Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Yucca Mountain Task Force, "a national lobbying group that formed this spring" to advocate for long-term nuclear waste storage at the Nevada site, is traveling to the Yucca Mountain region, "to begin building ties" there. The task force includes "state utility regulators and nuclear industry executives, including the Nuclear Energy Institute." NEI also pays for "a consultant in Nevada, former governor Robert List." The trip's organizer is "the U.S. Transport Council, an organization of nuclear waste shipping firms and equipment manufacturers that plan to seek Yucca contracts." Opposition to Yucca is strong in Nevada, but some rural officials say they need to secure "jobs and other economic benefits," since the waste site may happen, "whether they like it or not." Nevada's coordinator of Yucca opposition said the task force is trying to "get the local governments pumped up" and "show the project is not dead."