Tuesday, March 11, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa has written a letter to her counterparts around the country, urging them to become aware of a U.S. Senate bill that would allow temporary storage of nuclear waste at the Nevada Test Site.
The bill would also lessen the stringent requirements Yucca Mountain -- 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas -- would have to meet to qualify as the nation's sole repository for high-level nuclear waste.
Del Papa says the bill, sponsored by Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, and supported by Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, is short on constitutionality and long on befriending lobbyists for the nuclear industry.
The Nevada Democrat says the bill would set a dangerous precedent for all states because it gives the secretary of energy power to pre-empt all state and federal laws, provides for exemptions to environmental laws, and weakens the standards by which safe levels of radiation are set.
Another provision of the bill Del Papa warns about is the one discounting catastrophic events as a disqualifying factor for Yucca Mountain.
"The major deficiencies of the site rest with catastrophic events," Del Papa wrote. "A group of internationally recognized scientists are convinced that it is only a matter of time before violent stream explosions and perhaps low-yield nuclear explosions occur if spent fuel is placed in Yucca Mountain."
Senate Bill 104 also ignores the vehement opposition by Nevadans, Del Papa says, implying that efforts by the federal government to force any state to accept an unwanted federal initiative should be opposed by all states.
Congress, Del Papa says in the letter, is charged with protecting the state's constitutional right to a representative form of government, rather than undermining it.
In her concluding remarks, Del Papa writes: "It may only be a matter of time before Congress wields its power in a similar unconstitutional manner against your state."
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