Senators are last hope for Nevada

By Benjamin Grove / Las Vegas Sun

WASHINGTON -- Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., knew this job wouldn't be easy.

But perhaps even he couldn't have predicted the pressure his second year in the Senate would bring.

Since the federal government 20 years ago first identified Yucca Mountain as a possible site for the world's first high-level nuclear waste dump, a generation's worth of Nevada governors, state legislators and members of Congress have struggled to kill the plan.

Now it has come down to just two politicians, Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Ensign, who have a chance -- albeit small -- to stop the Yucca plan in Congress.

The House approved Yucca May 8 with a 306-117 vote; the Senate is likely to vote on the plan in July.

Although future challenges in court and before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission are likely, this may be the last time the Senate will vote on whether to continue with the project. Reid and Ensign need 51 votes, a simple majority, to oppose Yucca. It's showtime.

For Reid, the veteran Majority Whip, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, the job of rallying anti-Yucca votes is easier. Reid has many party allies. In hushed meetings, he is leaning on them hard to oppose Yucca Mountain. He is likely deal-making -- and cashing in favors.

"Legislation," Reid said, repeating one of his favorite phrases, "is the art of compromise."

Reid has also taken the hardest line against President Bush, saying he lied to Nevadans when he said he would base his decision on Yucca Mountain on sound science, not politics. In so doing, Reid said, Bush collected Nevada's four electoral votes -- votes crucial in Bush's slim victory over Al Gore.

"So this is the big lie," Reid told a February news conference. "The president didn't tell the truth ... if this is an example of how he helps Nevada, we don't need his help."

Reid and close ally Majority Leader Sen. Tom Daschle, D-S.D., could corral at least 35, possibly as many as 39 Democrats, to vote against Yucca. But they cannot convince all 50. Some, like freshman Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., for instance, have said they have too much nuclear waste piling up in their states to vote against a plan that would ship it all off to Nevada.

So the spotlight turns to Ensign to round up at least a dozen Republicans. It's a Herculean task almost no one believes is possible.

So far only one Republican seems to be firmly set against Yucca, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, of Colorado, who has grave concerns about the massive waste shipping campaign that would bring unprecedented numbers of trucks and trains laden with highly radioactive waste through his state.

Still, Ensign persists lobbying in his colleagues, one by one.

In April he began to sit down with nearly all 49 Republican senators for half-hour chats. Over a few weeks, Ensign visited nearly all of them in their office suites near the Capitol, excluding Sens. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Larry Craig, R-Idaho -- long the project's most strident supporters.

But virtually everyone else was fair game. Ensign has watched the senators closely, studied which buttons to push. For instance, certain senators are more sensitive to the waste transportation issue, quietly concerned about deadly material being shipped through their states, Ensign said.

Others, the truly fiscal conservatives, are troubled with the ballooning cost of the project -- an estimated $58 billion and counting. Money for the federal fund established to pay for Yucca Mountain comes from a tax paid by the ratepayers who use electricity generated by nuclear power plants.

But the spiraling Yucca pricetag has made the project an unprecedented "boondoggle," and that fund won't be enough, Ensign has argued. Ultimately all taxpayers nationwide may have to pick up the remaining tab, he says.

"With Republicans, that has been a very effective argument," Ensign said.

Ensign also brought each senator an inch-thick briefing book, full of statistics and documentation that supports the arguments state officials make against the dump. The books are tailor-made for each senator, breaking out specific transportation statistics for each senator's state.

Ensign, in just his second year in the Senate, said his Yucca lobbying has been an invaluable education in the art of politicking. He is virtually alone in his party on the issue, and bucking his president. Yet he said the conversations he has had with fellow Republicans have been cordial.

Ensign said that as he has entered each of the Senate offices he visits, he takes mental notes of the surroundings -- photographs, mementos, the decor -- details that tell Ensign a story about each lawmaker he visits.

"You can learn a lot about someone, it's just like going to someone's home. Everyone's personality comes out when you get them in their office," Ensign said.

He declined to share any specific details of the private Yucca chats -- or to disclose any telling office observations. "I want to be invited back," he said.

Unlike Reid, Ensign gets no help from his party leader. Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., supports Yucca.

But Ensign has had some help. The American Gaming Association put up a reported $300,000 to pay high-profile GOP lobbyist Ken Duberstein, a former top aide to President Reagan, to twist arms on the Republican side of the Senate. Duberstein has not said much to the media since he joined Nevada's fight against Yucca in mid-March. But Ensign aides say Duberstein is now following up with the senators Ensign visited.

Duberstein is known by virtually everyone on Capitol Hill, and well-respected by Republicans. Senators listen when he speaks, and they have been scheduling time to hear him out on Yucca, even after Ensign bent their ears.

"They have great relationships in the U.S. Senate," Ensign has said of The Duberstein Group, "and they have credibility."

A key issue in Ensign's fight against Yucca has been money. The state of Nevada contributed $4 million to the fund last year; Clark County put up another $1.5 million, and private businesses and citizens have contributed more than $250,000 since April 10, when a state legislative finance committee agreed to kick in more money -- up to $3 million -- provided private or local government money matched it.

Ensign, a former casino manager and son of Mandalay Resort Group Chairman Mike Ensign, said he was proud of how the gaming industry has answered the call for contributions, kicking in more than $750,000. Ensign and Reid gave $1,000 of their own personal money.

Asked if the gaming industry should contribute even more, Ensign hedged.

"It's like a political campaign," he said. "You can always use more money."

Ensign said that if Nevada officials had more anti-Yucca money they could run anti-Yucca television commercials in at least three or four more key states. Such ads have already run in Vermont and Utah to pressure lawmakers there to oppose Yucca.

Ensign said he was disappointed more Nevada companies have not pledged support for the Yucca fight and stressed that it is not too late to contribute.

"They (gaming industry) have contributed way more than all other industries combined," Ensign said. "I would love to see more people step up."

For now, Ensign is almost totally focused on the Yucca fight, staffers say. Ensign has a number of legislative goals on issues ranging from prison reform to improved health care, but he has delegated nearly all his day-to-day duties to aides while he works to derail Yucca Mountain.

"I still think we have a very difficult challenge," Ensign said. "But we are going to work it right up until the very end."

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