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Re: Clinton on Yucca Mtn.
From: Jack_Earley@RL.GOV
> "He hasn't seen scientific evidence. . . ."
>
> Doesn't matter--he wouldn't remember it if he had.
Depends on you define "seen!?" :-)
Regards, Jim
> Jack Earley
> Radiological Engineer
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Hardeman [mailto:Jim_Hardeman@MAIL.DNR.STATE.GA.US]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 01, 2002 3:46 PM
> To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
> Subject: Clinton on Yucca Mtn.
>
>
> Colleagues ‹
>
> Not that anybody cares what a former President of the United States thinks,
> but take a look at the following articles which appeared in the Las Vegas
> Sun over the past few days ...
>
> URL =
> http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2002/apr/29/042910641.htm
> l
>
> URL =
> http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/archives/2002/apr/30/513381596.htm
> l
>
> Jim Hardeman
> Jim_Hardeman@mail.dnr.state.ga.us
>
> ===========================================
>
> April 29, 2002
>
> Clinton tells Las Vegas crowd that Yucca Mountain not justified
>
> LAS VEGAS (AP) - Former President Bill Clinton told a packed crowd at UNLV's
> Thomas and Mack Center on Monday that he hasn't seen scientific evidence
> that Yucca Mountain is safe to store the nation's nuclear waste.
>
> "I think it's a mistake," he said, referring to the recommendation by
> President Bush to make the proposed site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas a
> national nuclear waste repository.
>
> The two-term Democratic president said during a question-and-answer session
> following his 35-minute guest lecture that he disagrees with the position
> the Bush administration has taken on Yucca Mountain because "the science
> doesn't justify this."
>
> He added that he never promised Nevada that he would not approve Yucca
> Mountain as the repository for 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel and other
> highly radioactive wastes, but Clinton stressed that the decision would have
> been based on sound science.
>
> Both chambers of Congress soon will vote on whether to override Gov. Kenny
> Guinn's veto of Bush's recommendation. Nevada officials have acknowledged
> they will lose big in the House, and are focusing on trying to muster a
> majority in the Senate.
>
> Majorities in the House and Senate must override the governor's veto for the
> Yucca site to become final and for the Energy Department to begin preparing
> a repository license application.
>
> Clinton advised Nevada residents to continue to educate members of the
> Senate, especially those representing small states.
>
> "Ask them if they would want this in their state," he said. "Don't give up,
> just keep making the case."
>
> Bush and Congress are under the gun to come up with a solution about what to
> do with the spent nuclear waste being stored at facilities around the
> nation, many of which are near largely populated areas, Clinton said.
>
> "They're under enormous amounts of pressure to just do this and get it over
> with, so they're going to dump it on you," he said. "I don't think that's
> right."
>
> Clinton added that allowing the highly radioactive waste to be buried would
> prevent the government from being forced to fund studies on how it could be
> neutralized instead.
>
> Demand for tickets to Clinton's talk, presented as part of the Barbara
> Greenspun Lecture Series, was so high that the event was moved from the
> 3,100-seat Cox Pavilion to the arena.
>
> All 6,500 free tickets were distributed, university officials said.
>
> ===========================================
>
> April 30, 2002
>
> Clinton applauds Yucca fight
>
> Ex-president says Nevada should lobby small-state senators
> By Erin Neff
> <erin@lasvegassun.com>
> LAS VEGAS SUN
>
> Bill Clinton said Monday if he were still the president of the United
> States, he would not approve Yucca Mountain as the nation's nuclear waste
> repository until unanswered scientific questions were solved.
>
> But after a speech to about 6,000 residents, politicians and students at
> UNLV as part of the Barbara Greenspun Lecture Series, Clinton stressed that
> he never opposed the site outright.
>
> "I never promised Nevada that I wouldn't approve the site," Clinton said in
> response to a question submitted in advance by a UNLV environmental studies
> student. "The only promise I ever made to you was I wouldn't do it if I
> weren't convinced it was safe based on the science."
>
> Two independent panels have determined that almost 300 scientific questions
> must be answered before Yucca Mountain could be licensed to hold waste.
> During his presidency, Clinton vetoed a proposal to temporarily store waste
> at Yucca Mountain.
>
> Clinton's five-minute response to the Yucca Mountain question came after a
> 35-minute speech on America's role in a global community -- a role he said
> had greater relevance in the post-Sept. 11 world.
>
> But his Yucca statements drew the most laughter and hearty applause of the
> night.
>
> Clinton discussed the legislation placing Yucca on a list of three potential
> places, including Deaf Smith County, Texas, in western Texas, "which is
> farther from any large population site than this one here," he said to
> tremendous applause.
>
> Clinton then said he read an article that said the original transportation
> route was changed when it took the waste within 100 yards of the U.S.
> Capitol.
>
> The Energy Department has not published any transportation routes.
>
> Still, Clinton's comment on the routes drew laughter. "They had to reroute
> it," Clinton said. "If the think it's so darn safe why don't they leave it
> where it is?"
>
> The laughs led him to comment that the whole situation is laughable due to
> its absurdity.
>
> "Oh, I don't want it in Texas," he said, hamming to the crowd by taking a
> jab at the way leaders in Washington are deciding the issue. "And I don't
> want it traveling too close to the Capitol. And I'm sorry you had an
> earthquake on the site. I really am. But we've got to put it somewhere, and
> I'm just going to ram it through to Nevada."
>
> Clinton recommended that Nevada take its case to the senators of every small
> state and "ask them how they would feel if this was being done to them."
>
> He also said he was sympathetic to utility companies that are trying to
> remove the waste so they can generate more power. But, he stressed, the
> current solution is being promoted "in a superficial way."
>
> "I just think it's a mistake. I don't think it can be justified on the
> merits," Clinton said.
>
> After spending about 40 minutes answering questions, Clinton worked the
> crowd, signing autographs, posing for pictures with babies and shaking
> hands.
>
> "I touched him," screamed Marcia Gomez, a nurse at University Medical Center
> who said she was thrilled to meet one of her personal heroes.
>
> "I love him for all the things he talked about," said Gomez, who is black
> and who noted Clinton's commitment to racial equality.
>
> During his speech -- interrupted 18 times by applause -- Clinton appeared
> most troubled when discussing the current battles between Israelis and
> Palestinians in the Middle East.
>
> He said both sides are trapped in a "death lock" over what individual
> residents want and what their countrymen believe en masse. As a result,
> Clinton said, America must stay involved -- perhaps by sending in troops --
> to validate the peace efforts.
>
> Clinton also applauded the recent trip to the region by Secretary of State
> Colin Powell, saying he disagreed with preliminary reports calling his visit
> a failure.
>
> "We have to start with the little steps," Clinton said.
>
> He also talked briefly about his current life as Citizen Clinton -- a public
> servant who splits his time between speeches, fund-raisers, writing,
> planning his presidential library and promoting his foundation.
>
> Clinton has given almost 200 speeches in 30 countries since leaving office,
> according to a recent article in Newsweek. The overseas speeches earn him
> between $200,000 and $300,000, with talks to American conferences and
> banquet appearances beginning at $125,000. Organizers declined to discuss
> the speaking fee.
>
> Monday's speech, sponsored by the Greenspun family, which owns the Sun, was
> offered free. The lecture series, which has featured Carl Bernstein, Leslie
> Stahl and Hillary Clinton in recent years, is typically held in the
> 1,800-seat Ham Hall at UNLV.
>
> But organizers knew Clinton could pack the 3,500-seat Cox Pavilion. When
> tickets quickly ran out for that venue, the event was moved to the Thomas &
> Mack Center -- with curtains blocking out more than half of the arena to
> give the speech a more intimate feel. A total of 6,500 tickets were
> distributed, with numerous state and local politicians grabbing VIP seats on
> the floor, and the public filling the general admission seats in the stands.
>
> The majority of those in attendance Monday cheered wildly when Clinton took
> the stage and stood when he concluded his speech.
>
> Although the former president was dogged by sexual scandals and impeachment,
> many in the crowd said they would vote for Clinton again if they could.
>
> "He's the best president we'll ever have," said Corey Russell, who snapped a
> photo of his 6-month-old daughter, Carter, with Clinton.
>
> Jessica Yatrofsky, a 20-year-old UNLV sophomore, said she found Clinton's
> remarks refreshingly honest.
>
> "He didn't talk around the questions," she said. "He just came out and told
> it like it is. It's not the kind of vibe that I get from President Bush."
>
>
>
>
>
>
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