Tomorrow night

I'll be watching the debate, along with the rest of the country. And I'll be waiting for energy policy to come up. That may be the only opportunity I have to see what each candidate has to say - really say - about Yucca Mountain.

I'm not about to go into all the wrangling that's been going on for the last 20 years over this project. Let's just say that Nevadans (or at least the Nevadans in Las Vegas and Reno) aren't happy about the entire country's high-level nuclear waste being shipped to a location less than 100 miles from the outskirts of Las Vegas.

In 2000, Bush said he'd base the decision to finalize Yucca on "sound science." In 2002, the DOE gave Bush some studies, he said "sounds good to me," and signed the go-ahead for Yucca to get it's license, finish construction and start accepting shipments by 2010.

A couple of months ago, Kerry, eyeing our 5 electoral votes, told us that there was "NO WAY" nuclear waste would come here.

How nice of him. Thing is, I don't think that's his decision to make. I wish it were.

First of all, Bush, as the president, signed the recommendation from the DOE. It's now held up in the courts. If the courts decide against Nevada, Yucca would happen no matter who the president is.

Kerry's a lawyer - you'd think he knows that.

Second, there's been billions of dollars spent on this facility already, plus years of research, years of digging and years of preparation. If it's stopped (which is improbable) could anyone imagine the fight to research more locations and prepare another site? Would it take another 25 years? More? Nobody in Congress could condone that waste of time and money.

Then there's the question of energy independence. If we raise our production of nuclear energy and build more plants, like Kerry has proposed, where will the waste go if Yucca's been stopped? It's already piling up all over the country, and that can't be sustained, either.

Here's the fun one: we already take waste shipments right through the center of town. They're stored 60 miles away at the Nevada Test Site. Remember the NTS? When I was a kid, the underground nuclear tests used to shake the table while I was eating my breakfast. The ground still has hotspots. But once we signed that moratorium on nuclear testing, the land had to be used for something else. Area 5 is where the big holes and containers are. The stuff is classified as low-level waste, but that doesn't mean it isn't nasty. This is waste from nuclear weapons, nuclear medicine, and some biohazards.

The truth is, Yucca's coming. I'm not happy about it. But there's a way to live with it. Instead of wasting money on the fight, put that money into safer alternate transportation routes away from cities. And then, for being the country's wasteland, Nevada should get some nice little perks. Learn something from Alaska and their Permanent Fund. Get something extra for healthcare. Get our hospitals more money for cancer research. Get more for our parks and roads.

I'm tired of the empty promises from everyone - not only Bush and Kerry, but from our own Senators, Congressmen, and our Mayor. It's time to make a decision, make the outcome as fair as possible, and stick with it.