Yucca Mountain News Clips
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
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Las Vegas SUN
October 27, 2004
NRC data access closed to public
By Suzanne Struglinski
<suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- Public access to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's document databases will be down for at least three weeks while it examines them for sensitive information.
As network administrator Dan Graser showed UNLV computer engineers how the Yucca Mountain document database worked Monday, the commission decided to take it and other public document databases down to review them for sensitive information.
"The specific catalyst was when people went into ADAMS and found floor plans within license renewals," said NRC spokesman Dave McIntyre. "It raised concerns."
NBC News and CNN recently did reports on the ease of locating radioactive material inside medical buildings, universities and other places using the commission's "Agency-wide Documents Access and Management System," known as ADAMS.
That system includes an archive of at least 700,000 documents. It will not be accessible to the public for at least three weeks, officials said.
McIntyre said the agency is grappling with how to remain a public and open agency while protecting information that would be useful to anyone wanting to get radioactive materials for dangerous uses.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks the commission took down its entire Web site and removed more than 1,000 documents it deemed sensitive. Nothing labeled classified or safeguarded has ever appeared on the site, but McIntyre said the definition of sensitive information is changing.
Additionally, the public won't be able to access the License Support Network, the commission's database of Yucca Mountain documents, until further notice.
The Energy Department's work of loading its documents into the network will not be affected, said Allen Benson, Yucca Mountain project spokesman.
The Energy Department submitted all of its documents to the network in June in order to meet its Dec. 31 deadline of giving the commission the license application for the proposed nuclear waste storage site at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
A commission administrative panel found the department did not follow the law and still has documents to up-load. The department is still waiting for a decision from the commission regarding a rehearing of the case.
Martin Malsch, of Egan, Fitzpatrick, Malsch & Cynkar, the law firm hired by the state to handle Yucca issues said the lack of access should not affect the state.
"We're not under any deadline right now," he said. "I don't think it hurts us very much."
Once the Energy Department certifies to the commission is has completed all its documentation, the state has 90 days to get its own documentation into the commission.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 27, 2004
NRC to remove sensitive documents from Web site
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has shut down its online document library, pending a review to determine what potentially sensitive documents should be removed because they might be useful to terrorists, the agency said Tuesday.
While the agency's Web site does not contain classified material, the NRC "is widening its review to remove additional information that could potentially be of use to a terrorist," the agency said in a statement.
The shutdown includes the computer network holding documents pertaining to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
A relatively short blackout will have minimal impact on Yucca Mountain research being conducted for the state of Nevada, according to Bob Loux, executive director of the state's Agency for Nuclear Projects.
"I suspect three or four weeks wouldn't be a big problem," Loux said. "If it is a couple of months it could be a problem for our experts tryng to review Energy Department documents."
Technical experts and lawyers hired by the state have been examining documents looking for ammunition to challenge an anticipated repository license application.
The NRC action came after a report by NBC that among the items found on the NRC Web site were detailed information on the location of radioactive substances that could be used to make a so-called dirty bomb.
In some cases, the data included detailed building diagrams that pinpointed the location of the material in hospitals and other facilities, according to the NBC report.
Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 27, 2004
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Thousands cheer Kerry in LV
Democrat makes his seventh visit to Silver State
By Erin Neff
Review-Journal
Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry used his seventh visit to Nevada to tell supporters Tuesday that "hope is on the way" if they vote for him.
Just seven days before the election, Kerry opened his 20-minute stump speech at Jaycees Park by saying he had asked Nevada Sen. Harry Reid who the best magician in Las Vegas was: David Copperfield or Lance Burton.
"He said, `Neither, it's George Bush,' " Kerry said. "He made our allies disappear. He cut jobs, sawed them right in half, and he made a huge deficit appear out of nowhere."
The Secret Service estimated the crowd inside the park reached 9,500. Another 2,000 outside the park roared with approval, waving signs that said, "7 more days to a fresh start" and "Nevada is Kerry Country."
Kerry hammered the Bush administration for this week's news that 380 tons of ammunition and explosives are missing from a stockpile in Iraq.
"George Bush has not made America safer," he said. "I will."
Kerry argued Bush didn't have a plan to guard ammo dumps or guard the country's borders.
"My friends, we deserve a commander in chief who knows how to make America safer and protect our troops," Kerry said.
He said the stolen explosives were the same kind "that took down Pan Am 103 and that blew up the USS Cole."
"Safer with them?" he posed. "Come on, folks."
Bush-Cheney regional spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said Kerry was leveling "false attacks." She said the ammunition and explosives were already missing the day after the war began when the U.S. military went to secure the dump.
The rally was designed as the biggest get-out-the-vote push by Democrats this election year. Afterward, buses transported some of the attendees to the Boulevard Mall so they could vote early.
The supporters who arrived early at the rally were each handed a piece of paper with a script and the name and telephone number of three voters, a massive voter outreach project sponsored by the Nevada AFL-CIO.
Elizabeth Senia pulled out her cell phone and dialed a number on her sheet during a lull in the rally.
"They didn't answer the phone," she said. "But I'm going to call them back as soon as I'm in a quieter place."
The script mentioned Kerry's plan to provide health insurance to thousands of Nevadans and the Massachusetts senator's opposition to the proposed national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
Kerry mentioned Yucca about 15 minutes into his speech as part of a list of campaign promises he said Bush failed to keep.
"George Bush promised he wouldn't create a deficit ... promised No Child Left Behind would leave no child behind and promised to plan carefully and act only as a last resort with the war. How many broken promises do you need, Nevada?
"He promised you he wasn't going to approve Yucca Mountain unless the science was right," Kerry added, referencing the earthquake faults at Yucca and its proximity to aquifers.
"I'll tell you, Nevada, not on my watch," Kerry said, repeating his oft-used line promising to halt the project.
The visit was Kerry's third in three weeks and, campaign officials believe, probably his last before the election to a battleground state that went for Bush in 2000 by 3.5 percentage points.
Two protesters were outside the main entrance to the park, one using a bullhorn to criticize Kerry for his positions on the Iraq war.
Inside the park, labor leaders warmed up the crowd with criticism of Bush.
James Hoffa, president of the International Teamsters, said Bush has followed Kerry around the country to different battleground states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
"He's followed him everywhere but one spot: Vietnam," Hoffa said.
Sheryl Crow performed four acoustic songs for the crowd, opening with "A Change Would Do You Good" and expressing her support for Kerry.
She said she had made her opposition to the war known when it was launched.
"America's coming around to see what it's about, a fraud," Crow said.
Crow said Kerry has been a friend of hers and her native Missouri. "He's not afraid to tell the truth, and the American people can handle that."
Guitarist Peter Stroud sat beside her and provided backing vocals on Crow's hit "All I Wanna Do."
"This ain't no disco. It ain't no country club either. This is Nevah-dah," she sang, using the common mispronunciation of the state.
Kerry consistently pronounced the state's name with the short-a that natives prefer, but his voice sounded a bit hoarse to Mary Ellen Hayes, who tried to reach him with an unopened box of Tic-Tacs to soothe his throat.
"I adore him," said Hayes, a native of Ireland who has lived in Nevada for decades. "I just got back from Europe, and everyone just hates Bush. I can't believe this country isn't as upset about the way things have gone."
About half of the crowd raised their hands when asked if they already had voted.
John Pena said he was waiting until Nov. 2 to cast his vote for Kerry.
"Right now, I'm busy trying to get everyone on my block to get out and vote," he said. "I think this is the most important decision we will ever make."
Casey King, 16, and Amanda Weaver, 17, skipped classes at Shadow Ridge High School to attend the rally in matching, handmade shirts that read, "No one died when Clinton lied."
Though too young to vote, both girls said they work as volunteer for MoveOn.Org and the Democratic Party. "We're definitely going to vote for Kerry for a second term," King said.
The two were accompanied by King's mother, Pam Winn. "They have permission to skip school," Winn said. "That's my philosophy about teenagers: If you can't control them, get them involved."
As people filed into the rally, one protester drove back and forth along Atlantic Street and played anti-Kerry messages over a speaker system in the bed of his white pickup .
He got a thumbs-up from Dustin Ciaccio, who stood in Atlantic Street, just outside the park, holding a hand-drawn sign that read, "Kerry is a joke."
Ciaccio said he was there "trying to get these people to get in their right minds," a sentiment that did not seem to sit well with several Kerry supporters in union T-shirts who taunted him.
Bush's updated travel schedule, released Tuesday, does not include any stops in Nevada through Saturday. The Review-Journal has learned Vice President Dick Cheney will have rallies in Las Vegas and Reno on Monday. Tickets are available at local Republican and Bush-Cheney headquarters beginning today.
Review-Journal writer Henry Brean contributed to this report.
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Las Vegas Review-Journal
October 27, 2004
EPA administrator visits Hoover Dam
Awards ceremony follows parade of Cabinet members appearing in battleground states
By Keith Rogers
Review-Journal
With the picturesque backdrop of Hoover Dam, the Bush administration's top environmental official on Tuesday presented awards to concessionaires on Lake Mohave.
The visit by former Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt, Environmental Protection Agency administrator, follows a parade of Cabinet members appointed by President Bush who have come to battleground states recently to distribute grant money, hand out awards and raise awareness about the president's achievements.
As for Leavitt's appearance Tuesday, one of the few official trips he's made to Nevada since replacing Christine Todd Whitman nearly a year ago, Leavitt's staff said the timing on the same day Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry campaigned in Las Vegas was coincidental.
The trip had been planned since Oct. 15, days before Kerry announced he would be making his seventh trip to Las Vegas, said Brent Maier, an EPA spokesman.
In presenting the EPA's National Performance Track awards to Forever Resorts' Cottonwood Cove marina and its Black Canyon/Willow Beach River Adventures, Leavitt commended Forever Resorts' President Rex Maughan and the operators for leadership in environmental compliance, energy efficiency and recycling.
He said nothing of the years the EPA has tried to set a health standard for the rocket-fuel ingredient perchlorate that has contaminated Lake Mead and the Lower Colorado River, a drinking supply for more than 22 million people.
Only when asked afterward did Leavitt touch on the No. 1 environmental issue facing Nevada: the EPA's radiation protection standard for the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
An appeals court in July rejected the standard.
Asked about his plan for dealing with the Yucca Mountain radiation standard, Leavitt said, "I acknowledge and recognize the appetite for new information. I don't have any at this point. ... The court order requires that we revisit it and we will."
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KRNV
October 27, 2004
Kerry rallies Democrats in Las Vegas
Democratic candidate John Kerry came to Las Vegas Tuesday hoping to rally Democrats and win this state's five crucial electoral votes.
Kerry spoke to thousands at Jaycee Park, pledging again to stop the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain if he is elected president.
He also says Iraq is a mess, and he criticized President Bush for wanting to privatize Social Security.
In his 35-minute speech, Kerry told the crowed to, "go to those polls and vote your dreams, not your fears."
This is Kerry's seventh trip to Nevada, a battleground state that President Bush won four years by a small margin. Recent polls show both candidates are locked in a tie in Nevada.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Reno Gazette-Journal
October 26, 2004
Five candidates compete for seat on U.S. Senate
Anjeanette Damon
He has national name recognition, a 22-point lead in the polls and has spent $1 million from his campaign war chest to help his party win back a U.S. Senate majority.
It all provides Harry Reid, D-Nev., formidable momentum en route to a fourth term.
But Republican opponent Richard Ziser says the grassroots network he built while advocating Nevada´s constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage will propel him to victory at the polls.
And a trio of third-party candidates say their candidacies are a pulpit for their party platforms and not a serious challenge to Reid.
This campaign is much different than Reid´s 1998 re-election bid, in which he defeated John Ensign — now the state´s junior senator — by only 428 votes. This year, Reid´s clout is substantial enough that some political analysts have said even Democratic presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John Kerry needs to ride his coattails to win Nevada´s five electoral votes.
Born and brought up in the tiny mining town of Searchlight, Reid, 64, is now the second most powerful Democrat in the Senate. He´s been a staunch opponent of the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository, is favored by conservationists and the mining industry alike and has played a pivotal role mediating disagreements over how the Truckee River´s water is used.
“I´m in a position now to do things that no other Nevada senator has been able to do,’ he said. “If there is a decision to be made, I´m back there.’
Reid has raised more than $8 million for his campaign. He recently gave $1 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee — the largest donation to the committee in recent memory.
In this campaign, Reid enjoys broad bipartisan support in the state, receiving money and endorsements from Republicans and Democrats — although many of the state´s top Republicans, including Gov. Kenny Guinn, have decided not to endorse him.
Reid said his work on behalf of Democrats across the country shouldn´t be a problem for Nevada voters from either party.
“I´ve been in the majority before and I can do more for the state,’ he said. “That is no problem.’
If he´s re-elected, Reid said he wants to continue working to ensure the state has enough water and to focus on the state´s transportation problems.
But Ziser, 51, a Las Vegas investor, said Reid´s status in the Democratic Party puts him at odds with Nevada voters.
“He doesn´t represent the values of Nevadans,’ Ziser said. “When it comes to lower taxation, when it comes to family values, the national marriage amendment — which he worked against. Those are strong messages that Nevadans tend to move away from him and toward my candidacy.’
Ziser is positioning himself as the conservative candidate on both social and fiscal issues. He supports banning gay marriage and civil unions. He wants to reform the tax system to instate a flat tax or consumption tax.
Ziser said he will attract voters “because of the principals and values and the conservative positions that I take and I stand for,’ he said. “The fact that I support the concepts of limited government, the strength of our free-enterprise system. My background as a businessman and engineer. My emphasis on a strong national defense and the traditional American values.
“And I´ve worked hard on the causes of Nevadans, representing them rather than the large special interests Harry Reid represents.’
Ziser said he´s not worried about a recent Reno Gazette-Journal/News 4 poll that showed Reid with a 57-35 lead over Ziser.
“We are running a very targeted campaign,’ he said. “I don´t think the numbers will be reflected in the polling numbers because of that. Our campaign isn´t a major media campaign. We have known all along that if we can turn out our voters, if we can get our message out to our voters, that we can win this thing.’
Reid and Ziser also face competition from three men running on third-party tickets.
Independent American David Schumann, 65, a Minden retiree, is running because he wants the federal government to give up control of its 87 percent of Nevada land and to stop benefits to illegal immigrants.
“I would put electronic gadgets all along (the U.S.-Mexico border) with motion sensors and infrared video cameras,’ he said. “We do not need the drag on our economy. If you put them back in Mexico, they would be a spur to get things right in Mexico.’
He´s also angry that Reid and Ensign haven´t done more to turn over federally-owned land to the state.
“People complain about Yucca Mountain, but they don´t complain about the federal government claiming 90 percent of the state,’ he said. “I will be a voice to rattle the boat and go in there and tear down this house of cards.’
Libertarian Thomas Hurst, 46, is a University of Nevada, Las Vegas physics lecturer who has never run for office before. But he is a fierce believer in his party´s platform.
“It doesn´t take a Libertarian senate to have a Libertarian America,’ he said. “It takes a few Libertarians making enough of a stink to get their way and to, on a regular basis, get the message out so more and more people are convinced we are pretty reasonable about things.’
If elected, Hurst said he would work to return control of Nevada´s federally-owned land to the state, to abolish state agencies that waste tax dollars and create burdensome regulations and to uphold civil liberties.
“I´m very big on personal freedoms and civil rights,’ he said. “I think things like the Patriot Act are abominable.’
Hurst said he´s not running “a paper candidacy,’ even if he doesn´t expect to win. His party sends out mailers and puts up signs. Hurst said he speaks to as many groups as he can.
“You´ve seen the polls, I´m not going to win,’ he said. “But that´s no reason not to run.’
Gary Marinch, 50, a Natural Law Party member, is running for one reason — he thinks the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository needs to be stopped. The Las Vegas real estate investor doesn´t even want to discuss other issues.
“I´d go and fight on that issue and nothing else,’ he said. “Every time they wanted to talk about something else, I´d talk about this. I want you people out of my life.
“It´s the most pressing issue in Nevada. I´m not interested in being in politics for a career. I´d go there and fight over this issue every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week until they get out of here. Then I´ll be done.’
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U.S. SENATE CANDIDATES: WHERE THEY STAND
1. What needs to happen in Iraq?
Hurst: Iraq is an unjust and unnecessary war and we need to remove our troops as soon as logistically possible. It is quite clear that the people in Iraq do not want us there. And I think it is unfortunate that our politicians are engaging in this 21st century imperialism, where we try to impose our form of government on someone or we try to preserve our economic interest in another sovereign country. We need to leave Iraq. The middle east has been a mess and always will be a mess until they solve it. We´re not going to solve their problem.
Marinch: First of all, everybody, he had weapons of mass destruction in 1998. They said it over and over. So now, for some reason, everybody is hemming and hawing about why we went into Iraq because we can´t find them. We don´t have to find them. Number two, we need to call this World War III, because that is what we did. It started on 9/11. We did the right thing, everybody agrees, when we went to Afghanistan. Let´s suppose we don´t go and we delay it, where would we be right no? We´d be in Afghanistan fighting terrorists, we´d have a base in Afghanistan and we´d be stuck in the Middle East forever. We might have more dead because we´re fighting Saddam Hussein. We´re going to have a presence there, just like in Europe and Japan, forever. We´re stuck in a box. Nobody seems to see it. We´re not getting out.
Reid: Where this war gone wrong is the president did not follow his father. His father developed a real coalition, not just in name, where 90 percent of the costs were paid for by other countries. Ninety percent of the casualties were from other countries. This is just the opposite. We need to get the international community involved. We need an international summit. We´re now approaching 1,111 dead soldiers. We have about 10,000 wounded, many of those grievously wounded, paralyzed, eyes out, limbs off. Doing what the president says — more of the same — won´t do the trick. Do something different like getting the help from other countries, not only help with the military but reconstruction.
Ziser: We need to continue exactly what we´re doing. In any war situation it is going to take time to clean things up. It didn´t happen over night after World War II. I think we´ve become a society looking for instant gratification. Well, it takes time to get there. Once they´ve had their elections over there and the government is already turned over, we need to help them get to the point where we can safely pull our troops out. It will take time. We just need to remain strong.
2. Should American consumers be able to import prescription drugs from Canada?
Hurst: Absolutely. They should be able to buy drugs from whereever and whomever they want. The reason the pharmaceuticals are expensive is primarily because of government regulations. It wasn´t that long ago that pharmaceuticals and health insurance and doctors were affordable. The only difference between now and then is government interference.
Marinch: I don´t know. To me, I´m not running for local politics. So if I´m going to Washington, everything else I vote on, except Yucca Mountain, will only have a small effect on Nevada. I´ll talk about voting on Yucca Mountain because the whole thing affects us. Let´s settle that. I´ll always end my answer with Yucca Mountain. I´m trying to get them mad and focused. If people are not mad, then we´re not going to fight this properly.
Reid: In a heart beat. In a second. Elect John Kerry. We have passed a law that says it can happen now if the secretary of health and human services signs off. This administration just won´t allow us to do it.
Ziser: I don´t know why we can´t. I think the biggest problem is the drug company´s ability to sell to in large quantities to various sales regions and Canada happens to be one of them. I think the real way of solving those problems is to allow associations and groups here to be able to buy at those same quantity discounts. Then we wouldn´t have to go to Canada to buy them.
3. Do you support the proposed “temporary worker program’ for undocumented workers in the United States?
Hurst: I´m a supporter of legal immigration. So to the degree that this program is in line with that, yes I do. I am not an isolationist. Immigrants are an important part of our economy, but they should pay taxes, they should be legal, learn the language, history, culture and laws. I am a big proponent of legal immigration.
Marinch: Undecided.
Reid: The problem we have with president Bush´s program is it is words only. Of course, we need to do something but that isn´t it. We need address the illegal immigration problem. But President Bush´s plan is a farce. I think it is not the right way to go. Rather than a Band-aid, what we need to do is something that will allow us to process the people legally in this country, even people who have been here for a long time and do something to stop our porous borders.
Ziser: I think it comes a little too close to the concept of amnesty. I believe we need some form of a worker program. I don´t know at what level. I do believe strongly we need to protect our borders and stop the flow of illegal aliens coming across. We need to enforce illegal alien laws and discontinue benefits for those here illegally. That would stop that flow.
4. How should the federal budget deficit be addressed?
Hurst: The federal deficit is actually far bigger than people think it is if you add in the unfunded liabilities like Medicare and social security. The only way to deal with that magnitude of a debt is to cut spending dramatically. That is why we keep advocating cutting taxes and cutting spending. We need all the free market prosperity we can muster to overcome the burden placed on us by all these politicians giving everyone and their brother what they want at the expense of future generations.
Marinch: Undecided. But that is a major thing.
Reid: I believe the Iraqis should pay for part of the cost of the war. They are producing about 2 million barrels of oil a day. Soon that will be up to 6 million. I don´t think we should be giving them money. We should be loaning them money that should be secured by the oil that is produced there. That would certainly help. We also need to do something to have American corporations pay their fair share. We´ve got to stop this outsourcing and make sure we don´t have tax laws that encourage American companies to go offshore. We need to take a look at the tax cut to the highest paid people in this country.
Ziser: By encouraging economic growth. That is how deficits are always eliminated. The current deficit is a result of a recession we were in when this president took office and the attacks on this country that cost us million of jobs and is costing us billions of dollars fighting a war on terror. We need to continue the tax cuts so the economy will grow. Raising taxes has never worked to solve that problem. Whenever we reduce tax rates, tax revenue will increase. Growing the economy is how you beat the deficit, along with watching and reducing our spending.
5. Should the assault weapons ban be renewed?
Hurst: No it should not. As I read it, and I´ve read many documents written when the Constitution was written, the founding fathers intended that we have a right to keep and bear arms. Not just to hunt or defend ourselves but to defend ourselves from tyrannical government. Owning and keeping firearms is a right, not a privilege. The criminal will get them no matter what.
Marinch: Undecided.
Reid: I am not in favor of that for the reason it was for cosmetic purposes. We need to do something that is meaningful. I support the waiting period for the purchase of guns. I think that is good to make sure someone who is not crazy or criminal can purchase a gun.
Ziser: It wasn´t renewed. They let it die and I agree with that. Because it really wasn´t an assault weapons ban. It was based on how mean and ugly a gun looked and not what it actually did. It really hasn´t changed anything.
6. Should the Bush tax cuts be extended, repealed or modified?
Hurst: They´re actually a very small cut, but given they are a cut, I´m fine with that. I would like to see massive tax cuts that would put his to shame. I think this idea that the wealthy are not paying their fair share is not correct. Statistics will show you that wealthy people, they don´t necessarily pay the highest percentage of taxes, but they pay by far the vast majority of tax dollars collected in this country. The poorest don´t pay taxes. I´d like to see everyone´s taxes cut.
Marinch: Extended. I like money. Give the money back to people. This government likes to take money from people.
Reid: We´ve just extended some of the tax cuts and it was the right thing to do — the marriage penalty and other things will be a help to the middle class. I´m not in favor — unless there´s a good, thorough review and debate — for tax cuts to the top (wealthiest) Americans. I think we need to look at that. I´ve never seen one of these rich people come to me and say please extend my tax cut. What they are interested in is having an economy that is good. We don´t have an economy that´s good. In the 1990s, we actually started reducing the national debt. For three years in a row we spent less money than we took in. We retired debt of $5 trillion in those years. It can be done.
Ziser: Extended. Tax cuts are great, but we need some fundamental tax reform in this country and we need to move away form the manipulative Internal Revenue Service system — the income tax system we have now — and move toward a more simplified flat tax and/or consumer tax of some sort.’
7. Are the No Child Left Behind reforms working? Is that act adequately funded?
Hurst: I am a teacher at the university and I see the students that come out of our high school all the time. Frankly they are pretty poor and much worse than they were 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. The government schools we have now totally and chronically fail to educate our children. Trying to make teachers accountable is not going to help. We are way beyond that. I think it is just more government interference in education. In that sense, it is a symptom of the program and not the problem. The teachers union is against it. They are more interested in salary and benefits, than producing a product. But no, the No Child Left Behind are not going to have any positive effect on how our kids are educated.
Marinch: Undecided.
Reid: Nine of every 10 children in the nation attend public schools, providing opportunity to all children regardless of economic status. I would not be where I am today without my public school teachers. Unfortunately, the No Child Left Behind Act is failing our children. I recently met with all of Nevada´s 17 school superintendents and they confirmed that there are significant problems with the law. While these officials face different challenges, they all agreed the promise of the law has not been met with the resources necessary to bring our children a better education. In fact, the administration has shortchanged the law — and our kids — by billions of dollars. Although accountability and teacher training are necessary and laudable goals, they can´t be achieved without adequate funding. Last year, I sponsored a successful amendment to increase funding in key areas. I will continue to fight to improve education for all of Nevada´s children.
Ziser: They seem to be working. It depends on how hard the local education establishment works toward making it happen. It has been well-funded. With President Bush the education budget has gone up 40 percent. That is a pretty substantial increase. It has been funded properly. The importance of that act is the accountability. I think some times we might be guilty of over testing our kids and putting too much emphasis on that. We have to have some tool to measure how things are happening and how kids are improving. We also need to be very conscious of the fact of where a student is when the student comes into a teacher´s classroom. If he came in two grades behind in reading and he´s still a grade behind when he leaves, the teacher still has done their job. It is not always the teachers fault that a student is lagging behind.
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Nevada Appeal
October 26, 2004
Yucca Mountain no issue in this election
I read with considerable interest today's article about Sen. Kerry's hopes for a Yucca Mountain backlash. I've got news for you, Mr. Kerry, Nevadans are not that shallow. Yucca Mountain is a nothing issue. If the Democrats were in office, the Republicans would be saying the same stuff.
Yucca Mountain is just a place. People don't live there. It's not a vacation spot, and nothing grows there. It's only value is a place for nuclear waste storage. The state will never suffer any kind of casualty because of the waste storage.
Let's talk about a real issue for Nevada. The city of Las Vegas is out of water. We in Carson and Reno suffer from water storage. Las Vegas is now pumping from its limited supply of groundwater so the tourists can flush their toilets. What happens when the groundwater is gone? Will we in the north send our water to Las Vegas? Probably.
Water is a very serious problem for Nevadans. Can the state solve this problem? Maybe. Can we use some help from Bush or Kerry? Sure. Will we get it? Maybe.
Let's stick to the real issues. Yucca Mountain isn't it.
Calvin Potts
Carson City
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Los Angeles Times
October 27, 2004
The Race for The White House
Candidates Press Through the Midwest
Running close in the polls and on the trail, Kerry seizes on a report of missing explosives in Iraq while Bush talks of an improved economy.
By Michael Finnegan and Mark Z. Barabak, Times Staff Writers
GREEN BAY, Wis. — President Bush promoted an economy on the mend Tuesday while Sen. John F. Kerry condemned his rival's silence on the missing explosives in Iraq, as the two candidates staked their claims to this Upper Midwest battleground.
Both men started the day in Wisconsin and finished campaigning in Iowa, a sign of the narrowed competitive field in the waning days of the White House race. Kerry also darted to Las Vegas and Albuquerque to harvest votes, while Bush reached out to Democrats with one of his most explicit appeals to potential crossover voters.
Traveling by bus through heavy showers, Bush said a vote for Kerry was a vote for higher taxes.
Kerry, in Green Bay, chastised Bush for a report Monday that 380 tons of explosives vanished from an Iraqi military installation after the U.S. invasion last year.
"Despite devastating evidence that his administration's failure here has put our troops and our citizens in greater danger, George Bush has not offered a single word of explanation," Kerry said.
Vice President Dick Cheney responded later at a campaign stop in Pensacola, Fla. "It is not at all clear that those explosives were even at the weapons facility when our troops arrived in the area of Baghdad," where the munitions had been stored, he said.
"Sen. Kerry is playing armchair general, and not doing a very good job of it," Cheney said.
Former President Clinton also campaigned in Florida, telling a Jewish audience at a Boca Raton temple that Kerry could best repair relations with the United States' alienated allies.
"It's a lot easier to kick down a barn than to build it," said Clinton, on the second day of his post-heart-surgery campaign tour. "John Kerry's a barn builder, and you'll be proud of him."
The rapid-fire back-and-forth between Kerry and Bush underscored the pace of the campaign with the candidates — running close to even in polls — fighting intently for more support.
Bush, rolling past wooded hillsides dappled in red and gold, even briefly stopped his motorcade to visit cows and pose for pictures with a dairy farm family.
Beneath a gloomy sky, Bush said his policies helped pull the economy out of a recession and post-Sept. 11 tailspin, citing the increase in home ownership, the creation of nearly 2 million jobs in roughly the last year and the rise in farm incomes.
"We're headed in the right direction in America," Bush said to a roar of approval at a rally in rural Onalaska, Wis.
The net job loss under Bush, counting private sector and government jobs, is about 821,000.
Bush said a Kerry presidency would mean higher taxes for all Americans, despite the Democrat's pledge in the second debate that he would raise taxes only on the wealthy to pay for expanded healthcare and other programs.
"I'm running against a fellow who's proposed $2.2 trillion of new federal spending. That's with a 'T,' " Bush told several thousand supporters. "That's a lot, even for a senator from Massachusetts."
The Kerry campaign disputed that figure, saying Bush was exaggerating.
Bush said the only way to pay for Kerry's programs would be to raise taxes across the board, not just on those who make at least $200,000 a year, as Kerry has said.
Four years ago, Bush narrowly lost Wisconsin and Iowa, which sit across from each other on the upper Mississippi River. They are two of the hardest-fought states this year, with polls showing the contest essentially deadlocked in both places.
Combined, Wisconsin and Iowa offer 17 of the 270 electoral votes needed to win — a threshold that has grown particularly important for Bush as Kerry threatens his hold on Ohio's 20 electoral votes. No Republican has won the White House without carrying Ohio.
The day's focus on western Wisconsin was an effort to "bump up" Bush's support from four years ago when he "underperformed" in the heavily rural region, said Karl Rove, the president's chief political strategist. In Richland County, Bush's second stop of the day, he won four years ago by 157 votes.
The president repeatedly challenged Kerry's adequacy to serve as commander in chief. Bush's strong antiabortion language and tough talk on taxes seemed intended to spur Republican loyalists to the polls. But he also appealed to Democrats.
"Many Democrats in this country do not recognize their party anymore," Bush said in Dubuque, Iowa. "If you believe America should lead with strength and purpose and confidence in our ideals, I'd be honored to have your support and I'm asking for your vote."
In a further appeal to moderates, Bush said in an ABC interview that he did not oppose state-sanctioned civil unions between gay people — even though his position puts him at odds with the GOP platform, which opposes them.
"I don't think we should deny people rights to a civil union, a legal arrangement, if that's what a state chooses to do so," Bush said on ABC's "Good Morning America."
The president also undertook a bit of fence-mending on his way through Wisconsin. Earlier this year, he sped through the small farm community of Cuba City, which calls itself "the City of Presidents." Locals — along with the Kerry campaign — said that the presidential motorcade didn't even brake.
"Kind of makes sense that a president stops in to say hello, doesn't it?" Bush said to cheers that rang through the Cuba City High School gymnasium. As for Kerry, the senator followed his pattern of seizing on grim Iraq war headlines to undercut Bush and boost voter trust in his own ability to keep the country safer.
The latest was a Washington Post story Tuesday saying Bush would soon ask Congress to spend an additional $70 billion on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, raising total costs to close to $225 billion.
"This is the incredible price of rushing and going it almost alone in Iraq," Kerry told supporters at the University of Wisconsin in Green Bay.
Kerry also resumed criticizing Bush over the previous day's news of the vast explosives cache that vanished in Iraq. He said the president, who learned of the development about a week ago, "tried to hide the information until after the election."
"He stood in front of the American people day after day, telling us how much progress we're making in Iraq, and how much safer we are under his leadership, without ever mentioning the loss of these explosives," Kerry said.
"Mr. President," he added, "what else are you being silent about? What else are you keeping from the American people? How much more will the American people have to pay?"
Away from the campaign trail, both candidates were refining their last-minute ad strategies. Kerry's latest ad is pegged on the missing explosives in Iraq. "His Iraq misjudgments put our soldiers at risk, and make our country less secure," Kerry says of Bush in the ad.
Kerry also ran an ad in Las Vegas that showed a ticking clock and attacked Bush for approving a nuclear waste dump outside the city at Yucca Mountain, according to TNSMI/Campaign Media Analysis Group.
Associated Press reported that Democrats had poured $121,000 into Hawaii after a weekend newspaper poll suggested Bush might be gaining momentum.
Bush's campaign put most of its money early this week in a TV commercial that likens terrorists to wolves and criticizes Kerry for a 1994 proposal to cut intelligence funding.
- Times staff writers James Gerstenzang, Johanna Neuman and Nick Anderson contributed to this report.
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Charleston Post Courier
October 27, 2004
Oconee discharge prompts concerns
Nuclear storage needs underscored
Associated Press
GREENVILLE--An accidental discharge of 10,000 gallons of water covering spent nuclear fuel rods at an upstate reactor raises concerns about the future storage needs for the material.
The incident occurred when operators at the Oconee Nuclear Station tried to add water to one pool while simultaneously draining another. A valve left open allowed water to drain into a storage tank at the Duke Power facility, said Mel Shannon, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's senior resident inspector.
A shift manager, who was supposed to make sure the two operations didn't overlap, "missed it," he said. The plant had a bad procedure, he said.
Duke Power is analyzing what happened.
"We're going to do whatever we need to do to prevent it from happening again," Duke Power spokeswoman Rose Cummings said.
Even if 40,000 gallons drained from the tank to the level of the drain, several feet of water would still cover the rods, Shannon said.
Still, the incident underscores the national problem of handling spent nuclear fuel. The Environmental Working Group, for instance, warns that waste might have to stay at Oconee Nuclear Station longer than expected because it will have no other place to go.
The Washington-based organization says Oconee Nuclear Station could end up stuck with the 1,095 metric tons of waste. The group says a nuclear waste repository at Nevada's Yucca Mountain will fill up shortly after it opens in 2010 or 2011 as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission continues to renew reactor licenses across the country. That will generate more waste that has nowhere for it to go, the Environmental Working Group says.
Plans call for Yucca Mountain to take 77,000 metric tons of waste, but it can hold closer to 120,000 metric tons, Nuclear Energy Institute spokeswoman Thelma Wiggins said. The industry group says another repository may be necessary, but not for several decades.
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says he expects Yucca Mountain will have enough room to hold nuclear waste for the next 100 years. Earlier this year he won approval for a plan to solidify and permanently store nuclear material dregs in tanks at the Savannah River Site.
The United States could follow France's lead by expanding reliance on nuclear energy and cutting down on radioactive waste through reprocessing, Graham said. About 90 percent of spent fuel rods at Oconee Nuclear Station can be reprocessed, Graham said.
"That's probably not the most economical way to generate new fuel, but it does help you in the waste stream," Graham said.
Wiggins expects to see more, not fewer nuclear plants.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has awarded new licenses to 26 of the nation's 103 power plants, and the rest are expected to seek renewals, Wiggins said.
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Christian Science Monitor
October 26, 2004
Battle for the critical few
With six days to go, the coveted 'persuadables' are still thinking.
By Linda Feldmann
Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – "Neither party has me."
That assertion from Jay Beatty, a 30-something institutional-bonds salesman in St. Petersburg, Fla., sums up the view of a small but crucial slice of the electorate: the undecided.
And it's not that Mr. Beatty hasn't thought about the election, now less than a week away. It's that he looks at President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry and sees a mix of good and not so good. On domestic policy, he's with Senator Kerry, but on international, he's with the president. Then there are personal qualities.
"The debates pushed me one way; I think that Bush is more believable," says Beatty, a registered independent whose wife is expecting their first child. "I think Kerry is a smarter man, but smarter is not necessarily the best politically."
For the campaigns, figuring out how to snag uncommitted battleground-state voters like Jay Beatty represents the Holy Grail of another nail-biter election. Pollsters are finding there's no one easy-to-define group to pursue. Typically, women decide later than men, and nationally, that's the case this year, but only slightly. In Colorado, another battleground, there are more male undecideds than female, says Denver pollster Floyd Ciruli.
The polls don't even agree on how many undecideds and "persuadables" there are in the country. One recent Gallup Poll found so few undecided voters that the number rounded down to zero. The Pew Research Center, which doesn't push its respondents as hard as others to state a preference, puts the figure at 9 percent undecided and another 11 percent as open to switching.
An 'all over the place' election
But pollsters agree there's no silver- bullet issue that will bring those final voters home. And they're not even sure if the historical precedent - that people who decide late tend to vote against the incumbent - will hold this time, because of a possible new post-9/11 dynamic that could make voters, ultimately, fear a change of leadership.
In Florida, the undecideds are "all over the place" when it comes to determining the most important issue, says independent pollster Del Ali. "For example, Iraq's important to them, the economy is important to them, so is homeland security," says Mr. Ali. "It's a mixed bag. That's what really makes this thing mind-boggling."
Among the decided, Kerry voters tend to be more issues-oriented, while Bush voters more often cite personal qualities, such as leadership and likability. A Pew poll last week found that among swing voters, the flip-flopper charge against Kerry is more damaging than calling him a liberal. Two major charges against Bush - that he misled the public on Iraq and favors the rich - are "equally troubling to swing voters," reports Pew.
Unanswered questions in Pennsylvania
As the final days count down, some busy voters like Lori Mulvihill, of suburban Pittsburgh, know they can't put off their decision much longer. A mother of two who teaches part-time while getting a master's degree in education, she's even thought about not voting.
"I feel guilty, I'm not as informed as I should be," she says. "But yes, I will vote." There's too much at stake: the war, homeland security (especially with family in New York), and schools. "No Child Left Behind is a total mess," she says, eventually concluding that her "voting issue" will be education.
In suburban Philadelphia, Nick Greene is also still figuring out what to do. "I question Bush's intelligence, but I'm not sure what Kerry would do about the war," says Mr. Greene, who works in retail sales at Nordstrom. In the last election, he appreciated Bush's "casual, laid-back attitude." But in a post-9/11 world, he is not so sure. He calls Kerry "very well-spoken." But "how is that going to come across after we've had another attack?"
In Gilbertsville, Pa., salon and day spa manager Alison Mastrocola says she's never been undecided this late in a campaign. Her biggest concern is making a wise decision about US policy in the Middle East. Though "basically a Republican," she concedes she is a "little nervous" about Bush's policies in Iraq. Still, she's leaning his way, because she believes that "for a president to be truly effective, he needs more than one term."
Besides, Ms. Mastrocola says, "I haven't heard anything out of Kerry." In the end, "I'll probably decide as I stand there [in the booth] and let everything play through my mind again."
Adrift in Las Vegas
In Las Vegas, more than a quarter of registered voters have already cast their ballots early - but plenty are still deciding.
"It's really very difficult," says Jane Gregory, who is married with three children. "We have to worry about terrorism, but I just don't feel comfortable with what's happening in Iraq. I'll probably end up voting for Bush, but I hope he knows what he's doing."
The war in Iraq also torments Josh Griego, 20, but for different reasons. Griego says he believes the Iraq invasion was the right move and he worries about what Kerry might do as president. Yet he's on Kerry's side when it comes to domestic issues. "I want to make sure that abortion remains legal," says Griego, who parks cars at a casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Indeed, competing issues have kept many unsure of how to cast their votes. Wendell Huntington vehemently opposes the war in Iraq, but he hates the notion that same-sex marriages could become legal unless Bush is in office, he says.
"On the one hand, we have this modern-day Vietnam and on the other hand we have this modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah," says the Las Vegas shoe-store owner. "How do you pick between this and that?"
For some Nevadans, all politics is local: Specifically, it boils down to the question of whether the nation should dump its nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, about 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. That matter has octogenarian Beatrice Zalob on the fence. Like most voters here, she opposes using Yucca Mountain as a nuclear-waste disposal site; Kerry says he would kill the project.
"I need to do a little bit more research, because I like that Kerry seems to want to look out for this state if we vote for him," says Ms. Zalob, a retired school teacher originally from Canton, Ohio. "The problem is, if he's saying that and he doesn't actually have the power to do anything about it, I'll vote for Bush. I think."
• Steve Friess in Las Vegas, Lynn Harvey in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Mary Beth McCauley in Philadelphia contributed to this report.
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Los Alamos Monitor
October 27, 2004
Domenici promises fair contract competition
Roger Snodgrass
roger@lamonitor.com
Monitor Assistant Editor
"Los Alamos' next contract manager will be a consortium that puts forth the best proposal," New Mexico's senior senator said in answer to what he called "a despicable campaign rumor that doesn't deserve the time of day."
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, said an employee at Los Alamos National Laboratory had raised the question again during an all-employee assembly Monday.
The question was, "If Bush wins, does that mean a win for UT (University of Texas)?" he said, adding, "I needed the podium to hold me back."
A campaign rumor that circulated last week prompted Domenici to issue a press release while he was traveling in Farmington with Vice President Richard Cheney.
"These rumors have no basis in fact and are merely a political attempt to sway voters," he said in the statement.
"This (the competition) will not be done through politics," he continued Monday. "This will be done through real bona fide credentials."
Domenici also responded to statements made on Thursday by his Democratic colleague, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, who told the press that he thought a Kerry administration would pursue a broader set of challenges through the national labs, including more non-weapons work.
Domenici, like Bingaman, praised the labs three E.O. Lawrence Award winners, Bette Korber, Fred Mortensen and Gregory Swift, making the additional point that two out of three of the winners were in non-weapons work. Three out of seven winners of the $50,000 prize, awarded by the Department of Labor at the end of September, were from Los Alamos.
Korber was recognized for her HIV research and Swift for his thermo-acoustic theories and engineering. Mortensen won for his work in nuclear weapon design and certification.
Domenici warned those who thought non-weapons projects could grow quickly at LANL will have a tough job convincing Congress.
They're not interested in adding new areas of research, Domenici said, although he saw the possibility to build on existing strengths.
Domenici used his new book, "A Brighter Tomorrow: Fulfilling the Promise of Nuclear Energy," as an all-purpose prop during his talk and later during a press conference.
The first reference to Los Alamos in the book occurs in the first few pages. Domenici recalls summer vacations in the Jemez Mountains during the 1940s. That's when he first glimpsed the secret city.
"Father used to tell us," wrote Domenici, "'Big things are happening up there in Los Alamos.'"
"Big things in Los Alamos," was a central subject of his talk and, at least to some extent, of his career as a New Mexico senator.
Pushing his book in a light-hearted way, Domenici displayed the salesmanship that has made him such a reliable patron of his constituency.
As lab Director G. Peter Nanos suggested in introducing Domenici, one only has to look around at the new buildings going up around the laboratory to see examples of Domenici's support.
Later, in a press conference, Domenici called attention to the 20-year development plan as one of the "pretty dramatic," things that have happened "at Los Alamos under this President for this lab."
Mentioning the massive construction project, a multibillion-dollar investment in rebuilding and replacing half-century-old dilapidated buildings, was a plug for President Bush, but it was also part of Domenici's theme of permanence and growth at LANL.
His purpose, he said was "to assure the scientists and other employees of this great institution that they are still a great laboratory, if not the greatest the U.S. has."
Domenici, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, blamed a dispute over Yucca Mountain for the delay in passing the energy and water bill.
"There is a real possibility that a continuing resolution will be in place for the entire year," he said.
Because of disagreements with the House, he said, "We might never go to conference. Who knows?"
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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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