Saturday, May 01, 2004
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NEVADA REPUBLICAN PARTY CONVENTION: GOP rethinks Yucca battle

Proposal urges talks to secure redress for nuke dump

Gov. Kenny Guinn, left, talks to State Sen. Randolph Townsend at a lunch time event Friday during the Nevada GOP state convention at the Peppermill in Reno. Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

RENO -- For nearly two decades, Nevada Republicans and Democrats could agree on one thing: unified opposition to the Yucca Mountain Project with no exceptions.

That alliance began to crumble Friday at the Nevada Republican Party convention, and it could be rubble by this morning.

The state GOP tentatively adopted two controversial platform planks: one that seeks sound scientific solutions for the planned nuclear waste repository and one that seeks compensation for communities affected by the project.

The planks were approved by the platform committee on Friday and must win approval at the convention today for official adoption.

The two planks did not mention Yucca Mountain by name, but rural and Northern Nevada delegates to the convention were adamant that the state begin seeking recompense for the project.

"Yucca Mountain's going to happen whether we want it or not," said Edward Goldberg of Minden.

"That's right, so let's get the big bucks," added Cathy Maclean of Reno.

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, has been the only place under consideration for the world's first high-level nuclear waste repository since 1987. That year, Congress passed legislation that bitter Nevada officials said all but ensured the state would become the nation's nuclear dumping ground.

Officials from both parties have long resisted occasional calls from their own members to negotiate for benefits, maintaining such a course would only weaken the state's limited leverage.

The state is fighting the repository on a number of legal grounds and has six lawsuits pending.

"We don't think this is over," Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican, said Friday. "We're still at a very critical point and negotiations should not be held while we're in court."

The two planks were discussed in a closed-door session, and there was some support for a plank seeking benefits specifically from Yucca Mountain.

Brent Chamberlain, the platform committee chairman, said a number of Yucca Mountain planks were discussed for inclusion in the 16-plank platform.

"Some were very specific about Yucca Mountain, but we decided to go with a broader one and deal with federally managed lands," said Chamberlain, an Elko resident. "It passed nearly unanimously."

"There's just an awful lot of federal lands, and there is an awful lot of other waste that can be brought into the state, including nuclear," he said.

Robert Adams, vice chairman of the Nye County Republican Party, worked as an engineer at Yucca Mountain for 10 years and serves on the federal impact advisory board.

"I think we ought to stop wasting our money on these lawsuits," Adams said.

But many of Nevada's top officials, Republicans and Democrats, aren't ready to halt the state's efforts in court.

Attorney General Brian Sandoval, a Republican, said through his spokesman that he would strenuously oppose such a plank in the state Republican Party platform.

Sandoval added he would be greatly disappointed if such a plank was adopted.

In a prepared statement, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., rejected the idea of negotiating with the federal government.

"I never have nor will I ever support any negotiations or perception of willingness to negotiate with the federal government on Yucca Mountain," he said. "As I have always said: That though we lost the political battle, I am confident we will prevail in the courtroom."

But former Nevada Gov. Robert List, a lobbyist for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said he believes the proposed plank reflects the mood of the grass roots of Nevada.

"It is in keeping with what I believe is in the best interests of our state," he said. "The realities are increasingly clear that this project is for real and we need to face up to it and plan for it.

"It makes good sense to develop a Plan B and to prepare our state to face the disadvantages and at the same time seize the opportunities," List said.

Peggy Maze Johnson, president of Citizen Alert, an environmental organization that has long opposed the Yucca Mountain Project, was stunned to hear of the proposed planks.

"They're playing the same old Republican games," Johnson said.

Rural Republican delegates attempted to pass a similar plank at the 2002 state party convention.

"With everything in secret this year, they do it again," Johnson said. "How can that square with their elected officials, who are supposedly fighting Yucca Mountain?"

A platform is designed to represent the core values and beliefs of a political party. As a result, the GOP, which limits its platform to one double-sided piece of paper, hopes to use it on the campaign trail to distinguish its candidates from those of the other party.

The Democrats passed a 38-page party platform containing numerous planks on a variety of issues. One plank called for the impeachment of President Bush.

A state platform is an official document and is considered at the national convention of each party.

Nevada Democratic Party spokesman Jon Summers said Democrats were specific in their state platform to oppose Yucca Mountain.

"Clearly what it does is weaken the Republican stance against Yucca Mountain," Summers said. "This is the single most important environmental policy in the state, and opposition to Yucca Mountain is missing from their platform."

Incline Village resident Nina Bechtel said she supports getting compensation for the repository, with money going to the counties that will be directly affected by the transportation and storage of 77,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste.

"I am concerned about the transportation, and they should get money," she said.

Goldberg, the Minden resident, said he saw a Department of Energy videotape that convinced him the transportation of such wastes is safe from potential terrorist attacks. Asked if he saw video footage of a missile penetrating one of the storage casks, Goldberg said a spill wouldn't be a problem.

"They're little pellets, and the guys come in with their suits and sweep it away," Goldberg said.

The other plank supports the enforcement of environmental regulations in solving scientific problems.

"We put that in because a lot of things happen without peer review or sound science," said Chamberlain, the platform committee chairman.

Clark County GOP Chairman Brian Scroggins said he does not think Republican candidates will be affected if the planks are adopted today.

"Yucca Mountain's been around for a long time, but I don't think it hurts our candidates," Scroggins said.

Democrats argue that the Bush administration pushed for the repository and note that presumed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has vowed to shut down Yucca Mountain.

Guinn, who vetoed President Bush's designation of the site in 2002, triggering an override by Congress, is co-chair of Bush's re-election campaign in Nevada. Sandoval is the other co-chair.

Guinn said he didn't think the Yucca Mountain issue would affect Bush, who is still leading Kerry in polls of prospective Nevada voters.

"We've always been around 75 percent of the people saying, `Fight that thing,' " Guinn said.

Guinn said there might be a time for Nevada to negotiate for benefits.

"I am not against, as time goes on, saying I will listen to people," Guinn said. "I don't think it'll come in my time, though."

Review-Journal Capital Bureau writer Sean Whaley contributed to this report.