A Nevada congressman is calling for a more open dialogue on opening Yucca Mountain in the state, according to an editorial appearing in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this weekend. Rep. Crescent Hardy (R-Nev.), who represents the district that hosts Yucca Mountain, wrote that the state of Nevada should be more engaging in negotiations to open Yucca Mountain in an effort to secure economic incentives to improve the state, while maintaining its ability to say no to the project. Hardy argued having a conversation about the project could only prove beneficial for Nevada. “Nevadans may never want nuclear waste stored inside Yucca Mountain,” Hardy wrote. “We certainly won’t let it be forced upon us. But if the dialogue changes and a discussion is had — and safety standards are overwhelmingly met — we should at least be up for an honest conversation.” Earlier this year, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) said he was working on an incentives bill that would aim to entice Nevada through infrastructure upgrades and economic development to embrace Yucca Mountain. That bill is planned for introduction sometime this summer, Shimkus has said. Hardy’s remarks, it appears at least some political will in Nevada may be shifting towards consideration of Yucca.
Senate Minority Leader and long-time Yucca opponent Harry Reid (D-Nev.), though, maintained in a response statement that Yucca Mountain will remain a dead project. “Rep. Hardy is living in a world that doesn’t exist,” Reid said in a statement. ”Opening the door to a nuclear dump in Nevada is not something I will ever accept. Yucca Mountain is not ‘an issue that long ago lost its middle.’ When it comes to protecting the health and safety of Nevadans from a potential environmental catastrophe, there is no benefit worth bargaining for. Nevada’s own experts, the Nuclear Waste Project Office, have worked for years with scientists and technical experts to reveal that Yucca Mountain is a highly risky, half-baked proposal riddled with technical flaws that guarantee eventual failure.”
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