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"The tribe here feels that they have been mistreated for time immemorial."
- Battle Mountain Shoshone leaders, in a letter to the U.S. government, 1954
Note that the Western Shoshone are not mentioned even once in the following AP newswire story. It is not because they are not at the center of the struggle, but more likely, because no one seems to care about them.
Friday January 11 11:04 AM ET (Associated Press)
By Chris Baltimore and Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Energy Department has approved a remote Nevada site as the final resting place for the nation's vast amounts of radioactive waste, a plan immediately opposed by the Senate's top two Democrats.
A repository would be built under Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas, under the plan endorsed by Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham (news - web sites). The site would store 70,000 tons of radioactive materials from the nation's nuclear power plants for about 10,000 years deep within the mountain.
Abraham telephoned Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn, a Republican, on Thursday afternoon to inform him of the long-awaited decision.
``I am damn disappointed in this decision,'' Guinn said in a statement. ``At the conclusion of the call I told the secretary that I think this decision stinks, the whole process stinks and we'll see him in court.''
Abraham said he will forward a formal recommendation to President Bush (news - web sites) in 30 days, the time allotted by law for Guinn to review the controversial proposal.
NATIONAL SECURITY CITED
Abraham emphasized that a single U.S. waste site was crucial for national security since the Sept. 11 attacks in Washington and New York, which raised public and political concern about guarding the nation's radioactive material.
``There are compelling national interests that require us to complete the siting process and move forward with the development of a repository, as Congress mandated almost 20 years ago,'' Abraham said in a letter to the governor.
The Yucca Mountain site, which will not be in operation until at least 2010, will help ``ensure America's national security,'' the Energy Department said in a statement.
Used fuel from the nation's 103 nuclear power plants is piling up at a rate of about 2,000 tons a year, according to the U.S. utility industry, which has pressed the federal government to designate Yucca Mountain as a waste repository.
The Nuclear Energy Institute praised Abraham's decision as ''the right scientific thing to do'' to safely manage the huge amounts of nuclear waste generated by power plants. Putting all the waste in one secure site is better than forcing individual nuclear power plants to store it, the trade group said.
Green groups and Nevada lawmakers object to the proposal, citing safety worries about long-term radiation leaks, geologic faults near the site and underground water movement.
DEMOCRATS OPPOSE PLAN
The proposal faces stiff opposition from senior Democrats on Capitol Hill.
Nevada Senator Harry Reid, the body's No. 2 Democrat, has repeatedly said he would fight a waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
``I think (Bush) should do nothing. He has wide discretion as to what he does with the recommendation of his energy secretary,'' Reid told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle also criticized the plan, calling it ``unfortunate and premature.'' Scores of scientific studies are still underway and until they are finished, the government should not choose a site, he said.
``The safety of the American people, not political pressure from the energy industry, should be the overriding concern,'' Daschle said in a statement.
Other politicians also reacted swiftly and angrily.
Republican Senator John Ensign had ``a 10-minute conversation with (Abraham) where he expressed outrage over the decision,'' said an aide to the senator in Reno, Nevada.
Rep. Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat and long-time critic of the nuclear industry for safety reasons, said the decision was based on politics, not science.
``Other sites were struck because of the political clout of their congressional delegations,'' Markey said in a statement. Alternative sites in Louisiana, Texas, New Hampshire, and North Carolina were blocked by such action, he said.
Meanwhile, Idaho senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo both applauded the decision as ``great news'' for their home state, which wants to ship waste outside its borders.
CONGRESS WILL VOTE ON PLAN
Although the Energy Department's endorsement is a key step in the process, the plan for a repository at Yucca Mountain still faces several obstacles before construction could begin.
If Nevada objects to the administration's plan, as is now likely, Congress would have 90 days to decide the issue with a simple majority vote. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission must also approve a license for the site.
Some $8 billion has been spent over the last 20 years to determine if Yucca Mountain will offer safe storage, with critics contending the studies have shown it is unsuitable. Reid contends that the government would have to spend a total of $100 billion to develop the storage site.
A November report issued by the General Accounting Office (news - web sites), the investigative arm of Congress, urged the Energy Department to postpone approval of the Yucca Mountain project. The GAO said the Energy Department cannot meet its 2010 goal because it still lacks reliable cost estimates.
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