Getting Nevada running again

Nevada is suffering through the worst economic crisis in our state's history. Where our state leads the nation, we do so in unenviable categories: unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. Our $6.5 billion state budget is projected to have a $3 billion deficit. Yes, you read that right -- Nevada can only fund a little over half of its current obligations.

To make matters worse, tax revenues continue to spiral downward with no end in sight.

At this most critical time in our state's history we need bold and innovative ideas and practical solutions. As a wise friend once told me, "Don't tell me the problems, tell me the solutions."

Although an increase in economic activity in the private sector will certainly help Nevada's economy, it alone is not the solution. Neither is raising taxes or cutting $3 billion in spending (though undoubtedly some unnecessary spending must be cut). Rather the solution is to implement practical ways to increase and diversify economic activity in our state, which will create more jobs and a larger tax base that with controlled spending will eliminate our deficit and help restore Nevada to solvency.

For far too long, our state has essentially relied upon two industries to carry the tax burden: gaming and mining (three if you include construction, which is contingent upon the success of gaming). This so-called "Great Recession" has taught us one thing; we can no longer rely upon these industries alone to shoulder Nevada's burdens -- we need to diversify our economy.

Nevada can immediately diversify its economy creating thousands of jobs and billions in additional tax revenue without costing the taxpayers one additional dollar or creating any more government agencies by utilizing two assets currently lying dormant in our state.

The first of these assets is Yucca Mountain.

The federal government has spent more than $10 billion on this massive project, and it's time that Nevadans realize some benefit from it. While its detractors boast of killing the project -- a position which might be politically popular -- it has eliminated thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in potential tax revenue.

It is my belief that the Yucca Mountain project should be revived and retooled to serve as a reprocessing facility for spent nuclear fuel -- a safe and commonplace practice in many countries around the world, like France, which derives some 75 percent or more of its power from nuclear sources. Doing so would create 7,000 jobs immediately, a $100 billion public works project for Nevada, billions of dollars annually in state revenue, and would inevitably generate an entire support economy.

In 1987 the federal government agreed to pay Nevada $250 million per year while construction took place and an additional $500 million per year once the spent fuel was transported to the site. These payments are to be funded by a fee imposed on consumers of nuclear generated electricity. This fee has raised more than $30 billion in the past 22 years. Considering the amount raised by this fee and the value of a dollar in 2010 compared to 1987, it is not unrealistic for Nevada to request its payment increased to $1 billion per year. Couple this with the amount of revenue generated from recycling and Nevada has a multibillion-dollar industry.

Furthermore, Nevada would be doing our country a service by recycling and thus eliminating 95 percent of the spent fuel currently dispersed haphazardly in 120 above-ground facilities in 39 different states with varying degrees of security -- a clear and present national security risk.

Opponents argue that it is dangerous to transport spent nuclear fuel to Nevada. They fail to disclose, however, that spent nuclear fuel has been quietly traveling our country's highways and railways for decades without incident. There has been a 100 percent success rate. Furthermore, they fail to disclose that spent nuclear fuel has traveled through Nevada on its way to New Mexico for years, without any benefit to Nevada and without the apparent safety concerns now cited as the basis for killing the project. While the fear mongering of Yucca Mountain continues, Nevadans are denied a safe and potentially transformative economic opportunity.

The second asset sitting dormant in Nevada is the thousands of acres of prime commercial land -- including hundreds of acres adjoining and adjacent to South Las Vegas Blvd. which is currently held by the federal BLM. This land is sitting vacant benefiting no one. The BLM has no business holding land whose only real use is commercial.

Nevada should demand that our land be transferred back to the state. With these resources available, Nevada could immediately compete for jobs by enticing businesses looking to relocate to a favorable business climate with long-term low-cost land leases unmatched by any other state. Each year numerous companies are leaving California and other high-taxed and regulated states for a more business friendly environment.

The competition between the states for these companies is fierce, more so in these tough economic times. Boeing recently relocated from Seattle to Georgia without even considering Nevada. During my Senate campaign, the CEO of a top company in California told me he was so upset at what was happening in California that he was going to take his 10,000 jobs to Texas. I asked him, why not Nevada? He told me Texas gave him a better offer.

We have one advantage over all other states -- prime commercial land sitting vacant benefiting no one. If we put this land to use, new businesses will move to Nevada, creating additional jobs and desperately needed tax revenue.

I know that in an election year it is difficult to discuss practical solutions to problems, and there will no doubt be criticism of these proposals and others like them. But Nevada's future and the welfare of its people depend upon common-sense solutions to our problems -- not politically-motivated rhetoric. In this year when so many people are re-engaging the political process to try to change the way our government works, there is no time like the present to begin a new chapter in Nevada's story.

Danny Tarkanian, a local attorney, writes from Las Vegas.