The most recent revelation of falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project in Nevada further underscores what a dangerous and unnecessary project the federal government has sponsored for the past two decades.
Recent news reports that U.S. Geological Survey employees falsified documents are a clear reminder that the Yucca Mountain project has never been presented with all of the facts in plain sight. The state of Nevada has had to fight the battle against Yucca Mountain on an uneven playing field that has apparently been lined with deception.
And, in defiance of this obvious handicap, the State of Nevada seems to have finally taken the upper hand.
Since a perplexing vote by Congress in July 2002 to override my veto and permit the Department of Energy to move ahead for licensure to construct the facility, developments have all been very much in the state of Nevada's favor regarding the future of Yucca Mountain.
In July 2004, after years of litigation, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia handed Nevada a major legal victory in the fight to stop the nuclear waste dump when it threw out the Environmental Protection Agency's radiation health protection regulations that had been tailored for Yucca Mountain.
The court's ruling effectively stopped DOE because Yucca Mountain, by virtue of its porous geology and other fundamental flaws, is incapable of meeting the more stringent health and safety regulations required by the court. Since then, the Bush administration cut the fiscal year 2006 Yucca Mountain budget in half, and the DOE has acknowledged a series of missed deadlines.
Indications of waning support for the project from the nuclear industry have also followed, with statements by utility industry representatives advocating de-linking the repository from the industry's perceived ability to proceed with new nuclear power plants.
Then, this month, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman announced that scientists working on DOE's Yucca Mountain project had falsified reports and data in critical site suitability and repository performance areas. The revelation set off a storm of outrage, not only from Yucca Mountain critics, but also from project proponents who viewed the falsification of scientific data and studies as a potentially fatal blow to Yucca Mountain.
For Nevada's citizens, the recent revelations are good news. Given the events of past days, the question of "if" Yucca Mountain will crumble has become a question of "when."
I am extremely proud of the fact that Nevadans have chosen to fight this repository through all of the proper channels, in an intellectually honest and above-board manner. Those who have been involved are to be commended for being so vigilant during this fight.
Kenny Guinn, a Republican, has been governor of Nevada since 1999.
