WP: Yucca Mountain Looms Over Vote

[kskiska]

Nevada May Hinge on Candidates' Plans for Nuclear Waste

YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev., Oct. 28 -- Few signs of life disturb the lonely peace of Yucca Mountain. It juts above the scarred landscape of the Nevada Test Site, overlooking the Funeral Mountains of California's Death Valley and a rocky desert the color of tumbleweed.

The only community of sorts nearby is Amargosa Valley, a town of about 1,600 people spread over 455 square miles where the main attractions are a brothel, a saloon, an opera house and the sight of Yucca Mountain itself.

But all of Nevada cares deeply about the fate of Yucca Mountain, which stands 90 miles west of Las Vegas. Nevada cares so deeply that Yucca Mountain may decide whether President Bush or Sen. John F. Kerry wins the state's five electoral votes on Tuesday -- and with them, perhaps the presidency.

Most Nevadans are dead set against Yucca Mountain becoming the nation's nuclear dump site. In 2000, Bush, who defeated Vice President Al Gore in Nevada by four percentage points, told voters that he would approve Yucca Mountain as a burial ground for 77,000 tons of radioactive waste from 131 sites in 39 states based on "sound science." Bush approved the site in 2002 on the recommendation of the Energy Department -- a move Nevadans have not forgotten.

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7362-2004Oct28.html

[DeepModem Mom]

1. kick

[genius]

2. If they vote for Kerry, it's guaranteed to go away. HE VOTED AGAINST IT.

[truthisfreedom]

3. bush banked on rove covering his ass for this election. instead, rove is

an airplane wheel-chock.