Nye County Commission liaisons on nuclear waste Joni Eastley and Gary Hollis counseled new Commissioners Lorinda Wichman and Fely Quitevis the Yucca Mountain Project isn't dead yet, despite all the newspaper articles.

Wichman asked why the county was protesting 116 applications filed by the U.S. Department of Energy for water rights, of which 103 would be used for de-watering the construction of the proposed rail line from Caliente to Yucca Mountain.

Fifty-nine of the wells are in Nye County, according to Darrell Lacy, director of the Nye County Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office.

"Why are we arguing over something that may not happen?" Wichman asked.

"Recently it has been published in the Review-Journal that the current administration is trying to kill Yucca Mountain," Quitevis said. "Since we haven't seen the light at the end of the tunnel, I don't want to support this recommendation."

But Eastley countered: "the last time I checked, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act was still the law of the land, and until someone in Congress introduces language to change the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the law of the land is Yucca Mountain must move forward."

President Obama talked of appointing a Blue Ribbon committee to come up with a solution on disposing nuclear waste.

Eastley said if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves the license application for Yucca Mountain Nye County better have its ducks in a row.

"Just because Sen. Reid said it's dead doesn't make it so," she said.

Hollis said the 39 states that have nuclear power plants wouldn't allow for amendments to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

"Senator Reid will never, never bring that Nuclear Waste Policy Act in front of Congress because he knows he can't win," Hollis said. "He wants anything to kill Yucca Mountain and it's not going to happen, ladies and gentleman. There will be no legislation to bring Yucca Mountain back in front of Congress."

Hollis said ratepayers have already put $23 billion into a trust fund for constructing a nuclear waste repository. Eastley said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., mentioned that money would have to be refunded if Yucca Mountain isn't built.

When asked for a comment, Jon Summers, a spokesman for Sen. Reid, said, "the Nuclear Waste Policy Act will have to be changed or repealed eventually, but the nation needs a safe, scientific plan to move forward. The Blue Ribbon Commission is being formed to do just that - put together credible recommendations so the nation can develop a workable nuclear waste policy that doesn't involve dumping waste in Nevada."

Hollis said state regulators now are threatening to hold back their contributions to the nuclear waste fund until the federal government addresses the problem.

Quitevis said as a Realtor she was formerly opposed to Yucca Mountain, but after a tour of the facility is convinced the project would be safe and bring money into Nye County.

"What I am against right now is this recommendation to the state engineer's office. It's too early for me. Anything can happen," Quitevis said.

Lacy said the protest allows Nye County to be involved in the application process in front of the state engineer's office. Hollis said Nye County has interests in water filings by the DOE in Sarcobatus and Crater flats.

"Nye County has an interest in both of those locations," Hollis said. "We have water filings, we, as county commissioners have put in for Sacrobatus Flat that were denied by the state water engineer on the grounds the U.S. Air Force will not let us drill wells. Those legal actions have not been resolved," Hollis said.

The state engineer has yet to issue a ruling on Nye County's application for water rights at Crater Flat on which the county has a priority over the DOE application, he added.

"That's one reason I was really wanting to protest these, so that this board and the people of Nye County have a say so in those water rights. It's very essential for Nye County to have those water rights," Hollis said.

Wichman said the DOE is filing for scarce water rights used by ranches and farms. The DOE could lower the water table in those areas and the ground water basin may never recover, she said.

"If we are not successful at telling them we don't want them to take those water rights, then they will hopefully take our recommendations that these water rights come back to Nye County instead of to the Department of Energy," Wichman said.

"Those areas in the north where they're proposing to put those wells are already experiencing a draw-down in their water level," she said.

Hollis said all but 10 of the wells will be plugged and abandoned after the rail line is built. Eastley said she'd prefer the wells aren't capped and the water rights transferred to Nye County.

Hollis told a group of concerned Pahrump residents the water rights filings by the DOE won't affect wells in Pahrump Valley.

In a letter to tate ngineer Tracy Taylor dated Jan. 12, Ned Larson, DOE's acting federal project director for the rail line, offered a plum: "The railroad would be available to commercial shippers who obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Surface Transportation Board. The maximum demand for water during construction would be 6,000 acre feet," he said.