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Kerry: Bush broke vow on Nev. nuke site
John Kerry accused President Bush on Tuesday of "breaking a promise" by authorizing a national storage facility for radioactive nuclear waste 100 miles northwest of here at Yucca Mountain. Polls show that most Nevadans oppose the $58 billion project, approved by Bush and Congress in 2002 over the objections of Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, a Republican. Kerry voted against proceeding with the facility, which Nevada officials have fought since 1982 as an unwanted "dump." Over 36 years, the project would ship 77,000 tons of spent fuel from nuclear power plants, Navy ships and research reactors to Nevada by truck and rail from 111 current storage sites in 39 states. The program was set back last month by a federal appeals court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency's radiation-safety standard for the site doesn't adequately guard public health. The Bush administration is considering an appeal to the Supreme Court.Bush won Nevada in 2000 after promising to approve the project only on the basis of "sound science." But Bush endorsed the Energy Department's recommendation even though scientific questions about the site's safety were - and still are - unresolved. On Tuesday, Kerry told a woman questioning him in a school library: "With John Kerry as president, there is going to be no nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain - period. This is not just a Nevada issue. It's about promises kept and promises broken." The issue "absolutely could make the difference" for the state's five electoral votes by raising the turnout, says Ted Jelen, a political scientist at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. "It's not going to turn Republicans into Democrats, but it could turn non-voters into voters - and they'll probably vote for Kerry, because Kerry has a pretty good position on that. The case that Bush lied in 2000 has not been successfully rebutted." Posted by: 2% 2004-08-11 |
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