WASHINGTON — Despite growing local opposition in Nevada, Republican House leaders are pushing ahead with a vote this week on a bill that would revive the licensing process to open Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste repository.
The House vote comes as business and tourism leaders in the state ramp up efforts to stop the Trump administration and Congress from moving ahead with plans to bury spent nuclear fuel rods and material below ground in a desert ridge 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., who wrote the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 2017, predicts passage of his bill by an overwhelming, bipartisan majority when the House holds a scheduled Thursday vote.
“This is an historic opportunity to solve a national problem and comply with the law as it was written,” Shimkus told the Review-Journal in an interview.
Shimkus said he has visited Nevada on several occasions and said he has listened respectfully to concerns.
“I don’t think they are credible,” he said.
Read the full article by Gary Martin from the Las Vegas Review-Journal by clicking here.