10 Thurlay, January 23, 1997 Pahrump Valley Gazette
Editorial
"If at first you don't succeed ..."
By Robert/_,owes
Try as hard as I may, it's impossible to keep an open and
objective mind about Yucca Mountain in the heart of Nye
County. The very idea of using our backyard to store the nation's
unwanted nuclear trash for the next 10,000 years is beyond
comprehension. Although it may take that long until someone
figures out a way to use high-level radioactive wastes. But let's
face it, this radioactive trash is a natural consequence of the
nuclear age in which we live, and it's got to go somewhere until
developing technology finds a way it can be used for a peaceful
purpose.
Intellectually, if not emotionally, we know that. But can the
best science currently available to us reasonably guarantee the
health, safety and suitability of the proposed site, located just east
of us? That's what the Congress promised us when the 5,000-
foot ridge about 100 miles northwest of the popular urban Las
Vegas tourist destination and a few miles east of U.S. Highway
95 between the communities of Beatty and Lathrop Wells in the
Amargosa Valley.
Journalists by nature tend to view things somewhat skepti-
cally, and for good reason. Remember when the old Atomic
Energy Commission said that above ground testing of nuclear
weapons was safe7 Ask anyone who lived downwind of the Test
Site. And then, after the successor Department of Energy went
to underground nuclear weapons tests a decade later, we were
told that those detonations would eliminate dangerous radioac-
tive discharges into our atmosphere, discharges that only re-
cently have been made public.
However, the nuclear natives from the powerful utility indus-
try have grown increasingly restless with the constant delays on
studies at Yucca Mountain. This, of course is compounded by
the nearly unified anti-dump posture of the state of Nevada and
its elected leadership. Their frustration with the many DOE
delays is easily understandable, considering the current stock-
piles of some 32,000 metric tons of spent fuel that is temporarily
stored at their commercial reactors around the country.
Approximately 85 percent of the nation's nuclear wastes are
generated eastofthe Mississippi River and must consequently be
shipped through the towns and cities of the nation before arriving
at the proposed permanent disposal site in the Nevada desert.
Spentplutonium, according to the best science available, must be
isolated for the required 10,000 years, which if my calculations
are correct, would bring us to the year after 12, 000.
So why the big rush to start the clock ticking? What's a few
centuries, more or less, among friends? Could it be that the
nuclear industry, responding to its ratepayers who have now
contributed about $11 billion from their utility bills to building
a national nuclear waste dump are demanding to see some solid
results accrue from their investment?
Last year the industry won a court ruling that ordered the
government to take possession of the waste by Jan.31, 1998,
which isn't all that far away. But this Energy Department, which
has already spent $3 billion studying the site suitability for a
permanent repository at Yucca Mountain, says won't be ready to
open the proposed dump until 2010.
So in an effort to regain precious time lost in the last session
of congress, nuclear waste proponents introduced a proposal to
ship up to 85,000 tons of the highly radioactive stuff to Nevada
earlier this week - one of the first bills of the new session.
The legislation, sponsored by two adversaries, Sens. Larry
Craig, R-Idaho, and Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, neither of
whom want to see the dump in either of their states, proposes to
establish an interim nuclear waste storage depot in the Nevada
desert until a permanent repository for the nation's deadliest
trash is found.
Their current proposal closely mirrors legislation that passed
the Senate last year, but died when the House failed to take up a
similar measure when threatened with a presidential veto.
Both the Clinton administration and the Nevada congres-
sional delegation have opposed the measure, arguing that it
would make Nevada a de-facto dump for the nation's unwanted
nuclear wastes.
While these motivated maneuvers by the nuclear industry to
find a home for their hazardous wastes, studies continue at the
local site despite recent shake-ups in the top levels of the Energy
Depatrnent from Secretary HazelO'Leary on down as Clinton's
second-term team begins to take shape.
But those changes aren't the only shaking going on at Yucca
Mountain located on a long dormant earthquake fault that runs
through the local region. The latest recorded tremors occurred
in a series of earthquakes that rocked the Southwest as recently
as the summer of 1992.
Who's to blame and who's to bless?
by Doug MoMwvlo
"Mr. District Attorney, please don't use the words 'legal' or
'illegal', some rag-sheet will plaster the words all over the place."
It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure which county commis-
sioner made a comment similar to the lead for this article.
Actually, the comment was yelled and his anger was more than
audible - it was v/sual as well. Neither would it take a rocket
scientist to figure which county-wide newspaper this commis-
sioner was referring to. Personally, this writer holds no malice.
The commissiouer in question has been much maligned and the
media is an easy target these days. But i f questioning or criticiz-
ing government at any level turns a newspaper into a rag-sheet
- the Pahrump Valley Gazette is in very good company.
For those who wonder if there exists a Code of Ethics in
Journalism, the answer is yes, there is. More importantly, within
that code is the belief that public enlightenment is the foreru
of justice and the foundation of democracy. It is the duty of
journalists, in all forms of media, to seek the truth and provide a
fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. The four
articles of the code focus on 1) Seeking the truth and reporting it
in an honest, fair, and courageous manner. 2) Minimizing harm
and treating sources, subjects and colleagues as human beings
deserving of respect. 3) Acting independently and remaining
free of obligation to any interest other than the public's right to
know. 4) Being accountable. Journalists are accountable to their
rea:lers,tistetaers, viewers and each other .........
As readers might imagine, the discussion regarding the
commissioner's aversion to the words "legal" and "illegal" was
relevant to the Rachel Nicholson matter. Admittedly, this news-
paper has printed some anti-Nicholson things since September
" 17, 1996, The day the commissioners, in the face of all that is
reasonable to man, stubbornly and without any plausible expla-
nation, hired Nicholson one week to the day District Attorney
Bob Beckett terminated her from his office. Admittedly, com-
ments in this newspaper have been less than flattering to say the
least. Consider the comments to be frustration at not being able
to get a straight answer fTom officials as to why the position
needed to be filled and why the $100,000 price tag accompanied
it, Admittedly, on Octcr 10, 1996, this newspaper made a
significant error in reporting both Nicbolson and her boss, Les
Bradshaw, were subjected to disbarment in federal courts. Not
only was the error heartbreaking in its unfairness, it also provided
a rope for N'w.,holson and Bradshaw to grab and use as a whip to
deflect their own errors which certainly harm the public at large
much more than the damage done to them individually by this
paper. However, the Pahrump Valley Gazette has corrected the
err in excess of four separate issues. This will be the last.
Incidentally, Rachel Nieholson could be Naehel Richolson for
all we care. It's not Rhea! we're attacking, it's her job. She is now
suing the county for $250,000. Award the settlement contingent
upon her leaving Nye County. In less than three years we will be
saving money. As aperson, it is this writer's belief that Nicholson
is not a bad one. I hold no malice against her, I just feel the public
would be better served if we didn't have to pay her salary.
Back to the point: The commissioners don't want the D.A. to
use the words "legal" and "illegal" in front of the press because
theyql plaster it all over the place. Yes, we will. At least this paper
will. In case the commissioners have forgotten how we've gotten
to this point, allow yourself the opportunity to read the following
brief chronology. For my information, I only had to pull out my
three-inch "Nicbolson" file. It's easy to find as it's right between
my oue-iuch "miscellaneous" file and my seven-inch "Offutt"
file. Admittedly, the information is mostly limited to county
commission actions and I have no idea what really happens out
there on Tonopab's Radar Road on a day by day basis.
September 11, 1996 - Nicholson is terminated by Beckett.
Without cause.
September 17, 1996 - Commissioners "transfer" Nicholson,
despite their own resolution implementing a hiring freeze two
months earlier, in the newly created position as Nye County
Manager Les Bradshaw's Special Assistant. There would be no
break in salary, benefits or longevity. The job, until that day
unnecessary, pays $100,000 per year in salary and benefits.
Question: Is it legal or illegal to break county resolutions?
September 17, 1996 - Funding for the position is originally
motioned to be pulled from the Nye County General Fund. This
fails and Bradshaw and the above-referenced commissioner
suddenly recall a veritable treasure chest in Repository grant
funds. In fact, fellow commissioners and members of the media
and public are led to believe that the Repository could fund
Nicholson's salary through two overlapping grants until Septem-
ber, 1997. The motion to fund through the repository passes 4-
0-1. Former District 3 Commissioner Jeff Taguchi abstained.
September 19, 1996 - The Pahrump Vail©' Gazette is
published and warns the commission not to expect this issue to
go away. The first meeting brought forth enough suspicion on
our part to get the ball rolling.
September 26, 1996 - This paper informed readers that
Nicholson would be performing duties the D.A.'s office is elected
by the public to do, despite assurances she would not usurp
Beckett's duties or obligations. Nicholson would be drafting
ordinauces and working on contracts. That sort of thing, the article
revealed, is a threat to our right to elected legal representation.
October 10,1996-ReadersareinformedNicbolsonis named
as a defendant in the Bill Offutt sexual harassment lawsuit filed
on behalf of two California attorneys.
October 24, 1996 - Readers are informed Bradshaw and
A 5.6 magnitude quake rumbled along a previously uniden-
tiffed fault located six miles beneath Little Skull Mountain on the
adjoining Nevada Test Site, about 12 miles north of the proposed
Yucca Mountain high-level dump.
While the quake did not crack or damage the so-called "X"
tunnel beneath Little Skull Mountain where non-nuclear experi-
ments are scheduled, the department's files reveal the shake did
more than $400,000 in damage to government buildings at the
DOE's surface research facilities there.
As DOE monitors recorded the effects of the quake at Yucca
Mountain, researchers reported that the ground water level inside
the volcanic mountain rose by about 200 feet.
AS recently as .three years ago, a lesser 3,9 quake at nearby
Rock Valley triggered a controversy within the scientific
community over placing a burial plot for radioactive materials in
an earthquake zone.
Although the carefully designed canisters containing th .
radioactive wastes proposed for Yucca Mountain will be en-
tombed some 1,000 feet beneath the desert surface, a rupture of
a nearby fault could disturb the cavernotis underground storage
tunnels and perhaps even the stored waste canisters, according to
scientists engaged in studying Yucca Mountain suitability.
When asked about this latest development in the controversy
over the dump, Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., who was governor
of the state at the time when Yucca Mountain was first designated
for the dumpsite and who has since become one of its strongest
opponents, said this latest development comes as "no surprise"
to him and other anti-dump activists.
"The forces behind the nuclear utilities are relentless in their
determination to see the dump in Nevada," Bryan responded. He
should know, he's been involved since the ill-fated effort to
create Bullfrog County, a zero-population new Nevada County
carved from the heart of Nye County.
Bryan and fellow Nevada Democrat Sen. Harry Reid staged a
filibuster to delay passage of a similar bill last year. While the bill
eventually passed the Senate before the annual recess, it passed
without the necessary votes to override a promised Clinton veto.
Both Bryan and Reid believe they can prevail again this year,
but warn their constituents, "it won't be an easy fight." And tha
might go down as being the understatement of the new year.
And so it goes.
McRae "misrepresented" the repository's willingness to pay 100
percent of Nicholson's salary, and in fact, Nicholson was being
paid completely out of the general fund. Remember, the com-
missioners voted down funding the position in this manner. The
"shell game" has begun in earnest at this point.
October 31, 1996 - In a banner story, readers are informed
of the shocking allegations in the Offutt lawsuit and Nicholson's
almost criminal negligence in helping the victims.
November 28, 1996 - False documents ignite a D.A.'s
investigation into Nicholson's controversial "transfer," com-
plete with two photocopies of the criminally tampered docu-
ments.
December 5, 1996 - Another front-page story reveals the
formal opinion of Beckett. This opinion is hard-hitting and
expresses the criminal activity by Bradshaw, Nicholson, and the
Nye County Commission carries severe penalties, in both the
civil and criminal law arenas.
December 12, 1996 -,The matter has reached climax and an
all out misinformation campaign is launched by certain county
officials and members of the local media.
December 19, 1996 - In yet another front-page story,
Nicholson plays her "trump card," threatening to sue the county.
The revelation goes a long way explaining the commissioners,
until this date, inexplicable behavior. Fearing another lawsuit,
they allowed themselves to be "blackmailed" by Nicholson.
December 26 , 1996- The paper makes a difficult and
concerted effort to give readers a break from the bad news in
recognition of Christmas.
January 2, 1997 - The paper uncovers an incriminating
memo to the commissioners and reports it. Nicholson writes she
too suffered sexual harassment at the hands of Bill Offutt and
admits she had improper contact, albeitprobably unavoidable
on her part, with the Offutt plaintiffs. A direct violation of an
attorney's Code of Ethics.
January 9, 1997 - Another front-page story, this time
Nicholson demands $250,000 from the county to "make her
whole" after Beckett's termination.
There is much more to this story than space will allow for.
Perhaps someday rll write a book about it. In this book, I will
write that Nicholson was just as much a victim as everyone else.
I will write she worked hard for the county. I will write that if the
county wasn't in the middle of the severe budget crisis, her
transfer probably would have been ignored. Most of all, I will
write that Nicholson was the most public victim of Bill Offutt.
I will write that Bill Offutt and his actions came close to
destroying Nye County. And then I will smugly employ the
apparent philosophy of the Nye County Commission:
'Td rather beg for forgiveness than ask for advice."
i,
i
!,
