Las Vegas Strippers May Influence Global Nuclear-Waste Policy

By Hans Nichols

Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Tori, a 37-year-old Las Vegas stripper, is an unlikely person to set national energy policy.

As a voter in Nevada's Jan. 19 Democratic presidential caucuses, that's just what she'll help to do when she chooses which candidate to support. The most important issue for her is the U.S. Department of Energy's plan to store spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, an extinct volcano about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Senator Hillary Clinton of New York ``says she is against it,'' says Tori, who declines to give her last name, citing her day job working with burn victims at a dermatology clinic. ``But before she has my vote, I want to know if she means it.''

Yucca Mountain is a reminder that local issues in America's early caucus and primary states may play an outsized role in setting national -- and in Nevada's case, international -- policy. Iowa voters extracted presidential pledges on ethanol subsidies. Now most Nevada Democrats require candidates to oppose the Yucca Mountain plan -- as all three leading contenders have. Those Vegas vows may be hard to break, even as concerns about global warming have thawed some environmentalists' opposition to nuclear energy.

``There is this anti-nuclear movement here that has international impact far beyond Nevada,'' says David Damore, a University of Nevada-Las Vegas political science professor. ``Yucca is our ethanol. You have to come here and say you're against it, even if you were for it at one point.''

Splitting the Spoils

With Clinton, 60, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, 46, splitting the spoils in Iowa and New Hampshire, the two are now fighting for Nevada's 33 delegates -- three more than New Hampshire -- and the media coverage that comes with being the front-runner. Party officials expect between 37,000 and 45,000 Democrats to caucus at 529 polling stations across the state, including nine on the Strip.

Democratic leaders gave Nevada a starring role in vetting the presidential contenders for a reason: Inserting it after Iowa and New Hampshire allows candidates to address Latino issues in a Western state that has a 20 percent Hispanic population -- and that Democrats lost in the 2004 election. Previously, Nevada's caucuses came later in the campaign schedule and were held at the county level, not in precincts.

Economic Plans

The contest also provides the candidates a timely opportunity to talk about their economic plans -- Nevada, one of the fastest-growing states in the U.S., is also among the hardest-hit by the housing recession -- and to discuss labor issues such as health-care benefits and wages.

Obama received the endorsement from the Culinary Workers Union, which represents some 60,000 employees in the hotels and casinos that drive Nevada's economy. That was a setback for former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, 54, who has focused on labor in his campaign.

The union says it wants to signal its strength to the hotels by defeating Clinton, who has the support of most of the state's Democratic establishment.

The showdown between Obama and Clinton ``really puts Nevada on the political map as it never has been before,'' says Jill Derby, the state's Democratic Party chairman. ``Whoever ends up in the White House is going to know something about the West, and that includes Yucca.''

Yucca Mountain, more of a ridge line than a peak, has been studied since 1978 as a place to house spent nuclear fuel from the nation's 104 operating reactors. The U.S. has invested $11 billion since 1983 on the site, which was supposed to start accepting waste in 1998.

Obstacles

Technical, legal and budget problems have delayed the opening until 2017 at the earliest, the Energy Department has said, though many obstacles remain, including stiff congressional opposition and getting required permits.

Nevada is ``sort of mixed'' on nuclear power, Derby says. ``Everyone thinks it's a cleaner source of energy, but the waste issue needs to be decided, and we don't want it here in our backyard.''

Concern about global warming has led some environmentalists like Patrick Moore, a founder of the international conservationist group Greenpeace, to reconsider nuclear power. Moore, now a paid spokesman for a nuclear industry-funded energy coalition, calls it ``clean, safe and affordable.''

`Psychological' Barrier

Finding a final resting place for the radioactive waste is ``necessary in the long run'' and more than just a ``psychological'' barrier for the nuclear industry, Moore says. ``It is basically an issue of liability.''

Obama, Clinton and Edwards all oppose using Yucca Mountain as a waste depository, though in 2000, Edwards voted the other way. Obama, whose state has the largest nuclear-energy network in the country and the eighth-largest in the world, has said nuclear power should remain an option for the U.S.

Clinton told an environmental magazine last August that she is ``agnostic'' about nuclear energy, while Edwards flatly opposes its expansion.

Back at the Las Vegas gentlemen's club where Tori works, her colleagues also aren't unanimous on the issue. Suzanne Nakata, a 27-year-old waitress who doesn't disrobe because she ``might run for office one day,'' says Nevadans need to reconsider their opposition to Yucca Mountain if they want to reduce America's greenhouse-gas emissions.

``Honestly, nuclear waste really does have to go somewhere,'' the registered Democrat says, ``but Nevadans haven't accepted that.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Las Vegas at hnichols2@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 15, 2008 00:11 EST

		Email this article Printer friendly format