A June 23 editorial referred to my “inexplicable” opposition to the nuclear waste bill.
Allow me to explain:
– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy asked to have until the end of this year to complete scientific studies to determine whether the Nevada site is viable. Waiting a few months to approve a site that will serve us for tens of thousands of years is not unreasonable.
– The bill waived ground-water contamination and radiation safety standards–why should senators override scientists in an area of public health?
– There are still valid questions about the safety of shipping nuclear waste across the nation. Because our state would be a crossroad for these shipments, I hope you can appreciate my concern.
We cannot ignore this problem and hope it simply will go away. We must establish an environmentally safe, long-term solution for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste. But it is important to get it right the first time. Failure to do so will only result in further delays, additional costs to ratepayers and exposure of the public to unnecessary risks.
