Sunday, June 13, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Bush adviser says Yucca decision did not violate pledge

Process relied on 'sound science,' Rove says

Karl Rove Bush adviser was in Las Vegas and Reno on Saturday Karl Rove, top political adviser to President Bush, speaks to the media Saturday at the Nevada Republican Party Headquarters in Las Vegas. Photo by John Locher.

President Bush's top political adviser said the administration's approval of Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste repository did not violate a 2000 promise to Nevada voters to base such a decision on "sound science, not politics."

"He believed then, as he did after the laborious process that he went through after becoming president to review the recommendations and to ask questions of the Department of Energy and others, that this is a decision based on sound science," Karl Rove said in an interview during a day of fund-raising events in Las Vegas and Reno on Saturday.

Rove said Bush dealt with low-level nuclear waste siting issues in Texas when he was governor, and learned "that he really had to keep politics out of it and keep the science in mind."

The man called "boy genius" by the president and "Bush's brain" by critics, said Bush also was satisfied that any decision he made on Yucca Mountain would be vetted in the courts or during the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing proceedings, which themselves could take three years.

"The courts are going to deal with the question of, 'Was this done in the proper basis?' " Rove said. "This issue ought to be dealt with straightforward and without politics."

Rove, 54, lived in Sparks from 1961 to 1966 and attended Dilworth Middle and Sparks High schools. He has a sister and a brother in Northern Nevada and said he looked forward to eating Basque food with them Saturday night.

During the interview in Las Vegas, Rove criticized, although not by name, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry for telling Nevadans during a fund-raising trip last month that if he is elected president, "Yucca Mountain will not be a repository."

"Anybody who comes to Nevada and pledges it's not going to be there is going to have to explain how he's going to achieve that result," Rove said. "They'll need to explain to Nevada and to the rest of the country what they're going to do with the material that's at 111 sites and in 39 states.

"I do think he has a responsibility to explain how he hopes to achieve that goal because there is a law, a process in place, that has been validated time and time again over the last 20 years by votes of Congress," Rove said. "And he also has an obligation to explain to the people of 39 other states what's going to be done with the material in 39 other states.

"If you want to take it out of politics and you want to address it, and it just so happens to be an election year, you're obligated to offer up those kinds of details. This is not a bumper-sticker issue. This is an issue that requires a great deal of serious thought and explanation."

Rove got to see some very large bumper-sticker slogans about Yucca Mountain, the war in Iraq and gas prices as he made his way into the Rancho Bel Air home of developer Barry Becker to raise campaign money for freshman Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., just before 1:30 p.m.

He gave a thumb's up to a group of 25 protesters outside the gated community and smiled at a woman whose sign said "Peace is Patriotic" and to several men holding a banner that said: "Bush/Rove & Co. = Four More Wars."

One protester dressed as Yucca Man, wearing a silver hazardous materials suit complete with protective helmet and face shield.

When told Rove said Bush based his Yucca decision on science, Democratic Party Chairwoman Adriana Martinez lowered her protest sign and said: "Lies again. Lies, lies, lies."

Yucca Mountain is about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Rove spoke to about 75 people inside the house, raising $50,000 for Porter, according to Republican consultant Mike Slanker.

During the interview, Rove also defended a legal memo that said torture "may be justified" when interrogating suspected terrorists. Jay Bybee, then a Justice Department official and now a federal judge in Las Vegas, signed the memo.

"The president did not authorize torture," Rove said, adding that the United States is meeting its obligations under international law.

"I think that Americans understand that terrorists don't consider themselves uniform services bound by the Geneva Convention," Rove said. "The people who cut off Nick Berg's head in front of a video camera did so not because they felt bound by any international agreement. They're killers. They're cold-blooded killers."

Rove also defended the president's call to renew the Patriot Act, saying the measure has been politicized into something it's not. He said roving wiretaps authorized by a judge, for example, are used in other cases.

"I frankly don't see that terrorists are less dangerous to us than drug dealers, Medicare fraud or organized crime," Rove said.

After his activities in Las Vegas, Rove flew to Reno to raise money for the state party. The amount raised in Reno was not immediately available.