Cathleen Allison / AP
U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., speaks to a joint session of the Nevada Legislature in Carson City on Thursday, April 4, 2013.
Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | 11 p.m.
CARSON CITY — Rep. Dina Titus on Tuesday denounced a request from President Donald Trump's administration to restart the licensing process for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
The Democrat told a joint session of the Nevada Legislature that she will not stand by and let Trump's administration treat Nevada "as a dumping ground for the nation's nuclear waste."
"We don't make it. We don't use it. We're not gonna store it," she said to a wave of applause from Nevada legislators.
Titus called the project unsafe and unsound. She said she tells presidential candidates looking to be successful in Nevada that they must oppose a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.
Trump has included a request for $116 million for the Yucca Mountain repository in his proposed budget for the Department of Energy next year.
She also denounced the secret shipment of weapons-grade plutonium from South Carolina to a nuclear security site in Nevada.
"You cannot trust the (Department of Energy) when it comes to nuclear issues," she said.
The Democrat praised legislators for passing a bill that expands gun background checks to private gun sales and transfers.
"I say shame on those rural sheriffs who say they won't enforce it," she said. "They are recklessly gambling with the lives of Nevadans and nobody should be above the law."
Speaking with reporters after the speech, Titus said she has met or plans to talk with multiple Democrats running for president, including former U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of Texas and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
