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NEWS RELEASE
October 10, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Josh Ewing (Mayor Anderson, Salt Lake City) (801) 535-7739
Elaine Sanchez (Mayor Goodman, Las Vegas) (702) 629-2205
Steve Erickson (Citizens Education Project) (801) 554-9029
MAYORS SAY NO NUKES DOWN ROAD OR UPWINDThe mayors of the two largest cities in the interior West fired off letters to their Utah and Nevada congressional delegations denouncing moves to ship nuclear waste through their neighborhoods and explode fallout-producing nuclear bunker-busting bombs up-wind of their constituents.
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson jointly urged the Congress to block additional funding that would "speed up development of the Yucca Mountain Project and initiatives that could lead to a resumption of nuclear testing".
The mayors wrote that it is clear that the Bush Administration is "set upon a course that will inexorably lead to a new round of what long term residents here remember as 'the bombing'. We can think of no greater threat to the health and welfare of our citizens and communities than being downwind yet again."
They characterized the prospect of renewed nuclear testing as a "moral choice that must be judged in light of a legacy of death and deceit".
Congressional budget negotiators are finalizing appropriations that include up to $15 million for development of the bunker busting Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, $5 million for research on "mini-nukes", and $25 million fro test site readiness to resume nuclear weapons testing within 18 months.
The House proposes spending $765 million for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, a 67% increase over current funding, and expediting planning for early acceptance of waste at an above ground interim storage facility in Nevada in 2007. Nevadans and their elected leaders overwhelmingly oppose the nuclear waste project, and Nevada's senior Senator Harry Reid has led efforts to cut funding for Yucca Mountain.
Goodman and Anderson argue that the Yucca Mountain Project will have "a devastating effect upon tourism" and depress property values in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. They charged that the Congress and the Department of Energy have failed to address the " staggering" costs to the cities for emergency preparedness and downplayed the "nearly incalculable" impacts on their cities in the event of an accident.
Steve Erickson, director of the Salt Lake-based Citizens Education Project which worked with the mayors on the letter, conceded that it may be too little too late to block the nuclear waste and weapons funding in this Congress, but praised the mayors for their forthright position and leadership.
"If these programs go forward, they will require additional appropriations for years to come," Erickson said. "It's past time that all our political leaders find some backbone on behalf of their constituents who adamantly oppose nuclear weapons testing and waste dumping. Those who can't or won't have some serious explaining to do," he said.