Las Vegas Sun editor: vote Kerry or we deserve nuclear dump at Yucca

[Awsi Dooger]

This is from Brian Greenspun, longtime editor of the Las Vegas Sun, the secondary but more liberal paper in Las Vegas. From the weekend edition. It's atop the front page of the Sun's website. Let's hope it gets equal treatment tomorrow, a front page editorial. http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/oct/29/517746439.html

"In 1987 the Screw Nevada Bill quickly made its way to President Ronald Reagan's desk. That legislation short-circuited the scientific pretense of the first law and singled out Nevada as the only site in the entire country to be considered. It called for years of scientific study followed by a decision in 2002 by the then current president. He was to decide, based on all the scientific evidence and the guarantee of a safe geologic site for thousands of years, whether Yucca Mountain was going to be the place for all eternity in which the deadliest radioactive substances on Earth would rest."
<snip>

"Then came the presidential election of 2000. Believing candidate Bush's promise to accept only sound science in making his decision about sending that deadly garbage to our state, Nevadans chose Bush and, by doing so, provided the margin of victory for his march to the White House. In a very short time, President Bush reneged on his commitment and selected Nevada, over the objections of every reasonable scientific study. The Senate overwhelmingly caved in to the White House's pressure and the age-old "not in my backyard" syndrome."
<snip>

"Once again we were victims. This time, the victims of President George W. Bush. That brings us to Election Day 2004. And, for the first time since this nightmare started three decades ago, Nevada has the chance to no longer be the victim. We have a chance to finally help ourselves. The choice between the two candidates is absolutely clear. On the one hand we have a president who has proved his unreliability by promising to follow sound science and, when the first opportunity presented itself, ignored that science and stuck that dump up our Yucca Mountain. And he continues to do all that he can to make sure those trucks and trains are rolling our way as soon as possible.

On the other hand is Sen. John Kerry, who has promised that if he is elected president Yucca Mountain will never open. Instead, he will challenge science to find a 21st century solution to the problem of nuclear waste. Backing him up is Sen. Harry Reid, who not only has confirmed that a President Kerry can stop the dump but that he, Harry Reid, will make sure his friend will do just that."

(on edit: regarding my subject line, I should have included Greenspun's final sentence: "If we don't, we deserve the dump!")

[Florida_Geek]

1. NV will be blue or they are CRAZY

BUT I really did like this statement. "In 1987 the Screw Nevada Bill quickly made its way to President Ronald Reagan's desk"

OH Saint Reagan did this to Las Vegas.........:)

[Awsi Dooger]

2. That's why I included that paragraph, to properly implicate Ronnie

That Screw Nevada paragraph is actually deep into the editorial, not the lead. But it's seldom mentioned that Reagan aimed the waste at us. I'm sure people who just heard about Yucca in the last few years have no idea. Due infamy to Reagan and Bush.