What pending federal legislation would affect the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump?
Nevada has been battling Yucca Mountain for more than two decades, but this year the fight has taken on added urgency as new legislation in Congress seeks to accelerate construction of the proposed dump and to dramatically increase the amount of nuclear waste that would be buried only 90 minutes from Las Vegas. Legislation authored by the Bush administration and introduced by Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) would eliminate important health and safety regulations now in place to protect Nevada families and would limit challenges against the dump during the licensing process. This legislative package would also strip Nevada’s ability to protect local water supplies against contamination, by denying the state the authority to declare that providing water for Yucca Mountain is not in the best interest of our residents. Allowing such a precedent to be set would overturn existing Nevada law and threatens our ability to protect and manage one of our most important natural resources. In an attemp
