The Nye County School District has been invited to add its comments to those of the county on a U.S. Department of Energy environmental impact study on Yucca Mountain and a proposed rail line to it.

The comments are due to the county by Jan 10. (See related article this page.)

The county disagrees with some of DOE's assessments about the socioeconomic impacts the rail line and repository could have on Nye County.

"As far as Nye County goes, the environmental impact statement still has a few things that Nye County disagrees with," Darrell Lacy, Nye County Nuclear Waste Project Office director, explained.

DOE estimates that 80 percent of the employees at the repository would live in Clark County.

That estimate was based on historical data that no longer accurately reflects conditions in Pahrump, Lacy said. "That's based on historic data primarily from the Nevada Test Site, primarily from the 1950s," he said.

Back then Pahrump was much smaller and did not have many of the housing opportunities which exist today.

Lacy said the county estimates 80 percent of the employees would actually live here.

The construction and beginning operation phases, Lacy said, could bring about 2,000 people into the county.

"Schools are needed to support that kind of increase in population," Lacy said.

In addition, some issues that would need to be handled, such as improvement of infrastructure in repairing roads to get construction material to the site, would need to start at least five years prior to the repository receiving its first shipment of nuclear waste.

"I think it's a way to get our oar in the water for the whole process, and we ought to participate in it to the extent that we can," Vice President J.E. "Doc" McNeely said. "I don't know that any of us have any comments right now, tonight, on this particular document, but we are aware that whatever the scenario is that unfolds, it's going to impact us not only with infrastructure but with capital expenditures as well."

McNeely requested that, as the office acquires more information and statistics on the possible impact on Nye County, that the school board be kept up to date on their discoveries.

"It's critical that the DOE take very seriously the comments of the county on where people will live," Superintendent Rob Roberts said.

He added that if the assessment of 2,000 employees living in Nye County is correct, statistically there would probably be at least half a student per household.

That could mean 1,000 additional students for the county.

And that could mean more schools would be needed in Pahrump, Beatty or Amargosa. And with more schools would come the need for staff, buses and infrastructure.

"The DOE has a responsibility to the citizens of the county to build that infrastructure," Roberts said.

Toastmasters

The Pahrump Valley Toastmasters meets at 6:30 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of every month.

The meetings are held at Laduke Team Realty, 1271 S. Hwy. 160, Suite C.

Toastmasters International is a nonprofit organization for learning how to speak comfortably in public.

Call 727-9994 for more information.