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More about Yucca Mountain Mark Brown on Wednesday tells the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects about his plan for a grass-roots effort to oppose the Yucca Mountain Project. Photo by Clint Karlsen.

Thursday, January 31, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Members say panel pumped to fight dump

Fund to pay for court, PR efforts

Buoyed by nearly $5.4 million in contributions and three reports challenging the science of placing a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, members of the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects expressed optimism Wednesday at the state's chances of fending off the federal project.

Commissioner Richard Bryan said that at no time in the 18-year-old battle against the repository has Nevada had such independent scientific support.

"If this is all about science, as we are told, Nevada's case has never been stronger," said the former Democratic U.S. senator who has been one of Yucca Mountain's strongest opponents. He was referring to reports from the General Accounting Office, the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board and the International Atomic Energy Agency, all of which raised scientific questions about the suitability of the site.

But just in case the matter isn't all about science, the Nuclear Projects Commission on Wednesday welcomed a $50,000 check from Station Casinos. It is the first private-sector money donated to the Nevada Protection Fund, which has nearly $5.4 million.

The fund will be used to fight nuclear waste on two fronts, in the courts and through public relations in states where the waste would travel on its way to Nevada.

The commission will push for more private-sector contributions. Most of the $5.4 million has come from government bodies across Nevada. The immediate goal is to bump the pot to $6 million. Commission Chairman Brian McKay, a former state attorney general, and Bryan will lead the fund-raising effort.

McKay and Bryan criticized Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's Jan. 10 announcement that he plans to recommend the site to President Bush, and Abraham's statement that the repository is important to national security.

Abraham said moving nuclear waste to a single underground location removed from population centers would improve protection against terrorist attacks. He said the science behind the project was sound and said, "The site is technically suitable for this purpose."

Bryan said the idea that placing nuclear waste in one site would be safer than storing it at nuclear power plants "is a lie."

He said building a repository will not minimize national security problems because the spent fuel rods are going to be stored at the reactors anyway. The rods are required to go through a five-year cool-down period before they can be moved, he said.

Mark Brown, president of Brown & Partners, which in late November was awarded a $1 million contract to take the anti-Yucca message to the states where the waste will be transported, said developments "have been going fast and furious" since Abraham's announcement.

He and his staff are in the final stages of identifying which states the waste probably will travel through. The Energy Department will not confirm which routes the nuclear waste would take.

Once the routes are identified, Brown is preparing to start grass-roots campaigns in the individual states. The efforts, he said, will contact the 50 most influential people in each town along the route, from the bank president to the chiefs of the PTA and the chamber of commerce, to make them aware of the dangers they face.

He said the Las Vegas Chamber has agreed to work with chamber members in communities along the routes, and the Nevada State Education Association will work with the teachers unions.

Brown said he is trying to identify the Senate and House members who represent districts along the routes and who might be persuaded to support Nevada's position. He plans to focus on them rather than known opponents.

Brown said he worked with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on his recent reception for mayors in Washington, D.C.

"That's a message that took hold," Brown said, particularly for small cities. "These folks have volunteer fire departments and limited police departments."

"They have no idea what they're about to face" if an accident occurs, he said.

Brown's contract is for $1 million, but he estimated the long-term costs of a grass-roots effort will call for at least double that, which is one of the reasons Gov. Kenny Guinn thanked Station Casinos for its contribution before Wednesday's commission meeting.

He called the donation "a very important gesture" and "a giant step" and said the money is important because "Nevada is fighting for its life."

Station Casinos President Lorenzo Fertitta, whose business focuses on locals and who was born and raised in Las Vegas, said, "It's everyone's time to step up to the plate."

Brown formerly worked for Station Casinos. He left the company because of his role in the creation of a controversial anonymous political mailer in March 2000 was made public, after he denied having any role in creating it.

Three lawsuits are pending over the mailer, which criticized then-Clark County Commissioner Lance Malone.

One lawsuit filed by Secretary of State Dean Heller is to enforce a $5,000 fine against Brown, and two concern whether a ban on anonymous mailers is constitutional.