Letter: Republican platform puts nukes in Nevada

Without renouncing the Republican Platform for nuclear waste in Nevada, George Bush now says he'd veto temporary storage here. It sounds good, except he won't say where permanent storage will be. Then again, even with the political double talk, you don't have to go too far up the I.Q. scale to know that he and the Republican Congress fully intend to turn Nevada into a toilet for nuclear waste. It's all spelled out in the Republican Platform.

It is time for our State Republicans to stop the gamesmanship on this issue. As evident from the Republican National Convention, John Ensign lacks the clout to stop his party. On the other hand, President Clinton did stop the Republican Congress from dumping nuclear waste here, and Al Gore would do the same. In other words, the only sure way to keep nuclear waste out of Nevada is to vote for Al Gore, Ed Bernstein and the Democrats.

Unfortunately, to place Nevada first and rise about party lines takes real guts and real integrity. Few politicians have these qualities nowadays, a pity because, paradoxically, it is the stuff that would win the votes of 90 percent of Nevadans.

TOM NELFORD

Reno