Anti-Yucca Propaganda Just More “Fake News”

A discussion of the Yucca Mountain Project took place at a conference, the RadWaste Summit, in Las Vegas on Wednesday, with state bureaucrats continuing with their usual disinformation campaign – it’s own “fake news.”

Robert Halstead, the latest head of the Nevada Agency against Nuclear Projects, declared that the state will continue to use taxpayer dollars to oppose even the suitability STUDY of the proposed nuclear waste repository.

So much for letting the science, not the politics, determine the viability and safety of the project.

According to reporter Henry Brean of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Halstead declared that the Department of Energy “has not sufficiently demonstrated” that the waste pellets from nuclear plants across the country can be safely transported and stored at Yucca.

Of course, the main reason the DOE hasn’t been able to demonstrate whether or not the project can be safely administered is because former Sen. Harry Reid and former President Barack Obama cut off funding for the licensing process.  Derp.

Halstead then went on to claim that “political opposition to the project is stronger than ever while public opinion is largely unchanged, with around 75 percent of Nevadans opposed” to the project.

This simply isn’t true.

A growing number of elected officials – albeit many who are still afraid to go public with their opinions – now favor completing the study, as well as opening discussions related to safety concerns and the potential benefits of the project for Nevada’s citizens for doing the nation this service.

Indeed, as Nye County Commissioner Dan Schinhofen pointed out during the discussion, “nine rural counties have passed resolutions calling for the licensing (process) to resume and the science to be heard.”

And an official plank of the Nevada Republican Party adopted last year reads…

“We support positioning Yucca Mountain as a world class, high-tech nuclear research and science facility predicated upon sound, safe and proven scientific principles.  Nevada should negotiate an agreement so that Nevadans enjoy the financial and economic benefits of hosting the nation’s nuclear assets.”

In addition, Halstead failed to cite any recent, credible, professional poll that backs up his purported claim that 75 percent of Nevadans remain opposed to the project.  He just made that up.

Here’s the thing…

If storing the nation’s nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain is as dangerous as these self-serving politicians want us to believe, how much MORE dangerous is it to the nation to have it stored on-site at nuclear power plants scattered throughout the country?

And the fact remains, Congress passed a law – like it or not – back in 1987 that designates Yucca Mountain as the repository site.  And if Reid and Obama couldn’t change that law when they were in power, it ain’t gonna be changed anytime soon.

So it’s just stupid, foolish and irresponsible for Nevada’s politicians to continue burying their heads in the Yucca Mountain sand and refuse to protect the interests of Nevada’s citizens by engaging in discussions and negotiations related to the project.

We should start by defunding the shuttering the taxpayer-funded, anti-Yucca Nevada Agency against Nuclear Projects and force Mr. Halstead to find a real job.