Re: A washingtonpost.com article from: franz.schoenhofer@chello.at

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

They used to worry about special interest being

involved with the political/regulatory process.  Now

we call them stakeholders.



--- franz.schoenhofer@CHELLO.AT wrote:



> You have been sent this message from

> franz.schoenhofer@chello.at as a courtesy of

> washingtonpost.com 

>  

>  Personal Message:

>  Didn't I recently write that radiation protection

> is politics?

> Franz

>  

>  Yucca Mountain Looms Over Vote

>  

>  By Evelyn Nieves

>  

>    YUCCA MOUNTAIN, Nev., Oct. 28 -- Few signs of

> life disturb the lonely peace of Yucca Mountain. It

> juts above the scarred landscape of the Nevada Test

> Site, overlooking the Funeral Mountains of

> California's Death Valley and a rocky desert the

> color of tumbleweed.

>  

>  The only community of sorts nearby is Amargosa

> Valley, a town of about 1,600 people spread over 455

> square miles where the main attractions are a

> brothel, a saloon, an opera house and the sight of

> Yucca Mountain itself.

>  

>  But all of Nevada cares deeply about the fate of

> Yucca Mountain, which stands 90 miles west of Las

> Vegas. Nevada cares so deeply that Yucca Mountain

> may decide whether President Bush or Sen. John F.

> Kerry wins the state's five electoral votes on

> Tuesday -- and with them, perhaps the presidency.

>  

>  Most Nevadans are dead set against Yucca Mountain

> becoming the nation's nuclear dump site. In 2000,

> Bush, who defeated Vice President Al Gore in Nevada

> by four percentage points, told voters that he would

> approve Yucca Mountain as a burial ground for 77,000

> tons of radioactive waste from 131 sites in 39

> states based on "sound science." Bush approved the

> site in 2002 on the recommendation of the Energy

> Department -- a move Nevadans have not forgotten.

>  

>  Not that the Democrats will let anyone here forget.

> A dizzying number of television ads over the past

> several weeks from the Kerry campaign, the National

> Democratic Committee and MoveOn.org all hammer home

> the point: Kerry is against using Yucca as a nuclear

> dump, Bush is for it.

>  

>  And although terrorism, security, the war in Iraq

> and the economy are the big issues here, in a

> deadlocked race, pollsters say, Yucca Mountain could

> tip the balance.

>  

>  Kerry repeated his promise to keep the nuclear

> waste away in a rally in Las Vegas on Tuesday. "How

> many broken promises do you need, Nevada?" Kerry

> said, adding that Bush promised he would not go

> forward on Yucca Mountain unless it was safe.

> "Nevada, not on my watch." 

>  

>   Two of the state's largest newspapers cited Yucca

> Mountain in endorsing Kerry. The Las Vegas Sun

> wrote: "President Bush campaigning in Nevada in 2000

> masked his true stance on Yucca Mountain. . . . He

> pushed for Yucca Mountain almost from day one in the

> White House." The Reno Gazette-Journal used Harry M.

> Reid, the popular Democratic senator, to vouch for

> Kerry: "When Kerry says that he will not allow Yucca

> Mountain to be used as a nuclear waste repository,

> Reid says that Nevadans can believe him."

>  

>  The latest polls show the race is a dead heat. A

> Reno Gazette-Journal/News 4 poll of likely voters

> released this week showed 49 percent for Bush and 47

> percent for Kerry; 2 percent remained undecided,

> Ralph Nader received 1 percent and other candidates

> claimed  1 percent. The margin of error was plus or

> minus four percentage points.

>  

>  Democrats and Republicans each claim about 40

> percent of the electorate, but Clark County,

> encompassing not only Las Vegas but also booming

> suburbs such as Henderson, which helped the county

> become the fastest-growing region in the country in

> the 1990s, is a Democratic stronghold.

>  

>  In the Gazette-Journal/News 4 poll, Kerry led Bush

> in Clark County, with 70 percent of the state's

> voters, 53 percent to 42 percent. Bush was ahead in

> Washoe County, the state's other population center,

> by 10 points, 53 percent to 43 percent.

>  

>  "Yucca Mountain is what's probably making Kerry

> competitive in Nevada," said Del Ali, whose firm,

> Rockville-based Research 2000, conducted the latest

> poll. 

>  

>  "It's really not so much a Clark County issue since

> Kerry has to do well there anyway," Ali added. "But

> if Yucca Mountain pulls Bush's support under 55

> percent in Washoe County and other rural parts of

> the state, Kerry will win."

>  

>  Early voting, which ends Friday, has been heavy,

> suggesting a record turnout, according to state

> election officials. More than 200,000 people in

> Clark County had cast their ballots as of Wednesday,

> with Democrats holding the lead. Both parties say

> turning out their voters is key, as it is in all the

> swing states, and they have huge get-out-the-vote

> efforts underway, climaxing this weekend when

> thousands of volunteers are set to blanket the

> state.

>  

>  Bush, like Kerry, campaigned in Nevada this week,

> and both are scheduled to bring in big-gun

> surrogates for the final lap of the race. Former

> president Bill Clinton, who carried Nevada twice, is

> to headline a rally Friday in Las Vegas. Vice

> President Cheney will be in Reno and parts of Clark

> County on Monday. 

>  

>    

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=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"A devotee of Truth may not do anything in deference to convention.  He must always hold himself open to correction, and whenever he discovers himself to be wrong he must confess it at all costs and atone for it."

Monhandas K. Gandhi, in "Autobiography"



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com





		

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