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Friday, February 04, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
A minor hindrance?
DOE loses effort to secure water for dump operation.
In a move that should surprise no one, the state engineer has rejected the Energy Department's request for water to operate the nuke-waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
The groundwater is available, but Mike Turnipseed decided on Wednesday that approving the application would not be in the state's best interest. "It's just that the use of the water is basically prohibited by Nevada statutes because it would be used in part for operation of the repository," he said.
We are assured that politics played no part in the determination. Sen. Harry Reid called the decision "scholarly"; Gov. Kenny Guinn noted that Mr. Turnipseed is "independent and has an impeccable reputation."
Gov. Guinn is correct. But it's difficult to believe that Mr. Turnipseed didn't feel intense pressure to reach the Nevada-friendly conclusion. Given the state political establishment's vociferous opposition to the dump, Mr. Turnipseed would have been run out of town on a rail had he held differently. Frankie Sue Del Papa telegraphed precisely that when she said that projecting a united front against the repository was "equally important" to following the law on the water issue.
Wednesday's decision won't have any short-term ramifications. The DOE already has a permit to use water through March 2002 while it conducts suitability tests on Yucca Mountain. And regardless of how Mr. Turnipseed had come down Wednesday, the matter is headed for federal court. DOE officials said they're studying whether to appeal his ruling, but count on it: They will.
And then we'll discover whether Mr. Turnipseed's determination is anything more than a minor hindrance to those intent on sticking Nevada with the nation's high-level nuclear waste.
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