Posted on 04/01/2004 8:02:05 PM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
March 31, 2004
By Cy Ryan
<cy@lasvegassun.com>
SUN CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- A proposed railroad line that would stretch from the Caliente area to Yucca Mountain for the transportation of nuclear waste would disrupt mining, ranching and recreational activities in Nevada, the state says.
The rail line, even without an accident, would cause health hazards to workers, could cross land that is sacred to Native Americans and could interfere with the applications of water rights sought by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the state wrote to federal officials Monday.
The comments were in the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects' official response to the proposal of the Department of Energy to withdraw 308,600 acres for the 300-mile line. "DOE's (the Energy Department's) request for an administrative land withdrawal is unnecessary and an unwarranted restriction of other legitimate public uses of these federal lands within Nevada," the state's filing noted.
The state is asking the Bureau of Land Management, which controls the land, to reject the application of the Energy Department, saying the application is premature. Lawsuits are pending that challenge the selection of Yucca Mountain.
"In light of this pending litigation, BLM should defer any action on DOE's land withdrawal request pending the outcome of the state's legal challenges," said the state. It also alleged the Energy Department's application was technically defective.
It said the BLM should cancel its decision to set aside the area for two years before it makes a final decision.
The state said the Energy Department has failed to draft a national transportation plan to route the radioactive waste to Nevada from other states. And it said that there have not been any public hearings on the application to withdraw the land from public use.
The Energy Department plan calls for a corridor one mile wide for the trains, but the state says that is "widely excessive" and should be only one-quarter of a mile at the most. It says that of the five rail access options, the Energy Department's preferred route is the second-longest, at 319 miles, and the most expensive, at $880 million. And the route "will be challenged by rugged topography" including four mountain crossings that range up to 6,293 feet above sea level.
The Bureau of Land Management must perform an Environmental Impact Statement before taking any action, the state office said. It also said the Energy Department's studies were "woefully inadequate."
The state agency said ranchers who have grazing allotments and access to the lands in question will be affected in Meadow Valley, Reveille Valley and Oasis Valley.
Railroad yards, construction camps and access roads would limit grazing areas for ranchers. And those ranchers have never even been informed about the Energy Department's intent to carve out this corridor, the state's filing alleges.
Existing mining claims may be located within the one-mile corridor of the proposed line. And the withdrawal of this land will curtail mineral exploration, the state response says.
"The entire Caliente corridor lies within lands claimed by the Western Shoshone Nation under the Ruby Valley Treaty," according to the filing. "DOE has acknowledged that the corridor may cross traditional holy lands important to the Southern Paiute, Western Shoshone, and Owens Valley Paiute and Shoshone People."
There could be "significant impacts on water resources" if the Energy Department gains control of these lands, the state said. It added that the BLM should evaluate the impact of the land withdrawal on the applications for water rights filed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority to supply Las Vegas. "In addition, rights of way the Authority has for future pipeline corridors might be transected by the proposed rail corridor," the state said.
There are a number of areas located within or adjacent to the lands that are currently under consideration for designation as federal wilderness areas, according to the comments by the state.
The state also said the BLM should evaluate the impact to threatened and endangered species as well as to the sensitive lands in the more than 300,000 acres to be withdrawn.
An accident or a terrorist attack along the route could result in the rupturing of a rail cask containing spent nuclear fuel. Cleanup costs could exceed $10 billion, the state said.
Even without an accident the cumulative routine radiation from the shipping casks could pose a health threat to certain transportation workers, the state said.
In extreme cases, these workers could receive large enough doses to increase their risk of cancer by 10 percent or more, the state said.
"Even without an accident or incident, property values near routes could decline by 3 percent or more. In the event of an accident, residential property values along shipping routes could decline between 8 percent and 34 percent, depending upon the severity of the accident," the state's filing said.
It's premature for the BLM to act on this application in part because transportation of the spent fuel could not begin until 2010 and even if the state can't stop Yucca Mountain, shipments probably won't start until 2015 or later, the filing noted.
The DOE's plan is to haul 70,000 metric tons of heavy metal of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive waste to Yucca Mountain over 24 years. The plans call for a train with two 3,000-horsepower, diesel-electric locomotives pulling one to five rail cars containing the waste. There would be buffer cars and escort cars. There would be one to five trains per week.
The state said if the BLM plans to process the application, it should, at a minimum, first hold public hearings in Las Vegas, Reno, Caliente and Tonopah.
The sacred land argument is the strongest. I've always thought of Nevada, and especially Las Vegas, as God's chosen land.
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Thanks for donating to Free Republic!
Move your locale up the leaderboard!
See this:
Glad to hear it.
I take it you come here often to leave your offerings for the great Strip Gods.
Thanks for paying the bills, but wait until you get the one for the hazardous waste shipments.
Thanks in advance.
Really, man. You guys are great!
LVM
how dare the state of Nevada. A federal agency would never be incompetent in their overreaching or piss poor in their planning and execution.
Oh well, the DOE plan seems par for the course in the war against country folk. There are actually people in Nevada that think fed land mgmt might be out of hand and that simply delights the caucasion-chinese and other Marxists in the DOE. They, along with other Fed Agencies are the 800 pound guerrillas, the bullies in the school yard out west and they love messing with common sense and rednecks.
Andrews County, Texas is also preparing to be a nuclear waste storage site and I have absolutely no problem with that.
If you want to go back to the days where we create no radioactive waste, that's nuts.
I never implied that at all. But I do belive that when (not if - when) the waste starts coming, there should be some big checks to go along with it.
No such thing as a free lunch anymore.
Not even in Las Vegas.
I hope you can eventually spend some time here. If you have never seen this place, it is awesome. No other place like it. And no, we don't make you gamble. Your choice.
LVM
Okay, now you have aroused my curiousity. Yucca Mountain is federal land, right? Any Nevadan who helps move or store the radioactive waste is presumably not a slave, and will be paid.
What are these big checks supposed to compensate you for?
LVM
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