Las Vegas Review-Journal - Steve Sebelius Slash Politics

Yucca Mountain has been declared dead more often than Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Meyers and John Travola‘s career combined. But today has seen some developments that might actually mean death for the 23-year-old project, without hope of a sequel.

The elimination of funding for the project in the president’s budget is a strong first step toward the death of Yucca Mountain, but it’s also nothing new. U.S. Sen. Harry Reid has been trimming the project’s funding for years to keep it on the ropes, although never totally knocked out. But the reported withdrawal of the application to license the dump is something entirely new. If the application is withdrawn, legal and administrative work  on the project stops.

Dead? Not entirely: The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1987 still designates Yucca Mountain as the site to bury the nation’s nuclear waste, and that hasn’t changed. (It’s unlikely a change in that law would make it through Congress, either.) That’s why U.S. Sen. John McCain is angrily telling the Wall Street Journal that President Obama‘s blue-ribbon panel studying how to deal with nuclear waste should not take Yucca Mountain off the table. And it’s also why a future administration could still re-start the project someday.

(BTW, any Republicans still want to tell Nevada why it should have voted for John McCain as president?)

Of course, members of Nevada’s delegation are cheering the news. Some reaction:

“The administration’s decision to withdraw Yucca Mountain’s license application is good news for Nevada and the nation,” Reid said. “For more than 20 years Nevada has fought the reckless effort to ship the nation’s highly radioactive waste to a scientifically unsound location that is only 90 miles from Las Vegas. I thank President Obama for keeping his word to Nevadans and for working with us to end this irresponsible waste of taxpayer dollars. I look forward to working with him and [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu to find a responsible solution for the disposal of nuclear waste.”

(BTW, you know what else the decision to withdraw the application is good news for? Reid’s political career! He’s been the No. 1 Yucca Mountain fighter for years, and ending the dump in an election year — especially one in which one of his chief Republican rivals has said Nevada should have negotiated for benefits in exchange for accepting the dump — is a boon for Reid. Why, it’s almost like the near-end of this 20-year fight was timed to help Reid, like some sort of hole card played at just the right time.)

More happiness, from Congresswoman Dina Titus (and delightfully free of profanity!):

“I have worked with my colleagues to impress upon President Obama the importance of ending Yucca Mountain once and for all so that Nevada does not become a nuclear waste dumping ground. Since taking office, the president has worked to uphold his commitment to put an end to Yucca Mountain, and I applaud his latest effort, which eliminates funding for this disastrous project.”

Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, anything to add, perhaps something with a literary flair?

“Three decades of failed efforts to dump nuclear waste in Nevada are coming to end with this budget and there will be nothing left of Yucca Mountain when we get done but a bleached pile of bones,” said Berkley. “The president’s budget axes all remaining funding for Yucca Mountain and DOE has said it will pull the plug on efforts to license the dump, making it all but impossible for this threat to one day return from the grave.”

…

“This budget is a bulldozer that will help Nevada flatten Yucca Mountain into a permanent pile of rubble. Money talks and the president’s budget shouts ‘no more spending’ on efforts to dump nuclear waste in Nevada. We are closer than ever to winning the war on Yucca Mountain and the battle now is to pass this funding cut, so I’ll be on the front lines leading the charge in the House,” said Berkley said.

There are even more practical reasons to cheer the end of Yucca Mountain, if indeed this is it. According to Gov. Jim Gibbons‘s spokesman, Daniel Burns, Nevada spent $700,000 in general fund money to pay lawyers to argue against the federal government’s application to license the dump. Given the $900 million deficit facing state lawmakers, it would be nice to put that money toward something ultimately more useful to citizens, no?

UPDATE: Gibbons, the first Nevada Republican to weigh in on the Yucca issue, was a bit more skeptical about the news, but cheered it nonetheless. Here are excerpts from his statement:

“Yucca Mountain is not the answer to the Nation’s nuclear waste problem and it never was,” Gibbons said, “I am glad the president has finally seen the light.”

…

“I call upon the president to not only discontinue the application for the dump at Yucca Mountain, but to move to have the application dismissed ‘with prejudice’ so it cannot be resurrected by a future administration” Governor Gibbons said.

Gibbons added, “Over the years, politicians have declared Yucca Mountain dead probably a dozen times, maybe this time it will be true.”

Wait, finally seen the light? I’m pretty sure Obama’s been against Yucca Mountain consistently. That means this action is just fulfilling a campaign promise. But Gibbons is right to suspect that the project’s not really dead until the application is withdrawn for good, and to withhold popping of champagne corks until we know that’s the case for sure.

Tags: Dina Titus, Harry Reid, Jim Gibbons, Shelley Berkley, Yucca Mountain

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