Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION: Nevada captures attention

Party platform vows to protect state from planned nuclear waste site

CLARIFICATION -- 7/31/04
In Wednesday's Review-Journal, Sen. John Ensign was described as a supporter of interim storage of nuclear waste in Nevada during his freshman year in the House in 1995. Ensign voted for a budget resolution that, among many items, included proposed funding for interim nuclear waste storage. That resolution did not have the force of law. Ensign took steps to oppose interim waste storage in Nevada during that year.

BOSTON -- The politics of Yucca Mountain arrived center stage at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday as delegates approved a national platform pledging to protect Nevada from the proposed nuclear waste repository.

But Republicans, refusing to cede any potential edge for their opponents on the state's most visible issue, released details of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry's voting record on Yucca Mountain to suggest he is disingenuous.

The 37-page platform contains the only specific reference to a state issue and is fueling Democratic hope that Yucca Mountain will put Nevada into the John Kerry column and give him five electoral votes that could help decide a close national election.

"There is a bright-line difference between John Kerry's opposition to Yucca Mountain and President Bush's approval of the dump after promising to base a decision on sound science," said Dina Titus, Nevada's national Democratic committeewoman.

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Kerry is a "flip-flopper" on the issue by pledging this year to block the repository despite support of the 1987 bill that singled out Nevada as the site and despite voting several other times against Nevada's senators on Yucca-related items.

"In 1987, John Kerry voted to screw Nevada," Ensign said. "It contradicts him completely."

Nevada's Democrats rallied behind Kerry and pointed to his vote in 2002 to sustain Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of final Yucca Mountain approval.

Kerry voted against attempts to store waste at Yucca Mountain on an interim basis before the repository was approved.

Ensign, a foe of the repository, supported interim storage when he was freshman in the House of Representatives in 1995.

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and vice chairman of the Democratic National Convention's Platform Committee, said the 1987 vote is "totally irrelevant" to the current debate.

The 1987 bill, which passed 86-9, was an energy and appropriations package that included language singling out Yucca Mountain for study.

"President Bush authorized Yucca Mountain as the site to dump the most toxic substance known to man 90 miles away from my children's home and from John Ensign's children's home," Berkley said.

"I don't know where John Ensign has been for several years, but John Kerry has been right with us," Berkley said.

Berkley said the Kerry campaign pushed for inclusion of Yucca Mountain in the platform.

The Yucca reference is included in a two-page section on environmental policy that discusses global warming and what the party considers flawed Bush administration energy policies.

"We will protect Nevada and its communities from the high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain which has not been proved to be safe by sound science," the platform said.

Ensign said the platform does not matter to Nevada voters.

"I think platforms are worthless," Ensign said. "They don't mean anything to the person voting; they only mean something to the delegates.

"Voters have no idea what is in party platforms," he said. "That's a relic from the past that nobody pays attention to."

Democrats made similar points in referring to Ensign's criticism of Kerry's past votes relating to Yucca Mountain.

"Those others are largely procedural," said Sean Smith, Kerry's spokesman in Nevada. "We think this is just the Republicans trying to distract from the issue that Democrats have a clear advantage on because of the platform."

With the 1987 vote, Kerry voted against an amendment in 1988 that would have increased money for oversight of the project. In 1995, he voted against an amendment sought by Nevada's senators to divert $14.7 million of Yucca money.

In 1996, he voted in favor of radiation standards opposed by Nevada, and in 1996 and 1997, he voted against two amendments Nevada's senators had sought to stymie the project. Both dealt with the transportation of waste.

"He's been disingenuous," Congressman Jon Porter, R-Nev., said. "He started the project."

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the criticism "another attempt by Republicans to muddy the issue."

Reid said, "Anytime we asked John Kerry to vote with us on Yucca Mountain, he was there for us."

Smith said the Massachusetts senator has made his position on Yucca Mountain clear with votes against interim and permanent storage.

"If Republicans weren't as worried about losing this state, this wouldn't have come out two hours before the platform was approved," Smith said.

Berkley called the timing "somewhat suspect." She said Republicans have no "high ground" on which to stand on the issue.

During the state Republican convention in Reno this year, delegates adopted a platform that pledged support for negotiating for benefits to recoup losses from harmful effects to federally managed lands. The platform was written specifically about Yucca Mountain, Republican delegates said, despite opposition from state GOP leaders.

"Maybe if they had boycotted the message that's in their party's state platform, they wouldn't be so concerned about ours," Berkley said.

Julie Whitacre was one of five Nevada delegates in their convention seats when the platform was adopted shortly after 4 p.m.

"I think platforms are very important," Whitacre said. "It's just like having a public official go ahead and vote the way you do. You're saying these are the issues and the ways you want them to vote."

Delegate Deborah Trudell of Las Vegas said Republicans are trying to "muddy the water" on Yucca Mountain and confuse voters.

"They're afraid of the enthusiasm for John Kerry that this convention is showing the country," she said. "I think we've got them scared."

National media are discussing the Yucca Mountain issue and which way Nevada will vote in November.

The National Journal's convention magazine spotlights issues in swing states and cites Yucca Mountain as the potentially defining item for voters.

Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell spoke to Nevada delegates at breakfast Tuesday in the Lenox Hotel and mentioned Yucca Mountain as a key reason Nevadans should vote for Kerry.

In an interview, Cantwell said she thinks several Western states will make the difference for Kerry this fall.

"I think that New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Arizona are critical states," she said. "Nevada is just dead in the middle, a toss-up right now, and Yucca Mountain could decide it."