Yucca Mountain News Clips
Monday, August 30, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
August 30, 2004
Poll shows Yucca Mountain on minds of Nevada voters
Associated Press
RENO (AP) - The prospect of burying high level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is on the minds of Nevada voters, a new poll indicates.
According to the poll conducted by the Reno Gazette-Journal and KRNV-TV, 53 percent of likely Nevada voters said Yucca Mountain will be an important factor in deciding which presidential candidate they will vote for.
Nevada has become one of the most contested states in the presidential race, and both campaigns are focusing on the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Among Democrats, 67 percent said Yucca Mountain is important, compared with 38 percent of Republicans.
The repository is also a significant issue for independent voters, 56 percent of whom agreed it will play an important role in their presidential decisions.
Maryland-based Research 2000 conducted the poll, interviewing 600 likely voters by telephone between Aug. 14 through Aug. 17. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
With polls indicating President Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., are locked in a neck-and-neck race, both sides are searching for a key issue on which to persuade voters.
Although it is a convenient issue, some political analysts doubt Yucca Mountain will be the deciding factor.
"I still think that as we get closer to election time, Yucca Mountain falls down the list of the economy, the war in Iraq and this more nebulous leadership issue," said Eric Herzik, a political analyst and professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
But that hasn't kept both campaigns from spending money on it.
Last week, both campaigns launched television commercials attacking the other candidate's record on Yucca Mountain.
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Information from: Reno Gazette-Journal
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Reno Gazette-Journal
August 29, 2004
Yucca Mountain fight not over yet
Editorial RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
All the Nevada delegates to the Republican National Convention want to influence policies that benefit the state. That´s why they´re making their way to New York. But those who think state officials should not hold talks with federal officials over Yucca Mountain and those who want to negotiate for benefits have practical and philosophical differences. If they could manage some kind of consensus, the convention would be the place to move on it.
The fight-or-negotiate quandary is just one example of how people who are together on one issue can disagree on what to do about it. It illustrates that issues such as this are neither black-and-white nor examples of flip-flopping. They are complex projects of public-policy that require planning and thought to do the right thing. And it´s best if officials and the rest of the delegates agree on the plan.
Top GOP leaders in Nevada have been involved actively in resisting the decision to place the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository less than a hundred miles from a major population center. Yet some of them think negotiating with their Republican fellows would be the wrong decision. Whether politically motivated or not, there must be a reason. And certainly the state could use more federal funds or other concessions, but bargaining means you have something with which to bargain. It wouldn´t be Yucca Mountain, would it?
It is likely that everyone who has anything to do with deciding the repository´s fate will be in attendance at the convention. So, it´s logical to believe that delegates and state officials would have access to Energy Department officials, members of Congress and others who could conceivably support some aspects of the state´s position. It is possible to make opportunities to influence decision-makers, even if no open negotiation takes place.
Networking and influencing to set agendas is as much the point of a national party´s convention as nominating the presidential candidate. Nevertheless, it is practical to avoid communicating tacit acknowledgment that the project is a done deal … regardless of whether negotiating or not negotiating is the agreed-upon strategy. There are still plenty people who think it isn´t over yet.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
August 30, 2004
Poll shows Yucca issue is key for Nevadans
Anjeanette Damon
Reno Gazette-Journal
The federal government´s plan to store the nation´s most radioactive waste in Nevada has always been the third rail in Silver State politics.
This year, it could mean the difference in the presidency.
Nevada has become one of the most contested states in the presidential race, and both campaigns are focusing on the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
A new poll shows their efforts are paying off.
A majority of likely voters in the state -- 53 percent -- indicated Yucca Mountain will be an important issue in determining their vote for president, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal/News 4 poll.
Surprisingly, more Washoe County respondents -- 57 percent -- said the repository was an important issue than Clark County respondents. Political analysts theorize that could be because of the number of conservationists and long-time residents in Northern Nevada.
The issue plays more strongly among Democrats -- 67 percent of whom said Yucca Mountain was important, compared with 38 percent of Republicans. The repository is also a significant issue for independent voters, 56 percent of whom agreed it will play an important role in their presidential decisions.
The poll was conducted by Maryland-based Research 2000. Six hundred likely voters were surveyed by telephone between Aug. 14 to Aug. 17. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
With polls indicating President Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., are locked in a neck-and-neck race, both sides are searching for a key issue on which to persuade voters.
Although it is a convenient issue, some political analysts doubt Yucca Mountain will be the deciding factor.
“I still think that as we get closer to election time, Yucca Mountain falls down the list of the economy, the war in Iraq and this more nebulous leadership issue,’ said Eric Herzik, a political analyst and professor at the University of Nevada, Reno.
But that hasn´t kept both campaigns from spending money on it.
Last week, both campaigns launched television commercials attacking the other candidate´s record on Yucca Mountain. The Democratic National Committee and the Democratic non-profit organization MoveOn.Org also have bankrolled TV ads attacking Bush on Yucca Mountain.
And experts said it is extremely unusual for presidential campaigns to spend money on state-specific advertising.
“We don´t see ads tailored toward the state in the president race,’ said Ken Goldstein, director of the University of Wisconsin Advertising Project and a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “Not only are we seeing a heavy volume of ads in Nevada, but we´re seeing ads creatively tailored toward Nevada.’
The commercials don´t tell the entire story.
From the beginning, Democrats have used Yucca Mountain as a way to attack Bush´s credibility, claiming he broke a promise to keep the repository out of Nevada.
Non-profit political groups such as America Coming Together have taken the lead in the Yucca Mountain attacks, staging press events and sending campaign fliers laying the blame on Bush for the repository.
Democrats base their attacks on a letter Bush wrote to Gov. Kenny Guinn during the 2000 campaign, in which he promised not to approve the site unless it was “deemed scientifically safe.’ In 2002, Bush´s energy secretary recommended Yucca Mountain as the site, and Bush approved it.
Bush maintains that he has always based his decision on science and not politics.
Kerry said scientific studies have convinced him the project is not safe and has vowed to put an end to it if he is elected.
And it was on scientific grounds that the state won a key court decision that could significantly delay or scuttle the project. Last month, a federal court found the radiation protection standard for the project did not meet legal requirements set by the National Academy of Sciences.
Bush claims Kerry can´t be trusted on the issue because he voted seven times in favor of the project.
“The president´s policy-based approach to Yucca Mountain is a stark contrast to the political doublespeak we have seen from John Kerry,’ said Tracey Schmitt, a Bush-Cheney spokeswoman.
Kerry said those votes were either procedural or simply authorized a study of the project. Since the project has been studied, Kerry said he has consistently voted against the project.
Kerry´s record includes a 2002 vote to uphold Guinn´s veto of the project. In interviews with Nevada reporters this month, Kerry said he began voting against Yucca Mountain long before he started running for president.
Despite the attention, Kerry´s Nevada spokesman, Sean Smith, said Yucca Mountain isn´t the centerpiece of their campaign in Nevada.
“We don´t want it to be a single issue race,’ he said. “At the end of the day, this race isn´t going to be won or lost on Yucca Mountain. George Bush´s failure to keep prescription drug prices low and make health care more accessible affects hundreds of thousands of Nevadans and are two issues he is extremely vulnerable on.’
David Damore, a political analyst at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Democrats can´t simply blame the repository on Bush.
“If they simply say Bush approved the dump, most people would feel that would´ve happened regardless of who´s in power,’ Damore said. “Using it as a means to attack Bush´s credibility across the board, if it is used that way, can be more effective.’
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval, who has led the latest legal battle against Yucca Mountain and chairs Bush´s re-election campaign in Nevada, said it is significant that the Bush administration decided not to appeal the federal court ruling against the project.
“That sends a strong message in and of itself,’ Sandoval said.
The Nuclear Energy Institute has asked for rehearing, but Sandoval said the administration had no control over that.
Earlene Forsythe, chairwoman of the state Republican Party, said the issue isn´t important to voters in her party, who figure it is a done deal.
“I´m not going to think about Yucca Mountain when I go to the polls,’ she said.
Forsythe is a delegate to the Republican National Convention, which begins today in New York City. She said Yucca Mountain is not an issue for the convention and was not considered for inclusion in the party´s national platform.
“There´s really not much we can do with it,’ Forsythe said.
Democrats, on the other hand, included a national plank saying the party will “protect Nevada and its communities from the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.’
But Sandoval, who´s also a delegate, said he will use his time in New York to lobby politicians from around the country on Yucca Mountain.
“I want to help them better understand Nevada´s position and why we´ve taken the position we have in court,’ he said.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
August 30, 2004
Letters to the editor
Criticisms of Kerry sound like hypocrisy
On Aug. 6, President Bush said we must fight the war on terror with “sensitivity.’ A few days later, U.S. Sen. Kerry said he would use “sensitivity’ in fighting the war on terror; he was subsequently mocked and ridiculed for the use of this word by Vice President Cheney.
In 2000, candidate Bush promised every Nevadan he would not approve Yucca Mountain without “sound scientific research.’ In 2001, he was inaugurated; in 2002, he approved the nuclear dump, before most of the scientific studies have even been completed. In 1987, Senator Kerry voted to study Yucca Mountain as a possible nuclear dump. After he studied the issue, he voted against sending nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain every time it was proposed; for this, he is accused of flip-flopping.
President Bush maintains that his honorable discharge from the National Guard proves he served his full time, without any unauthorized absences in Alabama, even though there are gaps in the record. Sen. Kerry served in a combat zone, received a Silver Star, a Bronze Star, three Purple Hearts and an honorable discharge, yet his character and service record are being belittled.
Can anyone spell hypocrisy?
Jeanette A. Strong
Fallon
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Salt Lake Tribune
August 30, 2004
Is GOP's Western strength fading?
By Christopher Smith
The Salt Lake Tribune
NEW YORK - A week before he will take the stage here in America's biggest city to accept the Republican Party's presidential nomination, President Bush hauled former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to little Farmington, N.M., to stump at a campaign rally.
"I told Rudy, I said, 'I can't wait to get to Farmington,' Bush said Thursday in a rare appearance by a sitting president in the Four Corners region. "You're going to meet some really fine people here. It's a part of the country where the boots outnumber the suits."
For more than two decades, the Mountain West also has been a part of the country where, in presidential elections, Republicans outnumber the Democrats. But Bush's off-the-beaten-path stop in Farmington underlines concerns that the Republican red may be fading in the southern reaches of the Intermountain region during a presidential election where every electoral vote is critical.
That Bush has made four trips this year to New Mexico, the only Mountain West state he lost to Democrat Al Gore in 2000 and then by only 366 votes, reveals that the political landscape of the West is in play. The latest poll conducted in August showed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry with a respectable 52 percent to 42 percent lead in New Mexico over Bush, with 6 percent of voters undecided.
The northern tier states of the Mountain West - Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana - remain solidly Republican, much as they have been since Ronald Reagan's groundbreaking 1980 campaign heralded a GOP shift in the region's presidential voting pattern, which up until then had followed national trends.
But polls in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado, all states Bush narrowly won in 2000, show he and Kerry are in virtual ties when the margins of error are considered. Democratic strategists believe the standings signal the erosion of the Republicans' comfortable Western stronghold.
"The fact we are only a couple points down in Nevada has got to be horrifying to the president," says Tad Devine, senior adviser to the Kerry campaign.
The Bush campaign unveiled an ad in Nevada last week attacking Kerry for flip-floppingon storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, a plan supported by the Bush administration but opposed by most Nevadans. While initially voting to study the idea, Kerry has said in campaign appearances he would work to prevent waste storage at Yucca Mountain. Bush has been accused in Nevada of pushing forward with the dump in contradiction to a 2000 campaign pledge.
"Yucca Mountain is one issue, but I believe the people of Nevada and the people of the West understand that issue implicitly," says Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot. "We do believe that the president's values and his understanding of the issues of the West is unique and it qualifies him in superior fashion to respond to what it is the people of the West have in expectations."
Political scientists view the Yucca Mountain issue as symptomatic of the demographic changes in the West that are beginning to unwind with this election. The growth of New West metropolises such as Denver, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Las Vegas is being fueled by Hispanic immigrants and urban state relocators whose pro-environment ideology challenges Western land-use traditions.
At the same time, generational replacement of voters is taking place, with World War II veterans dying at accelerated rates, to be replaced on voter registration lists by young people who may not even be familiar with Vietnam.
"The long-term trends make a state like Nevada more susceptible to these issue appeals like Yucca Mountain, and what you have now is a state that is less likely to believe the Bush administration," says Brigham Young University Political Science Department Chair Kelly Patterson. "That lack of confidence is more likely a reflection of the demographic changes in the state."
While the Kerry and Bush campaigns work to solidify or expand each party's support in the southern tier of the Mountain West, the two campaigns have all but ignored the northern tier, where Kerry has little chance of winning electoral votes, states Bush can comfortably bypass to focus on battleground states.
"When you have limited resources, you have to prioritize on where you thinkyou can be most effective," says Racicot, a former Montana governor. "The people in my home state are disappointed we haven't been there either."
GOP loyalists in Utah, a state that has consistently given Republican presidential candidates since Ronald Reagan some of the nation's biggest winning percentages, still sometimes wonder if they are being taken for granted. An unscientific but telling indication of the dilemma is the Madison Square Garden convention floor seating assignments this week, where New Mexico and Nevada delegates are placed much closer to the stage than a Utah delegation that has bled Republican red for decades.
"That's the downside for Utah in being so consistent in supporting the party," says Republican National Committee Utah committeeman Winston Wilkinson of Sandy. "In terms of how they parcel out the benefits at the conventions, it's tough to answer what do you bring to the party when every time there's an election we're 85 percent Republican."
Keeping the loyal base happy while still welcoming the evolving demographicsand expanding population of the Mountain West promises to be a vexing problem for some time to the Republican Party, says Patterson.
"Over the long haul, there is going to be a redistribution of electoral votes from Northeastern states to the Intermountain West," he says. "All that will make the Intermountain West a larger player on the national stage, not this cycle or the cycle after it, but you can honestly look at a generation down the road where the Intermountain West will be a significant national player."
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New York Times
August 30, 2004
Republican Convention: Nevada Delegation
By Jennifer Mock
Even with the massive population growth in and around Las Vegas, Nevada is one of the smallest prizes in this year's presidential contest, with just five electoral votes.
But just as in 2000, it appears that every electoral vote may count in this year's race between President Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry -- both of whose campaigns have given Nevada coveted status as a "battleground" state.
Bush captured Nevada last time by 50 percent to 46 percent over Democrat Al Gore. But voter registration in Nevada is practically dead even between the parties -- the most recent reports showed the Democrats with a tiny edge -- and Bill Clinton carried the state, albeit narrowly, for the Democrats in both 1992 and 1996.
So Nevada's 33 delegates to the Republican National Convention know the battle is only beginning.
There are good reasons the vote in Nevada will be hard to predict. The Las Vegas metropolitan area is one of the fastest growing in the country, and is packed with newcomers who cannot be pegged by previous voting history.
Although major national issues, such as the economy, Iraq and health care costs, are in play in Nevada, there is a local issue -- the wildly unpopular establishment of a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert -- that is could be a major factor in this year's campaign.
Democrats argue that the issue could give a crucial edge to Kerry, who voted against legislation authorizing construction of the Yucca Mountain facility, over Bush, who in 2002 signed that measure into law.
Administration officials and Republicans in the delegation counter that Bush followed through on his promise to Nevadans, made during the 2000 campaign, that he would base his decision on Yucca Mountain on "sound science."
Nevada Republican delegate Su Kemper said that as long as Bush starts an open dialogue with state voters about the science behind his decision, his support of the Yucca Mountain repository will not hurt him in the state.
She cautioned, though, that Bush will not act as if the topic does not exist, as she said he did in a recent visit to the state.
"It is pretty much a done deal anyway," she said. "But it seems like he has danced over the top of it a little bit and it hasn't been deeply looked at. I think the state should get something for it."
Republicans, looking to water down the impact of the issue, moved quickly after Kerry named his vice presidential pick to note that North Carolina Sen. John Edwards voted for a motion to proceed with the Yucca Mountain site.
Kemper said most people in the state still do not agree with the president's support of the project. But they do see him as a stronger leader in the war on terrorism, she said, and that issue will win out over Yucca Mountain on Election Day.
Delegate Andrew Abboud expressed a similar view: He said he thinks the voters in the state are looking to Bush's leadership over the last four years, and will cast their vote on who they trust more with their security, not specific issues, in this election.
"He just needs to tell his story and remind people of how far we have come. Voters are looking at all he has helped us overcome, not about right now but about what has happened over the course of the last four years," he said.
Abboud argues that Kerry pales in comparison with Bush on such issues. "His rival, John Kerry, pounds home all the time that the Bush administration has lead to the outsourcing of jobs, but Kerry wants to outsource our military to Europe. I want to see those comparisons drawn [at the convention]. It will come down to trust and a comfort level," Abboud said.
Nevada Stats
- 5 electoral votes
- 33 delegates
- Delegation Chairwoman: Earlene Forsythe, state party chairwoman
- Hotel: RIHGA Royal New York, 212-307-5000
- Republican vote in past elections:
1988: 59%
1992: 35%
1996: 43%
2000: 50%
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Washington Post
August 30, 2004
All Politics Is as Local as Ever, And So Are Issues
By Dana Milbank
This year's presidential race has given fresh meaning to the old adage that all politics is local.
Nationally, the election is about Iraq, the economy and terrorism. But in most of the 15 to 20 states where the election's outcome will be determined, local issues that are obscure to the rest of the country could prove decisive.
Consider both campaigns' activities in the past few weeks:
In Albuquerque on Thursday, Bush played forest ranger when he said: "Our Healthy Forests Restoration Act is good law for New Mexico. . . . The Cibola National Forest will benefit from this important legislation."
Earlier, in Oregon, Bush sounded like a public works commissioner when he said he was asking for $15 million to deepen 104 miles of Oregon's Columbia River by three feet. "We're committed to keeping the Columbia River open for navigation and trade," he said.
Around that time, Democratic nominee John F. Kerry was in Las Vegas, declaring his determination to keep a Nevada mountain from becoming a radioactive storage site. "When John Kerry is president, there's going to be no nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, period," the Massachusetts senator said.
And Kerry's number two, John Edwards, was busy telling reporters that he was opposed to drilling for oil in part of New Mexico. "I'm against drilling on Otero Mesa," he said.
Democrats and Republicans each insist that local issues on balance favor their candidate.
"Bush's domestic policies have had their most devastating effects at the state and local levels," said Jim Jordan, the former Kerry campaign manager who works for an anti-Bush group. "States are broke, schools are closing, pollution is spreading, and these local budgets and issues and controversies are serving to focus voters' anger at this administration."
Jennifer Millerwise, who coordinates regional media operations for the Bush campaign, said: "John Kerry's plans for local communities are as out of touch as his national record. . . . John Kerry opposed the Healthy Forests Act, a plan written by Westerners to protect their forests. Wisconsin dairy farmers can't trust him after his consistent support of a plan to put them at a competitive disadvantage, and his hostility towards coal mining would kill West Virginia jobs."
The Bush campaign's strongest local issue may be in Michigan, where Kerry's preference for higher fuel economy standards is deeply unpopular with the state's large automotive industry. (The issue also works against Kerry, to a lesser extent, in Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.) Republicans point to Kerry's hope of raising the standard to 36 miles per gallon, a 50 percent increase, by 2015 -- a change the industry says would cost many Michigan jobs.
In Michigan, the Bush campaign is also trying to exploit a comment by Kerry that the issue of diverting Great Lakes water in the state for municipal use elsewhere would require a "delicate balancing act." Bush unequivocally opposes the diversions, which reduce the water level in lakes bordering Michigan and other swing states: Ohio, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
"My position is clear," Bush said recently in Traverse City, Mich. "We're never going to allow diversion of Great Lakes water."
Democrats, in turn, probably have their strongest local issue in Nevada, where opposition to burying nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain could cause the otherwise Republican state to go to Kerry. The Democratic nominee vigorously opposes using Yucca for the radioactive waste, and Bush has been open to such use. "If the presidential race for Nevada's five electoral votes comes down to Yucca Mountain, which it should, Sen. John Kerry already has won the race," columnist Jeff German wrote in the Las Vegas Sun on Aug. 13.
The Kerry campaign thinks it has a similar advantage on an environmental issue in New Mexico. There, the administration's Bureau of Land Management has plans to open the Otero Mesa to oil and gas drilling. The state's popular governor, Democrat Bill Richardson, has elevated the matter by issuing an executive order making drilling on Otero more difficult.
The Bush campaign expects to have the upper hand in other environmental disputes on the West Coast. The Bush campaign charges that Kerry "chose environmental extremism" over Oregon farmers when he supported a cut in water allocations to farmers during a drought to help the suckerfish and coho salmon population. Oregon's Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden opposed Kerry on the issue.
Similarly, the Republicans think Kerry's opposition to Bush's "healthy forests" legislation could hurt the Democrat in logging states such as Washington and Oregon. Kerry said the legislation "takes a chain saw to public forests." The Bush campaign notes that Wyden and Sen. Patty Murray, the Washington state Democrat, voted for Bush's legislation.
In Florida, a statewide ballot initiative on the minimum wage could help Kerry by bringing more Democrats to the polls. The initiative calls for a constitutional amendment creating a state minimum wage of $6.15, with future increases indexed to inflation. The federal minimum wage is $5.15, and Bush has generally opposed increases -- putting him at odds with a large majority of Americans.
In Ohio, Democrats believe they have found in the Timken Co. a local symbol for national job losses under Bush. The ball bearings company is shutting down some Ohio facilities and cutting about 1,300 jobs -- a year after Bush visited the company to use it as a showcase for his tax cuts. Republicans have tried to counter the Timken case by pointing to a Kerry quotation that "I don't want Toyota and Honda being the sellers" of hybrid cars; Honda employs about 16,000 workers in Ohio.
In steel country, particularly Pennsylvania but also Ohio, West Virginia and the iron-ore mining area of Minnesota, the Kerry campaign is working to profit from the anger of steelworkers over Bush's lifting of protections against foreign steel. After imposing tariffs on many foreign steel products, the administration decided against renewing them. Republican officials in steel states, such as Sens. Arlen Specter (Pa.) and Norm Coleman (Minn.), Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rep. Robert W. Ney (Ohio), registered their dismay at Bush's move.
By contrast, the Bush campaign believes it can gain votes in West Virginia by its support for the coal industry. The Republicans say Kerry's support for the Kyoto accord on global warming and his opposition to mountaintop mining would decimate the state's coal industry. Kerry partisans counter that miners oppose Bush because of lax enforcement of mine safety.
With Wisconsin in play this year, the presidential campaign has inevitably included an appeal to cheeseheads. The Bush campaign reminds Wisconsin voters that the Massachusetts senator's support for the Northeast Dairy Compact, which protects New England dairy farmers, hurts the Wisconsin dairy trade. Not to be outdone, the Democrats appealed to the fishermen of Maine by telling them that Bush's environmental policies are making Maine seafood inedible because of pollution from mercury.
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Nevada Appeal
August 29, 2004
The truth about Yucca Mountain
Guy W. Farmer
In case you doubted whether Nevada is really a "battleground" state in this year's presidential election, consider this: The Bush/Cheney campaign last week began broadcasting TV ads in Reno and Las Vegas accusing Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry of flip-flopping on the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump issue.
That's how crucial Nevada's five electoral votes are in this year's election.
"We think it's important for voters to understand John Kerry's real record on Yucca Mountain," said Bush/Cheney spokesperson Tracey Schmitt. "There is a rather large divide between his political rhetoric ... in Nevada and his voting record in the U.S. Senate," including a vote for the infamous "Screw Nevada" bill in 1987.
By now, however, the candidates' respective positions on this radioactive Nevada issue are crystal clear: President Bush supports the Yucca Mountain dump and Sen. Kerry opposes it. Any questions?
Nevada Democratic spokesman Jon Summers fired back at the GOP after the new TV ads began airing in the Silver State, charging that it was "outrageous and disingenuous" for the Republicans to distort Kerry's position on Yucca Mountain after President Bush approved the controversial project two years ago. Democrats noted that Kerry has consistently opposed Yucca Mountain in recent years and that he voted to uphold Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of the project in 2002. As usual, the truth is somewhere between the positions enunciated by party spokesmen.
"I said I would make a decision based upon (sound) science, not politics ... and that's exactly what I did," President Bush told a group of supporters in Las Vegas earlier this month. But, as the Appeal noted in an editorial, "This rhetoric sounds suspiciously like that used about weapons of mass destruction in the run-up to the war in Iraq."
It sure does, because nearly 300 scientific questions about the Yucca Mountain dump remain unanswered despite Bush administration claims to the contrary. "President Bush took less than a day to review thousands of pages ... of scientific studies," added Nevada Nuclear Projects Director Bob Loux. "That is causing a lot of people to question his decision."
Among them is Paul Craig, a former member of the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, who wrote that "the Bush administration has a different rule of thumb when it comes to the science of storing nuclear waste - ask as few questions as possible and ignore answers you don't like." Perhaps that's why the Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted in June to cut the current $577 million Yucca Mountain budget to only $131 million in the next fiscal year. (The administration requested $880 million for fiscal '05).
Sen. Kerry has accused the president of breaking his 2000 campaign promise to Nevada. "When John Kerry is president, there will be no nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain. Period," he promised in Las Vegas early this month. Instead, he said he would leave nuclear waste where it is at sites throughout the country (none of them in Nevada) for the time being and instruct the National Academy of Science to determine how the nation should deal with nuclear waste storage. Sounds reasonable to me.
Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate's second-ranking Democrat and an outspoken opponent of the nuclear dump project, has accused the Department of Energy and its contractors of failing to protect workers from dangerous levels of hazardous dust during drilling operations at the site only 90 miles northwest of the nation's fastest-growing city, Las Vegas.
Apparently, prolonged exposure to such dust can result in degenerative lung ailments such as silicosis. "'Don't worry about it' (the dust), they say," Reid commented, "but look at what they're doing. If they (contractors and the DOE) don't care about the people digging this hole in the ground out there, do they care about the kids on the playgrounds (and) the kids going to church?"
Maybe not because the nuclear energy industry, a major contributor to the Bush/Cheney campaign, is spending millions of dollars to assure that Yucca Mountain goes into operation by 2010, as scheduled. Some of that money is used to hire highly paid lobbyists, such as former Nevada Gov. Bob List, who argue that highly radioactive waste is safe and good for us.
Just shut up and take the government's (our own) money, they urge. Which is what the Nevada GOP did by endorsing the dangerous project. Nevertheless, to their credit, Nevada's Republican office-holders - Gov. Guinn, Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Jim Gibbons and Atty. Gen. Brian Sandoval - remain inalterably opposed to the nuclear dump, as are more than 60 percent of Nevada voters.
And that's bad news for President Bush and the Republicans, as Rep. Gibbons recognized when he acknowledged that Yucca Mountain is a "terribly heavy political weight to bear in this state" because "so many people are adamantly opposed to it." He's right and that could cost President Bush the state of Nevada in November.
Guy W. Farmer, a semi-retired journalist and former U.S. diplomat, resides in Carson City.
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Nevada Appeal
August 28, 2004
State's GOP delegation split on Yucca negotiations
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS - While most of the state's Republican delegates agree that President Bush's approval of a national nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain will not cost him Nevada in the November election, they are evenly divided on whether the state should negotiate for benefits in exchange for the federal project.
Thirty-six percent of the state's 33 delegates who are heading to New York for the party's national convention next week believe Nevada officials should not hold talks with the federal government about Yucca Mountain, according to a survey by The Associated Press.
The same number, 12 delegates or 36 percent, think Nevada should negotiate for benefits in exchange for the state being the disposal site of 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive nuclear waste.
"It seems pretty damn close to a done deal," said delegate Su Kemper, a photojournalist from Reno. "I think Nevada should get something out of it."
Kemper and some of her fellow delegates said federal money could dramatically improve the lives of Nevada's residents.
"We could have our whole education system paid for," Kemper said.
"We should trade for water," said Daniel Tuntland, a real estate developer from Las Vegas. "If we got more water ... our problems would be minuscule."
Others were equally adamant that no talks should take place.
"Negotiations are not an option," said delegate Brian Sandoval, who is spearheading the state's legal efforts against Yucca Mountain as Nevada's attorney general. "I'm not willing to negotiate the health and safety of Nevadans."
The state's top Republican leaders, including Sandoval and Gov. Kenny Guinn, have been put in the tough spot of having to explain why they support Bush's re-election campaign, even though they vehemently disagree with him on the nuclear dump. They point to other issues as reasons why they support Bush.
"What are they going to do, not support their party's presidential candidate?" said David Damore, a political science professor at UNLV. "They've done the best they can with it. They agree to disagree."
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry has helped make Yucca Mountain part of the national debate this election season by vowing to kill the project if he's elected. Nevada Democrats have accused Bush of breaking a 2000 campaign promise to base a decision on Yucca Mountain on "sound science." They hope the issue will swing the tide in Nevada, a battleground state Bush won four years ago in a close contest.
Bush has accused Kerry of using the issue as a "political poker chip," and defended his decision to approve Yucca Mountain. He has said he will stand by what decisions are made by the courts and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will consider the government's licensing application for the project.
The rest of the delegates either did not respond to the informal survey or declined to answer the question. Some said they are waiting to hear what the courts have to say.
"It's not over yet," said delegate Brian Scroggins, a sign company owner from Las Vegas. "I don't think it's a done deal."
A federal appeals court recently ruled the project does not go far enough to protect people from potential radiation, raising questions of whether the Energy Department can meet deadlines for the proposed opening in 2010.
Although Bush has been on the other side of the nuclear waste issue, Nevada's Republican delegates don't think it will hurt him Nov. 2.
Fifty-two percent of those surveyed believe Bush's approval of Yucca Mountain will not cost him Nevada. Seven delegates, or 21 percent, said it could. The rest of the delegates either did not respond or said they weren't sure.
"I think a lot of people were counting on him not approving it when they voted for him last time. They feel disappointed," said Sherry Dilley, a Minden retiree.
"Anybody who is undecided may go against him because of that," said delegate Joe Cortez, a professional boxing referee from Las Vegas.
Cortez, like many of the delegates, said there are other more important issues, including the war in Iraq, health care and the economy.
"I would definitely not put Kerry in charge of the country because of Yucca Mountain," Cortez said.
Some delegates also pointed to Kerry's record on Yucca Mountain. Kerry voted for a 1987 bill that included the so-called "Screw Nevada" provision limiting studies for a nuclear dump to the Nevada site.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 29, 2004
Steve Sebelius: Lies, damn lies, and ads
All of the Yucca Mountain political ads have one thing in common: They're all wrong.
Take the MoveOn Voter Fund's ad. Although a press release correctly notes that then-Gov. George W. Bush promised he wouldn't sign a Yucca Mountain bill until "scientific evidence showed that it was safe," the ad's text is wrong. "After promising Gov. (Kenny) Guinn he'd veto legislation making Yucca Mountain a nuclear dump, George Bush personally approved the disposal of radioactive waste in Nevada," it says.
But Bush never made that promise; he said only that he wouldn't approve a dump until it had been deemed scientifically safe. And Bush maintains he did listen to his scientific advisors before he designated the dump.
The MoveOn Voter Fund's press release has it partially right: "Instead, he (Bush) allowed the EPA to dump the nuclear waste even though the nation's top scientific body -- the National Academy of Science -- had not finished studying the matter." In truth, no waste has yet been dumped, and it would be the Energy Department, not the EPA, that does the dumping. But the National Academy of Sciences wasn't finished with its studies when Bush moved forward anyway -- arguably a broken promise.
The Bush-Cheney '04 ad tries to hew to the truth, but omits some key information. It reveals, for example, that Kerry voted for the so-called Screw Nevada bill in 1987 that limited the potential study sites for nuclear waste to Nevada; that he voted on procedural matters to move Yucca Mountain along; and that he wrote a letter urging completion of studies at Yucca. "There's what Kerry says and then there's what Kerry does ... " the ad says.
But there's more that Kerry has said and done that the Bush ad omits, just as it omits a mention of the president's decision to designate the dump. The ad fails to mention Kerry voted against lowering radiation standards at Yucca and in favor of sustaining Nevada's objection to the dump.
Kerry himself responds to the Bush ad with a spot of his own, taking to the camera to explain the situation. "Four years ago, he (Bush) promised to keep a nuclear waste dump out of Nevada and then went back on his word," Kerry says.
Sorry, senator, but once again, Bush never promised to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada. In fact, most political observers didn't believe Bush's actual promise -- no dump unless its deemed scientifically safe -- when it was made.
Kerry continues: "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." And that is the most unequivocal thing that's been uttered about the dump in modern memory. If Kerry does end up getting elected, Nevada should hold him to that pledge.
Never ones to be left out, the Democratic National Committee is going up with a spot that notes how commentators have labeled other, non-Yucca Bush ads false or misleading, and then uses that as a cudgel to question Bush's Yucca honesty. The ad cites a July 30 Las Vegas Sun editorial that says, "Kerry has been one of the few consistent friends Nevada has ... regarding Yucca Mountain." Of course, the Sun is wrong: Kerry's votes haven't always been friendly to the Silver State. That's why Kerry and his supporters have taken to saying Kerry has always been with Nevada on the important votes.
So who's right? Cut through the static and you'll see that Bush has favored the dump, and Kerry, although he carries a mixed record, has now pledged to stop it. The difference between the two today couldn't be more clear.
Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist. His column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Reach him at 383-0283 or by e-mail at ssebelius@reviewjournal.com.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
August 29, 2004
Nevada in GOP election spotlight
Republican delegates see state as must-win for Bush campaign
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
Start spreading the news.
Nevada Republicans hope to use the opening line of New York City's signature Sinatra-sung anthem this week at the Republican National Convention to tell voters back home why President Bush deserves four more years.
"We went from the battleground state to a must-win state," said Nevada Republican Chairwoman Earlene Forsythe. "We must deliver our state to our president."
Nevada's 33 delegates will undoubtedly get some of the Big Apple's limelight, with breakfast speakers, invitations to parties and a matinee showing of one of this year's biggest musicals.
Cabs honked in the background as Forsythe spoke by cell phone as she made her way up Broadway last week before the Republican National Committee's summer meeting.
"They're really catering to us," Forsythe said. "The whole point is to go back to our state and stimulate the grass-roots work to get the president re-elected."
Delegates today are supposed to take in "Aida," the Elton John-Disney version of Verdi's love triangle opera, at the Palace Theater, not far from their midtown Manhattan hotel, the Righa Royal.
Unlike the Democratic delegates in Boston, GOP delegates are expected to be greeted by protesters everywhere they go, including the Broadway shows, where a "Mouse Bloc" is set for Disney shows such as "Aida" and "The Lion King." The show will go on, regardless of whether delegates can get there for the freebie.
Delegates aren't worried about protesters or terrorism during the event. They see terrorism only as a national issue facing the country.
"The biggest issue is the war on terror and, as a part of it, homeland security," said first-time delegate Al Valdez, 75, of Las Vegas.
"It's the terrorists who are threatening our homeland security, and we have to defeat them overseas the way this president has led us, so we don't have to suffer the consequences here."
The convention theme, "Fulfilling America's Promise: Building a Safer World and a More Hopeful America," focuses on the war on terror and homeland security, Bush's strongest issue in national polls.
The first day of the convention will include a tribute to those killed on Sept. 11, 2001, with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Arizona Sen. John McCain discussing the nation's challenges.
Tuesday is compassion day, featuring first lady Laura Bush and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., will deliver the convention's keynote address Wednesday, offering the same role he played for Bill Clinton in 1992's Democratic National Convention.
Vice President Dick Cheney will speak Wednesday, and Bush is scheduled to lay out his vision for the next four years during his speech Thursday.
In Nevada, local Republicans will gather to watch the president's speech at a number of parties across the state, including one hosted by U.S. Rep. Jon Porter and others at Sunset Station and one for the Clark County Republican Party at Arizona Charlie's on Decatur Boulevard.
Nevada Democrats plan to counter the parties with their own events, including one by the local Kerry campaign highlighting Republicans who support the Democratic nominee.
"We're hoping that he (Bush) addresses his plans to address the growing health care needs of this country and reverse the trends in the ranks of the uninsured," said Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers.
"We want to hear about his plans to make prescription drugs more affordable, and as the death toll nears 1,000 in Iraq, we want to hear his plans to bring the troops home safely," Summers said.
Joe Cortez, a boxing referee and newfound Republican star, is excited about returning to his hometown and the place where he won the Golden Gloves championship as a fighter.
"Being an official, being unbiased, means I look at things a little more differently," said Cortez who switched from Democrat to Republican three years ago. "When I looked at the whole world and saw how things really were, I decided the Republican Party better represented my values."
Cortez serves on the Bush campaign's national Hispanic steering committee and said he thinks Bush is a better representative for Hispanics.
But Cortez disagrees with the president's stance on stem cell research. His daughter became a quadriplegic after a car accident eight years ago.
"He has not closed the door 100 percent," said Cortez, one of three Hispanic delegates. "I think once he sees that there are positive things coming out with the scientists, he will then compromise with the medical field as far as which direction we should go."
Two-thirds of the delegation is over 50. Three delegates have Hispanic roots, but all 33 consider themselves white.
Five couples are attending as delegates, just under one third of the total. Five elected officials are delegates, and Gov. Kenny Guinn's wife, Dema, and his sister, Shirley Blair, are delegates.
The delegation is split between 18 men and 15 women.
Twelve delegates are from Southern Nevada; the majority of delegates are from Republican-rich Northern Nevada.
Delegate Eileen Rice of Zephyr Cove said she represents a minority view in the party when it comes to the issue of abortion.
"A woman has a right to choose what happens to her own body," Rice said.
Attorney General Brian Sandoval will have a prime-time speaking gig Wednesday night.
Porter, R-Nev., who is not a delegate, will speak at the convention early Monday.
Republican national committeeman Joe Brown said he thinks voters will be impressed with what they see in New York.
"They're going to get to compare the Republican ticket with what they saw in Boston, and I think they're going to be impressed that they've got great leadership," Brown said.
In addition to the 33 delegates, a large contingent of alternates will travel to the convention for a host of activities. Two interns were selected from Nevada to assist the Republican National Committee in hosting the convention.
The Democratic National Convention put Yucca Mountain front and center, as Democrats passed a party platform opposing the nuclear waste repository.
The Republicans plan to approve their party platform Monday.
Draft versions of the platform, approved last week in meetings in New York, have not been released to the public.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
August 29, 2004
Letters
‘Flip-flop´ comes from thinking about new facts
President Bush seems to have one campaign strategy this year: accuse Sen. Kerry of “flip-flopping.’ I´ve changed my mind a number of times on important issues, particularly our ill-advised participation in a “war on terrorism’ being held in Iraq, a war that seems to foster more terrorism. I would rather “flip-flop’ on an issue as new information comes out, rather than take a stance and not change it, regardless of the cost.
A good case in point is the stump speech that the president now has his wife, Laura, making regarding stem cell research. Rather than listen to the facts and make an informed choice, disregarding a coalition of bi-partisan senators urging a change in policy, the president clings to this “no stem cell research’ policy. Mrs. Bush had the audacity to use the logic in her last speech that “a cure for Alzheimer´s is not just around the corner, as proponents of stem cell research would have you believe.’
Just how do they think we get to the point of having a cure “just around the corner’ if we don´t pursue the research?
“Flip-flopping’ is tired political rhetoric, Mr. and Mrs. Bush. Maybe it is time you considered looking at facts and being flexible as circumstances change.
Rick Dawson, Carson City
It´s hypocritical for the Republican campaign to complain that John Kerry “waffles’ or “flip-flops.’ It´s a red herring, a non-issue, pure pickle smoke! But the GOP will not acknowledge the times President Bush has also changed his mind, such as with nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain or recommendations from the Sept. 11 Commission.
But honestly, who among us has never changed thinking or decisions, especially when presented with new information?
Many of our historic national leaders have “flip-flopped.’ Consider Thomas Jefferson, who in August 1775, wrote to John Randolph about his interest in a “reconciliation with Great Britain.’ Yet he then expressed a willingness to “lend my hand to sink the whole island in the ocean.’
Even Bible-believers must concede that the ultimate authority, God, changed his mind, too, for example, in Genesis 18:16-32 and Jonah 3:10.
Beware of the proverbial kettle calling the pot black.
The Rev. John H. Emerson
Sparks
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Pascagoula Mississippi Press
August 29, 2004
Crosby, Stills and Nash take audience back to '60s
By John Surratt
BILOXI -- Their hair was graying and the evidence of age was beginning to show, but their voices and harmony were just as sweet and pure as they were 35 years ago when Crosby, Stills and Nash made their first album and gave their first performance at Woodstock in 1969.
Performing Friday at the Beau Rivage Theater to an almost packed house, the trio of David Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash delivered selections from their vast collection of songs that included old favorites like "Southern Cross," "Marrakesh Express," "Wooden Ships" and "Woodstock" and new selections from a new CD made by Crosby and Nash called "Crosby Nash."
The audience may have been composed primarily of 60- through 30-somethings with a sprinkling of 20-somethings and younger, but the age differences disappeared once the trio walked on the stage, greeted the audience, opened with "Carry On" and turned back the clock.
This was a true rock concert. No pyrotechnics; no smoke, flashing lights and mirrors; no synthetic music; no slithering dancers in suggestive costumes behind a singer whose voice was the consistency of whining.
Just three artists -- let's make that legends -- performing their work on stage with a basic band behind them and an appreciative audience in front that welcomed them with a standing ovation that brought the trio back for two encores. The trio's delivery alternated between rock n' roll and the acoustic sound that attracted the attention of a generation of followers from 1969 into the early 70s.
They dedicated one song to President Bush and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, the Vietnam protest song, "Military Madness," while Crosby and Nash with Stills' help performed "Don't Dig Here," a new song about the federal government's plan to develop Yucca Mountain in Nevada, that is on the new CD.
The first encore performance went back to 1967, with "For What It's Worth," a song performed by Buffalo Springfield, which at the time included Stills and Crosby. The second encore included "Teach Your Children."
If there was any problem with the performance, it was voiced by one patron as he left the theater.
"It wasn't long enough," he said.
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Las Vegas SUN
August 27, 2004
Nevada's GOP delegates look forward to convention
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Nevada's GOP leaders head to New York this weekend for the 2004 Republican National Convention, which starts Monday.
The four-day convention is part business and part pep rally as the party prepares for the remaining days before the November election.
The state's 33 delegates will cast their votes to nominate President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to run for re-election. There are 2,509 delegates and 2,344 alternate delegates along with other elected officials and politicians, their guests and thousands of journalists that cover the event.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.; Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.; Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev.; and Gov. Kenny Guinn will join delegates Attorney General Brian Sandoval, Secretary of State Dean Heller and State Treasurer Brian Krolicki at the convention. Guinn and Sandoval are co-chairmen of Bush's re-election campaign in Nevada.
Brian Scroggins, chairman of the Clark County Republican Party, also a convention delegate, looks forward to "bonding" with the state's Republicans and learning from those in other states.
"You get to network and meet with like-minded people," said Scroggins. "It's a once-in-a-lifetime type of experience."
This will be his first national convention.
"It helps excite the base," Scroggins said. "Our premise all along has been that John Kerry and John Edwards are too liberal for Nevada."
Alternate delegate Radha Chanderraj said she wants to learn how she can help President Bush's re-election effort.
"What can we do in the coming months? We need to do everything we can," said Chanderraj, a Las Vegas lawyer and accountant who serves on the Nevada Gaming Commission. It is also her first convention.
"I want to be able to come back with renewed energy."
Security in New York has been a concern, but Chanderraj said she thinks everyone will be prepared.
"That is one of the reasons I want to see this administration back in office," she said, noting its emphasis on security.
The convention is not all business. Scroggins said he has received about 50 invitations to different parties, lunches, meetings and mixers during the four-day convention. He hopes to fit some sightseeing in, too. A self-described "classic movie buff," he wants to see the Empire State Building -- featured in "An Affair to Remember" -- and places from scenes in "Breakfast at Tiffany's."
Clark County Commissioner Bruce Woodbury will attend his fourth national convention and is excited to be part of Bush's nomination.
He is eager to hear the "main event" -- Bush's acceptance speech -- and he also wants to support Porter when he addresses the crowd.
Porter will make brief remarks from the convention stage on Monday, and Sandoval will give a speech on Wednesday. Guinn, who is vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, will be meeting with other Republican governors during the event.
Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said the convention will give the party the opportunity, like the Democrats have already had, to present their candidates. He said he did not expect a "seismic shift" among voters right after the convention.
"You just don't see, with 24-hour news cycles, the same volcanic changes with one spectacular event like a convention, I don't believe, any longer," Racicot said in a meeting with reporters this week. "As a consequence of that we anticipate the race will be very, very close even after our convention, and it will remain that way all the way to Election Day."
Racicot said the convention is not as much of as display as it was decades ago and the effect on a candidate is different.
"If we were up five points, I think I'd be delighted, but we don't expect, we are certainly not planning, that it is going to be anything other than where it has been over these last weeks," Racicot said.
The Democratic National Committee also believes the race will be tight and started running an ad in Nevada this week about Yucca Mountain.
"It's going to be a close election and every electoral vote counts," said Ellen Moran, a DNC official who coordinates party ads such as the Yucca Mountain spot, not spots for Kerry's presidential campaign that would be covered by federal campaign spending limits.
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Elko Daily Free Press
August 28, 2004
Senate hopeful makes campaign stop in Elko
By Dave Woodson
Free Press Staff Writer
ELKO - Bob Brown may be a newcomer to Nevada but he is not a newcomer to politics.
Brown is among the crowded field of Republican candidates vying for that party's nomination to challenge incumbent Democrat Harry Reid for his U.S. Senate seat.
Brown has been there and done that.
Two years ago he was a candidate for the GOP in the U.S. Senate race in Georgia.
"It is a position held by a Democrat and I wanted to see if I could alleviate that problem in getting him removed," Brown said about entering the race.
Brown has lived in Nevada for about a year and, for now, he is calling Tonopah home.
He said despite having been a Nevadan for only a short time he has met many people.
"I have taken the time to travel the state," he said. "This is such a huge, vast state and the people have a regional variety. Their concerns and their needs are diverse county by county and city by city."
He said during an Elko stopover earlier this week that he is running in an attempt to boost the GOP majority in the Senate to help remove what he sees as a logjam in legislation.
"The country is being held up on a lot of good conservative federal judges and the stickler seems to be in the U.S. Senate," Brown said. "That seems to be the Achilles' heel of the country right now."
He said the court appointments made by President George W. Bush are important for future generations because of the growing role of the court system.
"Litigation is substituting legislation," Brown said. "Once these so-called precedents are established, depending on how far up they go, you are affecting the character, the values and in fact even the taboos and morals of the very fabric of our society."
He said his background is in agriculture and construction.
Brown said that has led him to a concern about a famine.
"All my life I have felt that the most important thing to not only this nation but the world is to have an adequate food supply," he said. "The real red flag is that the average age of the farmer in America is over 65 years old and without a new crop replacing it."
Brown said he is not concerned about nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain because ancient Hebrew and Chinese writings indicated the life expectancy of mankind on planet Earth is less than the predicted storage life of the waste containers.
He also said the federal government needs a downsizing overall.
"Our federal bureaucracy is for the most part broken," Brown said.
"When Nixon created the EPA he created a little bit of a monster there." Brown cited as an example. "They are a little bit heavy-handed."
Brown is in a six-candidate race for the GOP nod.
Nevada's primary election is Sept. 7.
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Reno Gazette-Journal
August 28, 2004
Six candidates to take on Reid
Anjeanette Damon
Reno Gazette-Journal
Nevada Republicans have no shortage of candidates willing to run against Harry Reid, the Senate´s second-most powerful Democrat seeking his fourth term.
After a slate of Republican politicians considered and then bowed out of a run against Reid — including state Treasurer Brian Krolicki, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and Controller Kathy Augustine — six party members declared their candidacy for the Sept. 7 primary runoff.
The problem Republicans Bob Brown, Richard Ziser, Cherie Tilley, Royle William Melton, Carlo Poliak and Kenneth Wegner share is the lack of strong statewide name recognition considered key to electoral success in Nevada.
Several have run for office repeatedly and lost. One lives in Georgia and is taking advantage of a federal law that doesn´t require a person to live in a district until elected. And others believe their conservative roots will prove Reid´s undoing.
They all have their sights set on Reid rather than attacking each other.
“We´re getting the message out about how liberal Harry Reid is,’ Ziser said of his campaign efforts. “All of the issues of concern to Nevadans, he´s simply on the wrong side of. What Harry Reid has done is he´s traded the values and principles that he should be representing Nevada on for leadership in the Democratic Party.’
Reid´s campaign manager, Sean Sinclair, said that Ziser´s only option in the campaign is to attack Reid.
“We are going to focus on Sen. Reid´s results for Nevada while it appears that Richard, because he has no real record to point to, will continue to use baseless rhetoric if he wins the primary,’ Sinclair said.
Several of the Republicans remarked on Reid´s near-loss to John Ensign in 1998 as evidence he can be defeated.
“He only won by 460 votes last time,’ said candidate Tilley.
Reid´s near-loss last time is motivating him to campaign hard this time regardless of the Republican opponent, Sinclair said.
“In 1998, Reid won by a mere 428 votes actually, which is why Sen. Reid isn´t taking anything for granted,’ Sinclair said. “We have built an aggressive statewide campaign and look forward to the general election, whomever emerges as the Republican nominee.’
Georgia man eyes Nevada
Brown is a Georgia rancher and real-estate investor who never has lived a day in Nevada.
But he loves the people here and said he has a good grasp on its issues. He came to Nevada this year looking for a ranch and saw a U.S. Senate race going on.
“The people are so sharp in this state,’ said Brown, 49. “They are like fresh — like the early morning. I like their thrift. They don´t give a fig about legislators.
“I believe a lot of folks are concerned about the taxes – that is always near and dear. I do believe we have a large senior population, so health care will continue to play a pretty good role in the people´s minds. And the property taxes are jumping pretty good.’
Brown raises cattle outside of Yatesville, Ga., although he lists his residence as Boynton Beach, Fla.
Since 1992, he´s run and lost more than a half-dozen campaigns for public office, including mayor of Boynton Beach twice, governor and lieutenant governor of Florida and U.S. Senate in Georgia.
He said he averages about 300 votes an election.
Among the issues important to Brown are ensuring “morals and basic values’ are part of public education, strengthening individual property rights and reining in prescription drug prices.
Churchill DA has foreign policy worries
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Melton said he would work to remind America of its responsibility to be a shining example of freedom for the world.
Melton has a deep-felt anxiety about U.S. foreign policy, saying the country has lost sight of its founding principles. Melton criticized the country´s unfailing support of Israel and of Saudi Arabia´s royal monarchy.
“I believe in the preservation of the Israeli state,’ said Melton, 50, of Reno. “But to allow them to continue with the policies they are, and not show fairness or evenhandedness in the region, I think, invites the kind of animosity we are seeing.
“We should be standing for Democratic principles: one person, one vote; the right of free association; freedom of the press. But we are in Saudi Arabia, preserving a monarchy that does not respect those things.’
Before turning its attention to domestic problems, American leadership needs to focus on shifting its foreign policy, Melton said.
“Our way of life is threatened,’ he said. “Before we talk about welfare, before we talk about education, before we talk about health care — to talk about those things without first addressing foreign policy issues is like hiding your head in the sand.’
Melton is the son of former Reno Gazette-Journal publisher Rollan Melton, who died in 2002, and the brother of former society writer Wayne Melton.
Royle William Melton entered politics soon after college, working as a legislative aide for former Nevada senators Chic Hecht and Paul Laxalt. He´s worked on the campaigns of former President Reagan and former Nevada Attorney General Brian McKay.
But he admits he doesn´t have much time for his own campaign, working full time as a deputy district attorney in Churchill County and bringing up his children.
“I have such a long shot, maybe a 1 percent chance, of winning the general election,’ he said. “But on my deathbed I will at least say I tried. I will say what I think is right and what needs to be said, not what is politically expedient to say.’
Poliak to represent workers
Poliak is troubled by the sense of aristocracy he believes pervades the political community and thinks it´s time for working people to be elected to Congress.
“I resent that they think they are the only ones capable of making judgment calls,’ he said. “I don´t like their judgment calls. I don´t like them because when I look at them, I don´t see anyone in my strata.
“They don´t know any more than I do. I know how to change the oil in my car.’
Poliak, 64, is a Las Vegas garbage collector who has run and lost five campaigns for public office since 1976, including the 2002 gubernatorial race.
He said the incumbent he wants to unseat represents that aristocracy.
Poliak said he hired Reid as a lawyer in the 1970s to contest a law requiring municipal court judges to be lawyers. Poliak lost the case, but what he is angrier about is that Reid doesn´t recognize him today.
“He doesn´t say, ‘Hey, Poliak, how are you doing?´’ Poliak said. “He ignores me because I am not in his category of aristocracy.’
Reid´s campaign had no response to Poliak´s comments.
Among Poliak´s campaign proposals is a flat income tax, the elimination of foreign aid so the country can afford Social Security benefits and an unconventional way of dealing with radioactive waste that likely doesn´t stand up to scientific safety standards.
“Uranium in its natural state hurts nobody,’ he said. “Indians slept on it for hundreds of years. So you take this so-called spent uranium rod, which has broken down, and you drill a hole in some mountainside 100 feet deep, and you drop it in, plug it with some concrete and let Mother Nature take its course. Then you go another 1,000 feet and drop another one.’
Poliak said he is undaunted by Reid´s political strength in the state.
“They didn´t expect someone from my strata of society to challenge the aristocrats,’ Poliak said. “I can stand toe to toe with them on any issue. I stand a very good chance. My issues come from the heart.’
Tilley´s focus: Jobs, water
Tilley was born in a Nevada town that no longer exists.
Rio Tinto is now a ghost town in Elko County, not far from where Tilley now makes his home in Spring Creek.
Tilley, 63, hopes his ties to rural Nevada and his plans to get water and jobs to the state will get him elected in his first run for public office.
“People won´t pay attention to you unless you´re somebody important,’ he said. “And I have a great plan. I thought, I´ll run for Senate and then people will listen to me.’
Tilley´s plan involves using some of the money allocated to build the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain to buy water rights in British Columbia. The state could build a system of pipes to transport the water to rural and Southern Nevada.
As for Yucca Mountain, Tilley proposes building five power plants to generate electricity from the waste, which the state would sell to the power companies.
“We would be able to lower taxes and create high-paying employment for our citizens,’ Tilley said.
Tilley said his experience from a lifetime career in the mining industry sets him apart from Ziser.
“I appreciate his effort in the marriage initiative. and I appreciate that he is a conservative,’ Tilley said. “But I believe we need a politician with a natural resources background to help the environment get back on its economic feet.
“We have some serious mineral problems in our state. People are building on top of areas where they shouldn´t be, like on top of uranium deposits, for example. People are building where there´s arsenic and mercury.’
Wegner on immigration
If elected, disabled veteran Wegner said his top priorities would be securing the nation´s borders, establishing English as the country´s official language and ending all benefits to illegal immigrants.
Wegner said he believes illegal immigrants burden the nation´s public school system, the health care system and take jobs from Americans.
“I have three children, and no one is fixing our problems — they´re just making them worse,’ said Wegner, 48, of Las Vegas. “We have illegal aliens, unsecured borders and stealing from the Social Security trust fund.’
Wegner´s campaign proposals include establishing an 8 percent flat income tax, with a $3,000 deduction for each dependent living in the United States. He also would create an import value tax to pay off the national debt.
He said it is imperative to stop the proposed nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, calling it a national security issue.
Wegner said he was exposed to chemical weapons when he fought in the Persian Gulf War. He describes himself as “100 percent disabled from the military,’ saying he has eye damage, a head injury, rib and leg damage and suffers from epilepsy.
Wegner has vowed not to take any campaign contributions from political action committees or special interests.
To finance his campaign, he said he has sold all of his belongings, including land where he planned to retire and his antique gun collection.
“When I tell them something it is coming form the heart and it is the truth,’ he said. “And I absolutely will not bend.’
Ziser stays conservative
Ziser, a Las Vegas investor, believes he can depend on his deeply conservative roots to beat Reid.
“It will take a very strong fiscal conservative and a very strong social conservative,’ he said. “That is why you see me in this race, and you don´t see the other current statewide officeholders. They don´t fit that criteria. Most people say Harry Reid is tough to beat. But he´s not tough to beat if you are strong on the issues.’
Ziser´s political experience includes organizing the successful ballot initiative — Question 2 — that amended the state constitution to prohibit gay marriage. He said the effort gave him a statewide reach, and he plans to rely on that recognition for his Senate campaign.
“I know the people of Nevada are fiscally conservative, and we saw with Question 2 that they are strong social conservatives.’
He has also spent the past several legislative sessions lobbying lawmakers on “family issues, moral and social issues and taxation issues.’
Ziser is vague when asked what “moral values’ the government should be concerned with. Marriage protection tops the list, he said. Otherwise, it is simply to keep he government from interfering with the family.
“From my perspective, hopefully it would just leave them alone and not continually try to control and tell our families what they should be doing,’ he said. “That goes all the way down to the taxation problem. We should be allowing our families to keep their hard-earned money.’
Ziser saves most of his criticism for Reid, who he described as too liberal for Nevada. Ziser declined to comment on his primary opponents, other than to say he doesn´t “run into them very often.’
“I stand up for the principles and values of the state of Nevada,’ Ziser said. “I have been a small business owner my entire working life. I know and understand the economic issues. I think I have a pretty strong basis for the kind of policy making and legislation that needs to be done at the federal level.’
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Provo Daily Herald
August 28, 2004
In our view: Time to move to clean energy
Would you take any bets on what's going to happen in the next 10,000 years?
Of course not. Besides the fact that you won't live long enough to collect on your bet, you would have no way of knowing, short of divine revelation, what was going to happen that far out.
Yet that is what the designers of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste plan are asked to do.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia ruled in July that the construction plan for Yucca Mountain must demonstrate that radiation releases will be contained for at least the next 10,000 years. The government announced this week it will not appeal the decision, meaning that the case will stand unless nuclear power producers move to appeal it.
So the 10,000-year rule stands.
But while Yucca Mountain is in a remote area near the Nevada Test Site, it's a place that's volcanically and seismically active. It's a little hard to predict with certainty what will happen with geologic faults in that time period.
Even if scientists could prove that Yucca Mountain would be a completely safe repository for nuclear waste for eternity, there are still issues in the here and now that call the entire plan into question.
When the site reaches its capacity of 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste, there will still be thousands of tons of nuclear waste sitting around the country at nuclear power plants. After all, the plants are still operating and still generating waste, which takes years to cool down before it can be transported. Where are we going to put it?
It's a situation akin to the classic problem of draining a pond while a stream still feeds it. Yucca Mountain will be full, and building a second repository will meet fierce opposition and significant expense as well -- not least because of cost. Yucca Mountain's price tag is $60 billion and counting. One of the fears is that the proposed "temporary" storage facility at Skull Valley would, if it is ever built, become a permanent repository.
Transportation is also another issue, one that should concern all Utahns. Nine out of 10 shipments headed to Yucca Mountain will travel through Utah. Despite assurances from nuclear industry experts that there hasn't been an accident in which radiation was released, it will only be a matter of time until either a catastrophic transportation accident or a terrorist strike releases radiation along the transport route.
Rather than looking for some hole in the ground in which to drop high level nuclear waste, change their tune. Perhaps it's time to move away from nuclear power altogether. Wind and solar power, for example, do not create hazardous byproducts or consume non-renewable resources.
By definition, alternative technologies will not be developed until somebody actually does it. We should not continue to take the easy road, clinging mindlessly to current methods for generating power. It's time government got squarely behind the effort to develop clean energy, just as it did with the creation of nuclear weapons and dirty power plants.
The court's decision should be a sign that it's time to consider other options rather than just sweeping nuclear waste under a mountain.
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Free Lance-Star
August 28, 2004
Nuclear debate renewed
Jury still out on whether Dominion Virginia Power will build new reactors at its North Anna plant
By Rusty Dennen
Utility eyeing North Anna
Whether Dominion Virginia Power builds new nuclear reactors at North Anna Power Station depends largely on how the nation's energy market evolves.
"Based on what we know today, I think [nuclear] would be a prudent investment. But it would have to be a solid business call,"
David A. Christian, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer, said in a recent interview.
Though Dominion says it has no plans now to add reactors at the plant on Lake Anna in Louisa County, the company wants to be among the first at the table if nuclear generation gains a bigger slice of the energy-supply pie over the next 20 years.
Meanwhile, its application for an early site permit--the first step--is wending its way through the regulatory process.
Dominion, Exelon Generation Co. in Illinois, and System Energy Resources Inc. in Mississippi filed applications for the permits with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last fall to resolve safety, environmental protection and emergency planning issues before making the billion dollar decision to build.
Thelma Wiggins, a spokeswoman for the pro-industry Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington, predicts that could happen sooner than later.
"As an industry, we're looking at everything moving forward and seeing new plants in the U.S. within the next five years," she said. NEI views nuclear power as the low-cost, no-emissions alternative that would help reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil.
Which of the three companies would be first to build depends on the pace of the regulatory process, she said.
A final environmental impact statement on Dominion's application is expected to be completed by July 2005, and a final safety evaluation report by August 2005. After that, it goes before the Atomic Safety Licensing Board, with an NRC decision possible as early as June 2006. Dominion would be able to "bank" the site for 20 years, with the option to renew.
Christian said it's too early to say what the company will decide. That decision would be up to Dominion's board, assuming the permit is approved.
"It's safe to say we need electricity in the future. And when you focus on the need for electricity and the need for clean air, that plays to nuclear's strength," he said.
Waiting game
The early site permits are being watched with great interest by the industry.
There are 103 commercial reactors in operation. Most of those were built or in the pipeline prior to the Three Mile Island accident near Middletown, Pa. On March 28, 1979, Unit 2 there suffered a partial meltdown.
Then in 1986, the deadly Chernobyl disaster in Soviet Ukraine killed 31 people and spewed radioactive material across the countryside, sickening thousands.
In the backlash, nearly 100 planned U.S. reactors were canceled.
Now the pendulum has begun to swing back the other way. In 1996 a new reactor went online at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar plant.
Christian points out that worldwide, 31 nuclear plants are under construction; China plans to open 32 within the next 10 years.
He said Dominion must consider expanding its nuclear generation.
"It's a low-cost option. We would not go ahead if it were not in the best interest of customers and shareholders." And in a post-9/11 world, he added, "National security is inextricably linked to economic security, and economic security is best achieved by diversity of supply."
According to the Department of Energy, demand for electricity is expected to grow by 1.8 percent annually through 2025.
Last year, coal accounted for 50.3 percent of the nation's electric generation; nuclear, 20.4 percent; natural gas, 17.9 percent; hydroelectric, 6.9 percent; oil, 2.3 percent; and renewable sources, such as wind and geothermal energy, 2.2 percent.
The agency says that over the next 20 years coal will continue to produce more than half the nation's electricity, but that by 2007, natural gas will overtake nuclear as the nation's second-largest source of power.
Dominion has one of the nation's largest reserves of natural gas and has built several natural gas-fired plants in the Fredericksburg area over the past decade.
In its annual energy outlook for 2004, which projects energy prices and trends, DOE's Energy Information Administration suggests more reactors may be unnecessary in the foreseeable future.
"No new nuclear units are expected to become operable between 2002 and 2025, because natural gas and coal-fired units are projected to be more economical," the report says.
Dominion has four reactors operating in Virginia--two at its Surry Plant on the James River near Williamsburg, and two at North Anna. The operating licenses for those reactors were recently extended for 20 years. It also owns the Millstone nuclear plant on Long Island Sound near Waterford, Conn.
North Anna was chosen as the best possible site for new reactors.
Christian said any additional reactor at North Anna would be of a new generation of more efficient, safer designs. The cost would be comparable to construction of a 1,000 megawatt coal-fired plant--about $1.4 billion--and could be built in a little over four years.
In April, Dominion, along with Atomic Energy of Canada, Hitachi America and Bechtel Power Corp., submitted a plan to get DOE guidance on technical issues on a new generation of reactors and to determine the cost of building them. A combined construction and operating permit would be required from the NRC.
Any new units would go up near the existing reactors at North Anna. A field next to the concrete-domed complex is the most likely spot--where Units 3 and 4 were started and then scrapped in the early 1980s.
Risks and politics
Regulatory issues aren't the only hurdles in Dominion's early site permit quest. Three environmental groups have formed a coalition to fight any new reactors at the Louisa plant.
Public Citizen, the Nuclear Information and Resource Service and the Blue Ridge Environmental Council are challenging the potential impact on striped bass in Lake Anna, and whether plans to cool additional reactors are sufficient to protect the lake. The groups have also raised concerns about creating additional targets for terrorists, and the safety risks of storing and transporting spent fuel.
Another hurdle, and not only for Dominion, could be the presidential election. Democratic nominee Sen. John Kerry has said he'll join opponents of a national nuclear waste repository planned under Yucca Mountain, Nev. The repository, scheduled to open in 2010, would store thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent uranium fuel piling up at the nation's nuclear power plants, including North Anna.
The Bush administration supports the repository and the president has said he's in favor of expanding nuclear power generation.
Christian declined to speculate on how a Kerry win in the November election might affect the company's application.
"I think this is just one more taxpayer subsidy," said Jerry Rosenthal, a Louisa resident and president of Concerned Citizens of Louisa, who thinks that more reactors at North Anna is a bad idea.
Dominion will be getting millions of dollars in federal money. The early site permit process, for example, will cost about $11 million, of which DOE is picking up about half. The company also stands to get $366 million in DOE funds to develop and build any new reactors.
The Nuclear Energy Institute's Wiggins counters that Dominion and the other two permit applicants are only asking for what's been given to other power producers in the past.
"For renewables, coal, oil, there have been incentives for all of these and nuclear needs to be afforded the same opportunity," she said.
Rosenthal says the nuclear industry and the NRC, "are moving fast toward a resurgence of nuclear power. Congress is being very lax and very forgiving."
Still, he says, "I'm cautiously optimistic that there's a better than 50 percent chance that there's not another reactor" at North Anna.
Rosenthal doesn't buy the notion that the company just wants to be prepared, if and when the market dictates.
"Why would they be spending that much money?"
To reach RUSTY DENNEN: 540/374-5431 rdennen@freelancestar.com
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Pahrump Valley Times
August 27, 2004
Leavitt has a vested interest in the valley
By Phillip Gomez
PVT
Former Pahrump Town Board member Tim Leavitt is running for Nye County commissioner, hoping to represent District I, 60 percent of which encompasses the Pahrump Valley and 40 percent in northern Nye County.
Leavitt moved to Pahrump with his family in 1980 and met his future wife in the sixth grade. Married 16 years, the Leavitts have five children.
Leavitt graduated from Pahrump Valley High School in 1988 and attended for two years a community college in Las Vegas. He worked for Ron Murphy Construction in Pahrump from 1994 to 2001. He is now general manager at Classic Homes.
Leavitt was on the town board of Pahrump from 1998 to 2002. During that time he was successful lobbying for recreational opportunities in Pahrump, including helping to obtain a $300,000 grant to replace playground equipment in three town parks.
Leavitt said his motive for running is "my personal gain." By that he means "children, youth, their education and jobs. I'm a bit idealistic, I guess.
"I have a vested interest in Nye County," he said. More than the other four candidates in his race, Leavitt claims he has "the most to gain and the most to lose."
Leavitt's oldest daughter will graduate in two years, said Leavitt, and he is not looking forward to the prospect of her having to leave town.
"I don't plan on leaving," he said. "I want my children to raise their children here. In order to do that they need to be able to be educated here and their husbands need to be able to find jobs here."
Leavitt considers himself lucky to have found a good paying job in Pahrump without having to commute to Las Vegas. "It would be nice if more people had that same opportunity," he said.
"The first place to start is education," he said. Leavitt wants to augment the Nye County School District's cooperative educational initiative with the Community College of Southern Nevada allowing high school students to earn college credit for courses taken while still in high school.
Salt Lake City has a similar but more extensive program, he said, where high school students can earn an associate's degree during their high school years. "That's going to advance their chances of getting better paying jobs," he said.
"It would be nice for Nye County to be known for the children we're educating."
Leavitt's ultimate goal would be to use PETT funds - federal funding for discretionary local purposes given to Nye County for the land value of Yucca Mountain - to implement his college credit program through the Millennium endowment fund, currently used for capital improvements only.
In the larger scheme of things, Leavitt believes Pahrump needs to decide on the kind of community it wants to be: "a bedroom community to Las Vegas, or do we want to stand on our own two feet?" he asked rhetorically.
Leavitt believes Pahrump needs more vocational training. With larger companies like Saitta-Trudeau and Pahrump Valley Auto Plaza doing business in town, he sees an opportunity for kids not intending to go to college.
"What if a kid went to high school for half a day, then the other half he spent at one of the car dealerships? Then, by the time he graduated, he could be a fully certified mechanic."
Balancing the county budget is another concern Leavitt has. "I think that my business background will help me," he said.
"They've tried cutting things across the board and it hasn't helped. We have to figure out how to increase our tax base," he said. "Even though we (have) had a lot of construction of new homes, we need to encourage industry and commercial development, (the details) to be determined by the commissioners.
"A business base is what will support Nye County and allow Pahrump to stand on its own two feet. Currently the county is looking at the PETT funds as a cure-all, but we need to consider that we may not always have those funds.
"What we need to understand is that for Pahrump to succeed we need for Tonopah to succeed. We need for Amargosa Valley to succeed, for Beatty to flourish.
"I understand the northern residents' concerns because Pahrump had the same concerns when I was growing up, and I understand Pahrump's concerns today because I have lived through those changes."
Leavitt accuses the present commission of not doing enough in its relationship with the Department of Energy in demanding greater largesse in exchange for cooperation on the Yucca Mountain project.
Opportunities have been lost on other fronts, he said. Nye County had the chance to take over the Bullfrog Mine when its owner offered it, Leavitt said, and he said the property could have been used to good advantage by the county by turning it into an industrial complex. Auto parts companies already use Beatty for performance testing of automotive products in different weather extremes, he said.
On the Pahrump senior citizen front, Leavitt said, "Regardless of the problem they're facing, we definitely have to figure out a way we can fund ... (the Meals on Wheels) program." As an independent 501c3 not-for-profit organization, he said, "They're not being funded like the rest of the senior citizens in Nye County.
"I'm not going to make a bunch of promises, just that there will be results. I have a history of being fiscally responsible. When I set my mind to do something I will get it done."
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Pahrump Valley Times
August 27, 2004
Atkinson not afraid to get his hands dirty
By Phillip Gomez
PVT
Dr. Mark Atkinson was born in Oklahoma, moved with his family to Missouri and went to school in a little one-room schoolhouse in the Ozarks. As far as he's concerned that's all you need to know about him to elect him as your next Nye County commissioner for District I.
But there's more. Mrs. Holly was his first teacher, and the teacher of 27 of Atkinson's school chums. They weren't true classmates because students of different grade levels remained in the same classroom all through their several years of schooling. As they advanced from one grade to the next they just moved over a row.
But they learned from each other as well. They learned to get along.
Mrs. Holly took no nonsense from the students, Atkinson says. She would whack the knuckles of misbehaving boys and the shoulders of naughty girls.
"She taught us well," he recalls. She even kept track of her students throughout their lives. When Atkinson graduated from four years of chiropractic school a month before his 50th birthday Mrs. Holly called to congratulate him on his success. Atkinson was proud to tell her that he had graduated at the top of his class.
In his 12-year practice in Gulfport, Miss., and later in California, Atkinson learned how to handle a business budget and how to work with people, he says.
Earlier, as a printing manager with Hewlett Packard Co. for 10 years, Atkinson had also dealt with budgets and personnel. He was responsible for making five-year forecasts and coming up with spending plans. Hewlett Packard sent him to management classes at Stanford University six weeks of every year. He says he learned, among other things, how to get along with people.
As a chiropractor Atkinson says he gained valuable experience "trying to get the federal government to pay Medicare (bills)" - reimbursements for work he did on patients. "I learned very well you have to keep after the federal government," he says.
Nye County has a lot of problems, Atkinson says. He has put 3,000 miles on his car since May traveling the county, talking to people, he reports. Asked why he wants to be commissioner, he says he "just got mad."
"We got so many intelligent people here. Every time I turn around they're (the present commissioners) giving money to study some problem. Are we that busy that we can't do it ourselves?" He mentions the latest $50,000 study to move the county seat. "Why do we have to hire somebody? Why can't we just let some of our own people do it?"
Too many issues exist to adequately focus on in a single interview, Atkinson says. "To begin with, I can do nothing unless I can convince at least two other commissioners, and I've been doing that all my life. I think we've got a tremendous job ahead of us, and if we don't work together we're in deep trouble."
One of the main problems Atkinson sees is "the red tape involved in getting (building) permits. It took Wal-Mart a year," he says. "We need either a commissioner or a Pahrump Regional Planning Commissioner to walk a new business or industry through the red tape. We need a more reasonable time for approval of businesses wanting to come in."
On the budget Atkinson says, "It is not right to take money from the road fund or disposal fund or PETT fund to put in the general fund. Why hire more people when we are so short of money?"
On dust control, Atkinson says, "We have got to get these contractors to start watering down like they do in Vegas. I think the gravel pit owners need to take their water trucks and wet the road down so we don't have the cloud of dust we have. In the last few years we've had five times as many trucks on the roads (in Pahrump). A good amount of dust comes from this and (worsens the health of) people with emphysema." To be fair to most contractors, however, water trucks have been used extensively for the past few years and the pollution caused by disturbed land is less serious than it once was, though the valley's air quality remains below federal clean air standards.
Other of his concerns follows.
Roads: "All roads in the county need closer attention given them," Atkinson says.
Mining and ranching: "Round Mountain (Gold Corp.) is being held up with their permit for the new location by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. EPA is also giving the ranchers problems. The railroad to Yucca Mountain will fence off livestock from water and range with its four-foot high embankment."
Employment: "We need to actively recruit industry, more stores, such as Target, Home Depot, etc."
Traffic Control: "Additional lights would help in Pahrump, i.e., at Highway 372 and Pahrump Valley Boulevard."
Flood Control: "Many roads in the north (county) need drainage pipes under the road to help with flooding. Pahrump needs retention basins, which the Army Corps of Engineers is surveying at the present time."
Senior problems: "Prevalent over the entire county. Should be taken care of before the election."
Hospital: "Should be taken care of before the election."
Youth: "Dr. Roberts is actively planning trade schools for youth who do not want to go to college. Give him all the support (you) can."
Atkinson says that in three years Pahrump will double in size if the Department of Energy goes through with its plans for Yucca Mountain. The county needs to take a more active role in negotiating with DOE and the EPA, Atkinson says.
"They will listen to someone with power," he says, meaning a Nye County commissioner.
"We've got problems in this county," Atkinson concludes. "They are so numerous you can just throw a dart and it will hit a problem."
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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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