to the audience:
"When you hear George Bush attack me, I want you to keep something in mind. Four years ago, he promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada and then went back on his word.
"As president, I will oppose turning Nevada into a nuclear dump site. It's wrong. It's dangerous. And I will not let it happen."
This ad comes just two days after the Bush-Cheney campaign launched its own Yucca Mountain ad pointing out that Kerry voted for the 1987 "Screw Nevada" bill that singled out Nevada as the only site to be studied for the project.
Kerry came out in support of a geologic repository several other times, as well, the ad points out.
Democrats have reacted strongly to the ad, saying Kerry has made an absolute promise to stop the Yucca Mountain site.
On Wednesday, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said it was time to set the record straight on Kerry's Yucca position. He compared the issue to the questions over Kerry's service in the Vietnam War, saying that Republicans are trying to muddy issues where Kerry has compelling arguments.
"They have tried their best to confuse the issue," he said, saying that Kerry voted with him on Yucca Mountain issues every time Reid asked him to.
Yet even the Kerry ad isn't entirely accurate. Bush has never specifically promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada, as Kerry's ad charges.
While campaigning in Nevada in the 2000 election, Bush issued a release saying he believed that "sound science, not politics, must prevail in the designation of any high-level nuclear waste repository."
"As president, I would not sign legislation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site unless it's been deemed scientifically safe," he wrote. "I also believe the federal government must work with the local and state governments that will be affected to address safety and transportation issues."
Bush reaffirmed his commitment to "sound science, not politics," while visiting Las Vegas several weeks ago.
Another ad, paid for by Moveon.org, also charges that Bush promised to stop nuclear waste in Nevada.
Despite the conflicting stories, Reid said the Nevada public doesn't have much to be confused about.
"This is an issue that shouldn't be very confusing," Reid said. "One guy is with us and one guy is against us."
He said he called Kerry's campaign to encourage them to run an ad to counter the Bush ad. Kerry's Nevada spokesman, Sean Smith, said Kerry had already taped footage in case the campaign needed it.
On Wednesday, former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, now the chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign, said Kerry has made it "inescapable" to discuss his voting record on Yucca Mountain.
"What is a fundamental element leadership? Whether or not you can articulate a position in a principle fashion and stay consistently dedicated to a steady course, or is it such that you simply mutate change and form your opinion to the circumstances that exist at the moment?" Racicot said.
"(Kerry's) record reveals that in fact he was on the opposite side of that particular issue until such time he became a presidential candidate," he said. "Well, what does that say about his character and his capacity to lead? That makes it relevant."
Racicot said the people of Nevada understand the Yucca issue and will "make a very careful, a very precise judgment" in November.
"It is a difficult issue, but you know I believe the people of Nevada understand it very precisely, and they know when people are being opportunistic and they know when people have positions that are fluid and are an effort to ingratiate support rather than principle and I trust they will be able to differentiate on that basis."
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 26, 2004
Kerry campaign wages counterattack to Bush ad on Yucca Mountain
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
Just two days after the Bush campaign started running a commercial criticizing John Kerry on his record on the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, the Kerry campaign responded with a Nevada-only ad of its own.
In the 30-second spot, Kerry calls the repository "wrong" and "dangerous," while pledging: "I will not let it happen."
The footage was shot before this week, but the Kerry campaign chose to move the run date up to today to counter the Bush campaign's initial 30-second piece, campaign officials said.
"When you hear George Bush attack me, I want you to keep something in mind," Kerry says in the ad. "Four years ago, he promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada and then went back on his word."
Actually in 2000, Bush issued a statement promising to base any decision on a repository on "sound science, not politics." In a Las Vegas appearance this month, Bush said he did rely on science in making the decision.
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who introduced the Kerry ad at a news conference Wednesday, said Kerry doesn't misrepresent Bush's 2000 position.
"That's what the people of Nevada thought," Reid said. "But it was just a ploy to get elected."
Kerry campaign spokesman Sean Smith said the overall message seeks to portray Kerry's "emphatic position" in opposition to Yucca Mountain.
During campaign events and an interview in Las Vegas earlier this month, Kerry said he would not allow the repository to proceed "on my watch."
Kerry said he would withdraw an expected license application from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and gut the project's finances. He also said he would appoint Cabinet secretaries of Interior and Energy who oppose the project and support additional scientific study on what to do with the nation's civilian and military nuclear waste.
"We are not going to let this happen, and George Bush will," Smith said of Yucca Mountain. "That's the message of this ad."
The Bush ad accuses Kerry of changing his position on Yucca based on seven votes Kerry made in his Senate career that went against the way Nevada's congressional delegation voted. The biggest of those was his support of the 1987 bill that included language singling out Yucca Mountain as the only national site for study as a repository.
The Bush ad makes no mention of five Kerry votes between 1996 and 2002 that sided with Nevada, nor does it mention that Bush recommended Yucca Mountain as the repository after President Clinton had twice vetoed congressional proposals to bury the waste in Nevada.
"It took a lot of courage for John Kerry to vote with me like he did," Reid said.
He also said the Bush campaign is trying to confuse Nevada voters the same way he said the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is trying to confuse voters nationwide about Kerry's military record.
"It's as if John Kerry hadn't been to Vietnam, as if he hadn't been there for us on Yucca Mountain," Reid said.
Asked for comment, Bush-Cheney spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt referred to the Bush ad pointing out the seven past votes Kerry has taken on Yucca and its highlighting of a letter Kerry wrote in 1999 seeking to expedite waste shipments if Yucca were approved.
"John Kerry continues to place more value on his political strategy than the facts," she said.
In Washington, Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said Republicans are in bounds to point out Kerry's mixed record on Yucca Mountain.
"Senator Kerry said let's examine the record, and we think that's appropriate," Racicot said in a meeting with reporters on Wednesday. "His record reveals he was on the opposite side of this particular issue until such time as he became a presidential candidate. What does that say about his character and his capacity to lead?"
Kerry voted against attempts to store waste at Yucca on an interim basis in 1997 and in 2000. He also voted in 2002 to sustain Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of Bush's decision to site the waste at Yucca Mountain. Kerry began to seriously explore his presidential campaign in 2003.
Racicot said Bush has not gone back on his 2000 "sound science" pledge.
"We think we've spoken on this issue honestly, and we believe the people of Nevada respect that," he said.
Tad Devine, a Kerry senior adviser, said the Yucca Mountain issue ultimately will break in favor of the Democratic candidate among swing voters later in the campaign.
In no other state is there a local issue that has the potential to sway the election the way Yucca Mountain does in Nevada, Devine said in meeting with reporters in Washington on Tuesday.
"We have a very polarized electorate where the partisans on both sides have coalesced behind their candidate at the earliest point in time in history," Devine said. "People who are left over are not going to engage in a vote decision until much later."
David Damore, a political science professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said he thought the Kerry ad could be an effective defense of the Bush campaign's flip-flopping allegation.
"This is him saying this is where I stand on this," said Damore, a Democrat.
Damore suggested the Bush campaign launched its ad now because Kerry was not expected to spend any money in Nevada this month. Since Kerry accepted public financing he cannot access new contributions until the public money becomes available, next Friday, the day after Bush accepts the Republican nomination and also accepts public financing.
"Kerry's been out of the money for a month and they've started coming back with the swift boat issue," Damore said. "This is strategy thinking that he's not going to defend, or that if he does, he'll have to justify the expense later in the campaign when he might need it more."
Eric Herzik, political science professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, said he thinks Kerry's ad not only misstates Bush's position, but might exaggerate what Kerry is able to do. Herzik, a Republican, also said it seems odd either campaign would focus so much attention on the issue.
"It seems that both sides are spending a lot of money going after a very few votes," Herzik said. "The Yucca Mountain issue's a great way to show that. The people who are going to lay in front of the trucks, the ones so opposed to Yucca Mountain, are not going to vote for George Bush."
Stephens Washington Bureau chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.
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Elko Daily Free Press
August 27, 2004
Citizen Alert plans
ELKO - Citizen Alert will hold a town hall meeting in Elko on Oct. 11 for a "Back to Our Routes" presentation that is designed to step up opposition to the federal government's plan to use Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste depository.
Elko is just one of series of such meetings that Citizen Alert will be holding over the next two months throughout the state.
No specifics about time and location of the Elko gathering are yet available.
Citizen Alert's Executive Director Peggy Maze Johnson said the use of Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dumping ground can still be prevented.
"The simple fact is that the Department of Energy does not yet have a license to transport and store high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain," she said in a press release. "If concerned Nevadans stay united in opposition to this project, I believe we can prevent that license from ever being granted."
She said the "Back to Our Routes" presentation will provide up-to-date information that can be used to contest the Yucca Mountain project.Elko visit Oct. 11
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FactCheck
August 26, 2004
Yucca Mountain Mudslide: Both Sides Dissemble on Nuclear Waste Dump in Nevada
Moveon.org Voter Fund falsely attacks Bush, who comes back with a misleading ad about Kerry.
Summary
An Aug 19 ad in Nevada from the liberal Democratic group Moveon.org Voter Fund attacks Bush for breaking a promise he never made, falsely claiming Bush vowed to veto legislation making Yucca Mountain a nuclear dump. Actually, all Bush promised was to veto temporary storage of nuclear waste in the state, pending final safety studies for permanent storage which he later approved.
Bush-Cheney '04 in turn attacked Kerry Aug. 23 with a misleading ad claiming the senator long supported a Yucca Mountain disposal site before promising recently do all he can to block it if elected. In fact, Kerry voted against singling out Yucca Mountain as a storage site as early as 1987.
Analysis
The Yucca Mountain issue might have changed history. Four years ago neither Bush nor Gore promised to block the Yucca Mountain site -- 100 miles outside Las Vegas -- as a permanent repository for used nuclear fuel rods, which are intensely radioactive.
Gore now has reason regret not catering more strongly to Nevada voters' dislike for the nuclear dump. He lost Nevada by 46 percent to Bush's 50 percent. Had just under 11,000 of those Bush votes gone to Gore instead, the Democrat would have won the state's four electoral votes -- and the presidency -- even without Florida.
This time John Kerry is promising what Gore didn't -- to keep nuclear waste out. It's a clear difference between the candidates: Bush signed legislation July 23, 2002, clearing the way for the Department of Energy to go forward with the Yucca project despite objection from the state's governor, after earlier urging Congress to clear the way.
Bush's Non-promise
The ad says those actions by Bush broke a promise to "veto legislation making Yucca Mountain a nuclear dump," but that's false. Bush never made such a promise. What he said during the 2000 campaign, in a letter to Nevada's Gov. Kenny Guinn, is this:
Bush (letter to Gov. Guinn, September, 2000): The Department of Energy (DoE) has not completed its impact study of Yucca Mountain and important questions of environmental protection and safety have not yet been answered. Therefore, I would veto legislation that would provide for the temporary storage of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. (emphasis added).
That of course is not a promise to veto legislation making Yucca Mountain a permanent dump, and that was clear at the time. As the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported :
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sept. 30, 2000): On the question of permanent storage, the two presidential candidates have both said science should determine if the permanent repository is suitable. Neither has suggested they would block the permanent site if scientists say it is safe.
And that's what Bush reiterated in the letter which the ad mischaracterizes. The ad show the words, “Dear Kenny, I would veto legislation…’ scrawled across the screen, but the ad leaves out Bush's crucial qualifier:
Bush (letter to Gov. Guinn, September, 2000): As I've said before, I believe the best science must prevail in the designation that would send nuclear waste to any proposed site -- either on a permanent or temporary basis -- unless it has been deemed scientifically safe.
The Review-Journal report noted that language, and said "That appears to suggest that if the environmental and safety questions were addressed to his satisfaction, Bush would approve such a bill" for permanent storage, which is exactly what Bush did two years later.
Of course, what constitutes “scientifically safe’ is a matter of hotly debated opinion. Many Nevada residents maintain that the site isn't safe, and the matter is currently tied up in a court dispute over whether sufficiently strict standards are being applied. Still, Bush made clear he considered the safety issue settled when he approved the site July 23, 2002. At that time White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said:
Fleischer (July 23, 2002): The successful completion of the Yucca Mountain project will ensure our nation has a safe and secure underground facility that will store nuclear waste in a manner that protects our environment and our citizens.
The measure Bush signed that day was a joint resolution passed overwhelmingly by the House (H.J. Res. 87) and Senate (S.J. Res. 34). The House passed the resolution with a bipartisan margin of 306-117. The Senate passed the resolution by a voice vote, after a key procedural measure was approved 60-39.
Radioactive Waste Coming?
The ad says radioactive waste "is coming to Yucca Mountain" and shows trucks rolling, but the fact is that it would be years before any radioactive waste in actually transported, even if all legal hurdles are cleared.
The bill Bush signed in 2002 gave the green light for the Department of Energy (DoE) to apply for a license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to start construction of permanent facilities at Yucca Mountain. Now, two years later, the DoE says it will apply by December. By law, the NRC must approve or disapprove the application in no more than 4 years, and Sue Gagner, an NRC spokesperson, said it would take at least 3.
Once the DoE completes construction, however, the agency would still need to obtain an additional operating license before transport of the waste could begin. The site recommendation sent by DoE Secretary Spencer Abraham to Bush in 2002 set the total timeline at a minimum of 8 years before Yucca Mountain becomes operational.
A Kerry Flip-Flop?
The Bush campaign responded with an ad giving the false impression that Kerry was a long-time, strong supporter of Yucca Mountain before turning against it. In fact, though Kerry's record is indeed somewhat mixed, he cast a clear vote against singling out Yucca Mountain as early as 1987 and the Bush ad cites his votes selectively and in a misleading way.
The ad claims Kerry "voted to establish the nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain," a reference to huge 1987 budget bill that included a provision singling out Yucca Mountain as the only site to get further study as a nuclear waste facility. At the time, sites in Texas and Washington state were under study as well. The legislation has come to be known as the "screw Nevada" bill. Kerry did vote for the budget measure, and Nevada's senators opposed it because of that one provision. The budget measure was adopted 61-28 on Dec. 21, 1987. However, it was not a straight up-or-down vote on Yucca Mountain. The key vote came more than a month earlier, on Nov. 18.
The "screw Nevada" provision was then part of an energy appropriations bill, and Kerry voted to remove it. That was the key vote on Yucca Mountain, and Kerry joined Nevada's two senators in voting "aye." The measure was defeated 34-61. As The Associated Press reported at the time, "That was the last of several attempts, including a short-lived filibuster, to scuttle the plan" to make Yucca Mountain the only site under study.
The Bush ad also says Kerry has "voted 7 times to make it easier to dump waste at Yucca," and the campaign cites seven votes in which Kerry voted one way while Nevada's Sen. Harry Reid, a die-hard Yucca opponent, voted the other. It is true that Kerry has sometimes voted for measures that included provisions for a nuclear dump at Yucca Mountain, including the 1987 budget bill. But The Associated Press has reported, "Each time Kerry has faced the simple choice of voting whether or not to send waste to Yucca Mountain, he has voted against it."
That was true in 2002, when Kerry voted against the Senate version of the Yucca Mountain measure that Bush signed. And it was true two years earlier, when Kerry voted in May 2000 against override of President Clinton's veto of a bill that would have provided for temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel rods in Nevada. The veto was sustained.
At one point the Bush ad quotes from a letter that Kerry sent in 1996 stating that a nuclear dump could be "made functional by 2015." Not mentioned in the ad is that the letter urged the Clinton administration to follow congressional directives to provide more money for testing the Yucca facility. The ad also says Kerry "tried to speed shipment of nuclear waste from Massachusetts to Yucca," which refers to a 1999 letter signed by the four senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut urging "an accelerated waste acceptance schedule" for waste from de-commissioned nuclear plants such as those in their two states. "This provision would give high priority to spent fuel currently stored at commercial reactor sites undergoing decommissioning," the letter said. However, both of those letters were sent at a time when Congress had already fixed on Yucca Mountain as the only site being considered for nuclear waste storage, despite Kerry's objection.
Sources
Federal Election Commission, "2000 OFFICIAL PRESIDENTIAL GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS" Accessed 23 Aug 2004.
"President Signs Yucca Mountain Bill; Statement by the Press Secretary," White House Office of the Press Secretary, News Release 23 July 2002.
George W. Bush, "Presidential Letter to Congress: Text of a Letter from the President to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate," 15 Feb 2002.
Saturday, September 30, 2000
Jane Ann Morrison, "Republicans hail Bush letter on nuclear waste; Guinn says presidential candidates' positions on issue now equal, but Democrats disagree," Las Vegas Review-Journal, 30 Sept 2000.
Cy Ryan, “ Bush Says He´d Veto Yucca as Interim Site ,’ Las Vegas Sun, 29 Sept. 2000.
Ari Fleischer, " President Signs Yucca Mountain Bill ," 23 July 2002.
Lee Byrd, "Senate Approves Major Overhaul Of Program For Dumping Nuclear Wastes," The Associated Press 18 Nov 1987.
U.S. House of Representatives, 107th Congress, 2nd Session, H.J. Res. 87, Proposed 11 April 2002.
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 107th Congress - 2nd Session On the Motion to Proceed (Motion to Proceed to Consider S.J. Res. 34 ) Record Vote Number: 167 9 July 2002
U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Votes 107th Congress - 2nd Session H.J. Res. 87, Vote #133 , 8 May 2002.
U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 106th Congress - 2nd Session, On Overriding the Veto (Shall The Bill S. 1287 Pass, Over The Objections Of The President ) Veto sustained Vote #88, 2 May 2000.
"Recommendation by the Secretary of Energy Regarding the Suitability of the Yucca Mountain Site for a Repository Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 ," Feb. 2002.
John Kerry, " Candidate Says Yucca a Non-Starter If He's Elected ," Las Vegas Review-Journal, 16 May 2004.
"Face-to-Face with John Ralston," KLAS-TV, 17 May 2004.
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San Francisco Chronicle
August 26, 2004
Democrats air two new ads in Nevada criticizing Bush on Yucca Mountain
Christina Almeida
Associated Press Writer
Democrats are countering accusations that John Kerry can't be trusted to keep his pledge to stop a planned nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain with two new ads that say President Bush broke his promise to Nevadans.
A 30-second ad paid for by the Democratic National Committee dealing with Yucca Mountain will begin airing immediately in Nevada, said Nick Shapiro, committee spokesman in Washington, D.C. Details of the TV ad were to be released Thursday, he said.
"We're not going to let Yucca Mountain happen, and we're not going to let George Bush continuously mislead Nevada," he said.
On Wednesday, the Kerry campaign introduced another ad, in which Kerry says Bush "went back on his word" after "promising to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada."
"As president, I will oppose turning Nevada into a nuclear dump site. It's wrong. It's dangerous. And I will not let it happen," Kerry says in the ad.
The dual Democratic ads come just two days after the Bush campaign began airing an ad in Las Vegas and Reno that portrays Kerry as someone who has been disingenuous about his voting record on the nuclear waste dump issue.
Kerry voted against the project in 2000 and 2002. But Republicans question seven other nuclear waste votes, including one Kerry cast in 1987 on a massive appropriations bill that contained the so-called "Screw Nevada" provision. The bill narrowed the list of sites to be studied for the repository to just one -- Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
"He has the audacity to question John Kerry's position on Yucca Mountain," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who announced the ad at news conference at Kerry's campaign headquarters in Las Vegas. "The president has never ever been with us on Yucca Mountain."
Democrats have accused Bush of breaking his 2000 campaign promise to base a decision on whether to approve Yucca Mountain on "sound science." Republicans say Bush kept his word and did exactly what he promised.
"John Kerry can run television advertisements, but he can't run from his record," said Tracey Schmitt, spokeswoman for the Bush campaign. "John Kerry is clearly trying to distort his record on this issue in an effort to distract voters from his troubling agenda."
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Lahontan Valley News
August 26, 2004
Former school employee wants seat on board
Marlene Garcia
Thomas Wiley says his 20 years working for the Churchill County School District qualify him to serve as a school board trustee.
He is one of eight candidates for three open positions on the board. The field will be narrowed to six in the upcoming primary election Sept. 7.
Wiley, 54, started in the district as a substitute teacher and an aide for vocational classes. He also taught vocational agriculture and worked as a campus security guard at the high school. Wiley taught inmates at the Lovelock Prison for eight years.
"I feel we have an excellent school system but there's always room for improvement. At the present time, I think we're one of the best school districts in the state of Nevada. I'd like to see what I could do to help," he said.
Between 1976 and 1983, Wiley served as a school board member in Sierra Valley, Calif., about 40 miles north of Reno.
He moved to Fallon in 1983 and currently farms on the Bench and operates a business that recycles human septic material as a soil amendment.
Wiley would like to see a planned magnet school offer vocational education to students who have lost interest in traditional classes. Horsemanship is another area the school district might use to attract students, he added.
Another idea Wiley would like to explore as a school trustee is a mentoring program for new teachers who would be assigned a more experienced teacher as a mentor. He said the mentor should be paid a stipend to take on the additional duty. A financial incentive could also be offered to teachers and department heads who obtain grants for the district, he said.
Rather than cut the budget each year to address declining enrollment, Wiley believes there are ways to bring more revenue to local schools.
"I'm a firm believer that if you work hard enough, you can find more money either through grants or additional taxes from the county," he said.
There may be money for Nevada counties if Yucca Mountain eventually becomes a permanent nuclear waste repository. If a transportation route comes through Fallon, there should be negotiations with the federal government for compensation, Wiley added.
He would also push for more money to implement the No Child Left Behind Act. Among other things, No Child Left Behind requires annual tests for grades three through eight and highly qualified teachers in every classroom. Schools that fail to improve must offer students tutoring and the chance to transfer to a higher-achieving school nearby. After six years, struggling schools can be shut down and reopened with new staffs.
The goal is to have all students proficient in math and reading by 2014.
"There are students out there that it's just not their time. They haven't experienced life enough," he said. "There are going to be some students who are going to be left behind. Class size reduction is an absolute necessity. We need more one-on-one if we're going to implement No Child Left Behind."
He considers communication between teachers, classified staff and administrators to be a major problem in the district at this time.
"A big issue is teacher frustration. I would actively go out and ask questions," he said. "As a board member I can sit down with administrators and come up with ideas on how to improve that."
Wiley has been married to Meridee for 14 years. She teaches at Churchill County High School. The couple has a son, Jakob, who attends high school.
Wiley's parents were both teachers with master's degrees. Wiley was raised in Southern California but spent summers on the family's cattle ranch in northern California.
"I have two brothers and my father felt the best way to handle us is to work us to death," Wiley joked.
He enjoys reading and following politics.
"I love what I do so much I get most of my enjoyment from that," he said about farming and taking care of his livestock. "I'm passionate about farming. That's the reason I've stayed in Fallon for 20 years."
Marlene Garcia can be contacted at mgarcia@lahontanvalleynews.com
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Scripps Howard
August 26, 2004
Bush, Kerry debate range of topics in battleground West
By James W. Brosnan
Scripps Howard News Service
Republicans are highlighting Kerry's votes against Bush's "Healthy Forest" initiative, which they contend would make communities safer from wildfires but which Democrats say would give the timber industry carte blanche to cut down old-growth forests.
The Democratic presidential nominee's vote this year against the Bush national energy bill is another hot topic. That legislation would have opened more of the West to drilling - at the expense, Democrats say, of rare wildlife and pristine environments.
New Mexico is the fourth-largest producer of natural gas in the country and federal drilling permits contribute millions of dollars to the state's coffers for schools, said Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M.
Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said Kerry supported the Democratic energy bill he authored the year before and backs his efforts to increase the federal budget for forest-thinning projects that protect communities from wildfires.
This year, Bush also has promised voters in Oregon that he would deepen the Columbia River and targeted $105 million on Klamath Basin water problems.
Not to be out-promised, Kerry went to the rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona, another battleground state, to accuse the Bush administration of neglecting the tourist-drawing national parks in the West. Interior Secretary Gale Norton traveled at taxpayer expense to a national park in New Mexico on Wednesday to defend the National Park Service budget and Bush's future plans.
The Massachusetts senator also has accused Bush of cutting budgets for American Indian housing, job training and higher education. Domenici said the administration has dramatically increased funding for tribal schools and the treatment of diabetes on reservations.
But can these issues make a difference in the election?
Kerry senior adviser Tad Devine said that Yucca Mountain is the only issue potent enough to turn around a single state.
Four years ago, Bush campaigned in Nevada with a pledge to consider only the "best science" before moving forward with designating Yucca Mountain as a nuclear-waste repository. Democrats say that, once in office, Bush broke his promise and bowed to demands of the nuclear lobby.
Domenici said the matter has hurt Bush in Nevada and could mean the campaign will put more of a focus on New Mexico, which Bush lost to Democrat Al Gore by only 375 votes in 2000.
Last week, Bush tried for a comeback in Nevada by running television ads in the state that accused Kerry of flip-flopping on Yucca Mountain, first voting for the law that led to the waste-dump designation and now promising not to go forward with the dump.
"I believe the people of Nevada understand," said Bush-Cheney campaign chairman Marc Racicot. "They know when people are being opportunistic and when their positions are fluid and an effort to ingratiate support rather than principled."
On Thursday, the Democratic National Committee announced it would air ads in Nevada documenting Kerry's opposition to Yucca Mountain.
For all the attention, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington state can thank the provision of the Constitution that decides the presidential election state-by-state in the Electoral College rather than by popular vote nationwide.
"They wouldn't be talking about Yucca Mountain or any other issue in a state that wasn't closely contested in the Electoral College," said Bob Loevy, an expert on Electoral College politics at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.
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TechCentralStation
August 26, 2004
Kerry's Radioactive Flip-Flop
By James K. Glassman
Relaxing by the pool as Labor Day nears?
Then consider that, as you read this, more than 100 million pounds of high-level nuclear waste is buried -- temporarily and not too safely -- at 131 separate sites in 39 states around the country.
About two-thirds of Americans live within 75 miles of one of these sites, which are exposed to terrorism, corrosion and just plain accidents. If you live in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, San Francisco, Washington, Miami or dozens of other urban areas, you've got dangerous radioactivity right nearby. One big threat: the waste will start leaking into drinking-water supplies.
But help is on the way!
Actually, it's been on the way since 1956, when the federal government began studying the problem. Finally, in 1982, Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Disposal Act, which proposed that radioactive leftovers -- from submarines and power plants -- be stored in a secure, remote place.
In 1987, a separate law established such a place -- in the distant desert, 1,000 feet inside Yucca Mountain, adjacent to the Nevada Test Site. Yucca is on federal land, surrounded on three sides by an Air Force base. You couldn't dream of a better venue.
But it's not surprising that in Las Vegas and elsewhere in the state, the law designating Yucca is called the Screw Nevada Act. Among the Senators who voted for it -- responsibly, in my view -- was John Kerry.
The 1987 law unleashed $4 billion worth of research, 100 public hearings, and 5.6 million pages of documents, all indicating that Yucca was as risk-free as anything in this life. For example, the shields covering waste buried there would corrode by an estimated 0.03 inches over 10,000 years.
The attacks of 9/11, in particular, lit a fire under policymakers, and, at long last, in February 2002, Energy Secretary Spence Abraham formally recommended that President Bush adopt Yucca Mountain as "the nation's first long-term geological repository for high-level radioactive waste." Bush agreed, and so did Congress -- but not, this time, Sen. Kerry.
It's wise to be wary when one candidate accuses another of "flip-flopping," but Bush's characterization of Kerry is undeniable. This guy would make a Nevada desert chameleon jealous.
When asked why he had switched positions, the late John Maynard Keynes, the most influential economist of the 20th century, once said, "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?"
In this case, the main fact that changed was that John Kerry was no longer merely a junior senator from Massachusetts but a serious candidate for president. Nevada, which Bush carried in 2000 with just 51.9 percent of the vote, is in play.
As a result, it is no exaggeration to say that Yucca Mountain could be ground zero on Nov. 2, 2004.
Earlier this month, both presidential candidates were in Nevada. According to the Ely Times, Kerry said he would "do everything possible to halt the Yucca Mountain project." According to the Las Vegas Sun, Bush said that he backed Yucca because of "sound science" and pointed out that Kerry "says he is strongly against Yucca here in Nevada, but he voted for it several times. And so did his running mate."
Bush added, "My point to you is that if they're going to change, one day they may change again…. I think you need somebody who is going to do what he says he's going to do."
That, in brief, is how Bush is trying to define himself against Kerry: "I say something, and I do it. He says something and changes his mind." Resolution is nice to have in a wartime president.
Yucca is a defining issue, as well, because it shows the president is serious about making the nation safer from terrorists and establishing a rational energy policy -- which includes diversifying and enhancing supply, not just reducing demand (as Kerry wants). Waste storage is a major reason that the U.S. stopped building nuclear power plants, which now generate only 20 percent of our electricity.
Could Yucca lose Nevada for Bush? Yes, indeed. But Nevada has only five electoral votes. Let me make a suggestion: Why not focus on winning supporters in the 39 states whose radioactive wastes would be removed to Yucca? Among them are such battlegrounds as Ohio, with three nuclear-waste sites; Missouri, three sites; Pennsylvania, six sites; and Florida, four sites.
That's 79 electoral votes right there.
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Las Vegas SUN
August 26, 2004
Gibbons passed over for post
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., will not serve as chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, ending weeks of cautious speculation on who would be named to the post.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., named Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., as chairman Wednesday, choosing him over Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Ill., whose name had also come up as being on the short lists of possible chairman.
Gibbons was reported to be out of the running earlier this month, but nothing could be confirmed.
Gibbons, who made no secret of his desire to be chairman, said he was "obviously disappointed," Hastert did not choose him but that Hoekstra "is certainly capable of providing the necessary leadership required to meet the challenges before us today."
Gibbons had more seniority than Hoekstra on the committee.
If Gibbons had been named chairman he would not have considered running for governor in 2006, his spokeswoman Amy Spanbauer confirmed this morning. Gibbons name has been circulated as a possibile contender to succeed Gov. Kenny Guinn but he has made no official decision yet.
The Congressional committee's chairmanship became vacant because President Bush nominated the former chairman, Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., to serve as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
"Pete has big shoes to fill, but I am confident he will do an excellent job," Hastert said.
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Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
August 26, 2004
Firm with deep defense ties coming here
By Michael Yeomans
What began as a partnership with Carnegie Mellon University last spring to build an unmanned Humvee for a race across the Mojave Desert has bloomed into the relocation of a division of one of the nation's largest defense research contractors to Pittsburgh from Denver.
San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., a $6.7 billion employee-owned engineering systems development firm with deep ties to the nation's national security and defense apparatus, is moving its Center for Intelligent Unmanned Systems here. It will employ five people by year's end, with a promise to add more personnel in future years based on its success in obtaining federal contracts.
"It became clear to us the business will be much better served in the Pittsburgh area," said Senior Vice President Ray O. Johnson Wednesday, referring to the robotics program within Carnegie Mellon, where it plans to hire three recent graduates -- in addition to two people it is relocating from Denver, one of whom is a Carnegie Mellon graduate.
Science Applications' work for the federal government runs a wide gamut, and included a controversial contract to operate a national television network in Iraq called Al Iraquiya. The company's other specialties include developing surveillance technology for the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency. It has developed data-mining programs for intelligence analysts to sort through phone and e-mail surveillance.
It has also had contracts to train federal air marshals and to operate the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, in addition to building the Olympic Command Center in Salt Lake City for the 2002 Winter Olympics. It is currently providing security services for the Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Its other experience in unmanned vehicles includes development of the Vigilante unmanned helicopter.
A company spokesman could not be reached for comment yesterday regarding these contracts.
The Department of Defense has outlined a goal to have nearly a third of all military vehicles be unmanned by 2015. The Grand Challenge, in which the Carnegie Mellon "Red Team" led by robot scientist William "Red" Whittaker outfitted a Humvee with sensor and guidance technology developed by Science International, is intended to test and validate these technologies.
Johnson said perfecting these technologies could, for instance, allow military supply convoys in hostile territories such as Iraq, where supply trucks have come under ambush attacks and face threats from improvised explosive devices, to be performed with unmanned vehicles.
The company is working with the Red Team to improve on this year's performance and enter another vehicle in the next Grand Challenge in October 2005.
Bill Thomasmeyer, president of the nonprofit Robotics Foundry, which is aiming to establish a $1 billion robotics industry in Pittsburgh by 2012, said having Scientific International's presence will be a boon to fledgling area robotics firms. They can tap into its expertise when applying for government grants to fund research and development, as well as assistance in evaluating market opportunities and providing systems integration capabilities that many small firms lack, he said.
Michael Yeomans can be reached at myeomans@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7908.
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Guardian
August 26, 2004
Poll: Residents OK With Park Protests
NEW YORK (AP) - Democrats, who outnumber Republicans 5-to-1 among registered voters here, want their city to welcome not only Republican convention delegates but also the protesters who plan to demonstrate against the GOP. A sizable local contingent plans to join the marchers.
Differing with their Republican-controlled city administration, 71 percent of the city's registered voters think protesters should be allowed to demonstrate in Central Park during the Republican National Convention. And 11 percent plan to go to a demonstration themselves, according to a poll released Thursday.
A state judge has rejected a bid by the group United for Peace and Justice to force the city to allow a rally in the park Sunday after a march past Madison Square Garden, the convention site. City officials have said such a rally, which could draw 250,000 people, might damage lawns in the park.
The Quinnipiac University poll found that most New Yorkers, 81 percent, approve of lawful demonstrations during the convention, and 68 percent approve of nonviolent civil disobedience. Nearly all disapprove of violent protests, according to the poll.
``The city is rolling out the red carpet for the Republican delegates, but most New Yorkers would roll out the green carpet of Central Park for the anti-Republican demonstrators,'' Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a statement.
``Lawful demonstrations - even nonviolent civil disobedience - are a time-honored tradition and still widely supported,'' he said. ``But 19 out of 20 New Yorkers draw the line at violence.''
Two-thirds think the convention and the protests surrounding it will cause major disruptions, but just 10 percent plan to leave during the event, the poll said. Half said they were worried about the convention being held in the city, and 31 percent said they thought a major terrorist attack during the convention is ``very likely'' or ``somewhat likely.''
As for President Bush, the star of the event, 70 percent disapproved of the job he is doing, compared with 25 percent who approved.
The poll surveyed 822 New York City registered voters between Aug. 20 and Aug. 24 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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President Bush and John Kerry are engaged in a small-scale advertising war in Nevada over a big and divisive statewide issue: a planned national nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
Bush approved the repository in Nevada and has been criticized for it by Democrats who say he broke his 2000 campaign promise to base a decision on whether to approve the site on sound science. Republicans say Bush kept his word.
Kerry has vowed to block burying nuclear waste at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
But Bush launched a TV ad in the state earlier this week claiming that Kerry supported putting the repository at Yucca Mountain and voted seven times ``to make it easier to dump waste at Yucca.'' It also claimed that Kerry ``tried to speed shipment of nuclear waste from Massachusetts to Yucca.''
In fact, every time the four-term Massachusetts senator has faced the simple choice of voting whether or not to send waste to Yucca, Kerry has voted against it.
Kerry's campaign lashed back with an ad saying that Bush ``went back on his word'' after ``promising to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada.'' Kerry vows in the ad, ``As president, I will oppose turning Nevada into a nuclear dump site. It's wrong. It's dangerous. And I will not let it happen.''
The Democratic National Committee was responding with an ad there as well on the issue. And the liberal MoveOn.org's voter fund has run an ad assailing Bush on Yucca Mountain, too.
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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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