Guinn ready to share unified Nevada stance on nuke waste in D.C.

Gov. Kenny Guinn is going to Washington to testify against plans to store high-level nuclear waste in Nevada temporarily.

When the governor appears on Wednesday before the House Commerce Energy and Power Subcommittee, however, he will not focus on the dangers to Nevada alone.

Trucks loaded with casks of nuclear waste on their way to Nevada would pass through 43 states, he will point out.

In addition, a series of earthquakes that rattled the eastern edge of the Nevada Test Site the last week of January underscored the dangers of unstable rock. If an earthquake released radioactive contamination, it could affect neighboring states.

And there is growing evidence that ground water moves through Yucca Mountain more rapidly than scientists expected and could find its way to the agricultural area southwest of the Test Site, contaminating food and milk that is shipped throughout the region.

"Everyone who has followed this issue knows there is a mountain of evidence against this site at Yucca Mountain," Guinn press secretary Jack Finn said.

Guinn's testimony not only will bring these facts before the congressional committee, but it will also signal bipartisanship on the issue among Nevada's top political leaders.

The governor is testifying before a subcommittee chaired by Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas. Barton is a leading sponsor of legislation to place highly radioactive waste from nuclear power plants at the Nevada Test Site while the government continues studies on Yucca Mountain, the lone site chosen by Congress for study as a repository for high-level nuclear waste.

Democratic Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid and former Gov. Bob Miller, another Democrat, have fought against storing or burying nuclear waste in Nevada. On the Republican side, Rep. Jim Gibbons, who has a master's degree in geology, and former Rep. John Ensign also have opposed efforts in Congress to store nuclear waste in the state.

Newly elected Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Democrat, has pledged to oppose nuclear waste as well.

Guinn, Finn said, "wants to make sure everyone on Capitol Hill realizes we are as united as we ever were."

Barton is holding an early hearing on temporary storage of nuclear waste in the hope of reaching an agreement with the Clinton administration on a veto-proof measure that would pass both houses. Current law forbids storing nuclear waste in Nevada as long as Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, is under consideration as a repository.

Although similar legislation to House Resolution 45 -- the bill to set up temporary nuclear storage -- has passed the House twice, a veto threat by President Clinton has stymied progress in the Senate, which has not been able to muster the 67 votes needed to override a presidential veto.

Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has reassured Nevada officials that Clinton is prepared to veto any temporary-storage legislation until Yucca Mountain studies are completed.

Gibbons invited Guinn to testify at the subcommittee hearing.

"We must be allowed sufficient time before the committee to voice Nevada's opposition to this legislation that could prove devastating to our state," Gibbons said.

"Gov. Guinn's presence at this congressional hearing is a show of the unique solidarity that Nevada's elected officials share on this issue."

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