Vol. 4, No. 24
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October 15, 2007
Nevada's Online State News Journal
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Feature Story:
Analysis
Taxes In Nevada:
Gaming Gets Deal
Sales, Property, Mining
Have The Highest Rates
by Johnny Gunn
The gaming industry in Nevada appears to be in a splendid position for those that own or reap the benefits of the gambling palaces around the Silver State, with a tax rate that is the envy of the industry. The coffers that seem be overflowing are becoming the envy of many groups in Nevada as well, including the teachers' union. The Nevada State Education Association (NSEA) announced that they plan on offering an initiative petition to voters to raise the current tax on gross gaming win in Nevada from 6.75 percent to 9.75 percent. For more on NSEA go to http://www.nsea-nv.org.
NSEA President Lynn Warne said, "There is nothing more important than increasing your (teachers) salary, benefits, and improving your working conditions and our students’ learning conditions." Warne went on to say, "We have chosen to stand to make a difference and we will not quietly submit to the idea that there is nothing we can do.” The initiative says the increased revenue would be "dedicated solely to K-12 public education."
Initial response to the proposal has been positive from the private sector, but response from some politicians and some school district officials has not been favorable. In Washoe County, the school district has been looking to get tax increases in several categories and suggests the move by the teachers union would interfere with that plan. Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio (R-Washoe) said he doesn't support tax increases by way of the initiative petition process. He also is not in favor of what he calls a single spending purpose tax such as the NSEA initiative offers.
This is a sticking point for many, the idea of an industry specific tax, that is a tax in this case to specifically support K-12 education. Agricultural interests, mining officials, and politicians have all come out against the idea of an "industry specific tax."
Relating taxes on the gross win from the gambling tables and machines does not equate with such things as property tax but it does equate with sales and use taxes. The state minimum sales tax at this time is 6.5 percent collected on items other than fresh food items. Counties have an option of adding to that. For instance, in Washoe County the sales tax collected is 7.375 percent while in Clark County, the tax stands at 7.75 percent. Several counties have not opted for extra money and only collect the 6.5 percent.
Sales are not an option or a privilege; they are by and large a necessity while the gaming industry is a privileged group. In most economic situations a privileged industry usually pays a premium for that privilege. That doesn't seem to be the case in Nevada, which has the lowest tax rate of all the states with legalized gambling. It's because of the success of Nevada's gambling industry that other states allowed legal gambling and collected sizable taxes, sometimes for education, more often for cash strapped local governments.
The gambling taxes in Nevada are split, some going to education, some to the state's general fund, some to local governments, and some to a program for problem gamblers. There are more than 200,000 employees working directly in gaming in Nevada earning well over eight billion dollars annually. Casinos win well over $12 billion and pay just one billion dollars in state gambling taxes over a year's time. In figures just released by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, for the first quarter of the current Fiscal Year (FY), Silver State gambling palaces have paid $182,834,576 in taxes on an income of $2,162,469,702.
In Colorado for example, the tax rate is a maximum of 20 percent on gross gaming revenue. Colorado casinos took in $782.1 million in 2006 and paid $108.4 million in taxes. Their tax money goes to local communities, historic preservation, and the state's general fund. Illinois gamblers on the other hand pay a minimum tax of 20 percent that can graduate to a maximum of 50 percent. Illinois casinos took in $1.9 billion in 2006 and paid $830.24 million in taxes. Those tax dollars go to education and local government.
Something that is often overlooked when discussing gaming outside Nevada's borders is that in many cases we're talking Nevada corporations. Harrah's, Station Casinos, Fitzgerald's, and others run the gambling palaces not just in other states, but in other countries as well. In Macao for instance, gaming taxes are a whopping 36 percent. When Nevada changed the way gambling licenses could be issued from individuals to letting corporations be licensed, gaming expanded broadly across the country and around the world.
When legislation was passed allowing various Indian tribes to offer gaming on their reservations, the tribal leaders were met with corporate officials that said, in essence, we already know the ropes, let us manage your gaming, and in many cases the tribal officials said yes. That's one reason it is ludicrous to believe that Indian gaming is going to overwhelm, say, Reno gaming. It's the same corporations, and they only care about the bottom line.
Bill Harrah may have opened Harrah's in Reno and Lake Tahoe, but the Harrah's Casino in Reno has no direct ties to the community any longer. It is an international gaming corporation with many fishes swimming in many waters. Which immediately leads to the question, why shouldn't Nevada's casinos pay what some would call a fair rate? The NSEA says they believe the increase in taxes they are asking for would bring about $250 million to Nevada's public schools.
Gaming officials believe they are being singled out for a cure to Nevada's education problems. One educator, or at least one person connected to the education system, University Chancellor Jim Rogers has an entirely different take. He is calling for a personal income tax on Nevadans. As can be imagined, he does not have a full bandwagon at this time. However when he spoke, via video tape, to two gatherings recently to outline the higher education system in a yearly statement, he did not bring up the personal income tax question.
Rogers lamented the current educational condition in Nevada, being last or one rung from the bottom in many cases. Children are not prepared for university, often drop out of high school, and the percentages of those that finish four years of college are very low. Rogers, like most in the education field blame a lack of money for the problem and called for higher tuition fees among other ways of pumping money into the program. Rogers' taped program was played to groups in Reno and Las Vegas.
High tech industry is moving into northern Nevada and finding it difficult to find well educated workers. Often, they have had to bring in workers from out of state. At this time, with students not being intellectually prepared for university, many have said the schools only provide minimum wage workers at best. Some point an accusing finger at the gaming industry for forcing the situation and maintaining a stable work force for themselves.
The gaming industry in Nevada may have had some forewarning on the NSEA plans for an initiative petition as they began an extensive advertising program recently touting how much money they contribute to Nevada's education system. Rogers owns television stations in both northern and southern Nevada and has a considerable income from the gaming industry.
Property tax money is a large part of education budgets in Nevada's 17 school districts and when the legislature actually lowered and then capped property taxes during the 2005 Legislative Session, there was a fear that it would impact education more than anything else. A tax abatement appeared on budget rolls and it did impact the amount of money made available to school districts in the various counties.
For instance, in Carson City the school district was projected to receive $17,400,689 for the 2006-07 fiscal year. Following the tax abatement they received $15,015,260. A two million dollar decrease has a definite affect on a budget. In Carson City the property tax rate in 2005-06 was 2.6961 per 100,000 valuation. In 2006-07, that rate, under the new cap became 3.0004. The cap that the legislature enacted is a three percent increase for private property and eight percent for commercial. For the state, the average property tax in 2005-06 was 3.1124 and in 2006-07 it climbed to 3.1471.
The tax structure in Nevada and its various political entities is based on the particular industry as well. Private property has a specific tax cap, commercial property has a specific tax cap, and agriculture taxes are equated entirely differently. Rather than being based on the value of the land involved, the tax structure is based on the production of the farm or ranch, and works on a sliding scale as to how the property is used. An irrigated crop is taxed at one value, rangeland on another, while pasture is yet another. As with any industry, there are also various user fees that come into play.
Agricultural interests got a nice sales tax break from the 2005 legislature, one they had been fighting for, for some time according to Doug Busselman, executive vice president of the Nevada Farm Bureau. Sales tax has been eliminated when purchasing farm and ranch vehicles and equipment. Busselman also pointed out that the agriculture tax is set up in such a way as most farmers and ranchers can stay in business. Land speculators are constantly bombarding the agricultural community to sell the land for development.
Busselman said the tax structure is reduced to a level to keep the farmer in business. If the land is sold for some purpose other than agriculture, the tax reverts to standard commercial property tax, and is retroactive back seven years. Developers are regularly attempting to purchase existing water rights from ranchers and farmers, and as has been pointed out, while the price per acre foot is high, it is a one time source of income where a crop comes in every year on that water.
The Nevada mining industry has been an important source of state and local revenue almost since the earliest days of mining in the state. While we often hear and read that the mining industry gets a free ride, most that say such things only refer to federal tax and land laws. The mining industry in Nevada pays whopping sales taxes on equipment alone, according to Russ Fields of the Nevada Mining Association (NMA). One haul truck can cost low seven figures easily, and where a farmer wouldn't pay sales tax, the mines do.
Along with most of the other taxes businesses pay in Nevada, the mines are charged with a Net Proceeds of Minerals Tax (NPOMT). This tax is unique to the industry and can best be related to a property tax on the minerals extracted. According to an NMA document that was made available to The Nevada Observer by the association, "When Nevada became a state in 1864, the politicians of the day understood that the mines, then by far the biggest economic activity in the state, could not accurately estimate the value of their ore deposits until the mineral were actually extracted. That fact remains true today. Ore deposits vary in size and richness and mineral prices change, in some cases by the minute. The NPOMT is based on the value of the mineral extracted. The value is established by a sale of the mineral. In the case of gold and other commodities for which there is an established worldwide metal exchange that posts the price daily, that establishes the price is used to calculate the sales value."
While there are some allowable deductions, the net is multiplied by up to five percent. All gold mines in the state are taxed at that five percent rate; some mines such as barite or gypsum mines may be taxed at a lower rate, but never less than the county property tax. With Nevada rated as the number one producer of gold in North America, and with gold selling in excess of $740 the ounce, Nevada's mines are contributing a considerable amount to various treasuries. About two thirds of the taxes collected stay within the county of origin with the rest going to the state coffers. Because of mining, one of the richest little counties in the state presently is Eureka County. Each county allocates how the money is to be distributed, to schools, infrastructure, preservation, and other needs.
Regardless of how the numbers play out in voter registration and party politics, it is fair to say that most Nevadans are rather conservative, fiscally. Most tax measures are defeated when brought to the voting booth, many elected representatives run on fiscal questions rather than party philosophies, and money matters are debated vehemently in legislative committees.
That said, the initial response to the NSEA initiative to raise gaming taxes is receiving very favorable comments from the man on the street. As one wag put it, let the touristas pay for our education system. The question that is raised often in Nevada is, is gaming paying its fair share? Many say no, but then back that up with the fact they would not support an industry specific tax such as proposed by the NSEA.
Hopefully this question of tax parity and fairness will get the benefit of an intelligent debate and not be decided on who can spend the most money on inflammatory television commercials. Let the fun begin.
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Top News Story:
Domestic Violence
Addressed By State
Nevada Leads Nation In
Number Of Women Killed
by Johnny Gunn
There are as many myths and urban legends dealing with domestic violence as there are cases of domestic violence it seems, one of which never goes away: she asked for it. In almost every case that is investigated, the perpetrator used or attempted to use some form of control, physical, psychological, or implied violence, and this is what most in the business of stemming the tide of domestic violence concentrate on during investigations.
Domestic violence can be spousal abuse, child abuse, or elder abuse, and it isn't always a man being the violator although men are in the majority by a considerable margin. One thing that rings true in just about every case, the violator feels he must be in control, must control every aspect of the other person's life. Often we hear or read about abuse stemming from a drug or booze binge, and they may be contributing factors, but the real factor is the violator's sense of power and control.
Domestic violence reveals many of the same techniques as the captor’s coercion of a prisoner of war. A particular problem in domestic violence, as with highly trained combat solders, is that many battered women are actually strong individuals who will not give in. The stereotype that battered women are weak, pathetic, and easily manipulated is not borne out by the evidence. The FBI reports that a woman is beaten every ten seconds, but a better way to understand the actual dynamics of domestic violence is to realize that a woman resists battery every ten seconds.
Intimidation is one of the main points in control; creating an atmosphere of fear by smashing walls or breaking lamps and furniture, threatening the other person or the children. Coupled with other forms of control, an abuser always feels the right to be in control; it goes with the territory. Isolation is a serious form of control in which the violator won't allow the other person to work outside the home, won't allow the other person to have friends, is often extremely jealous, and even goes so far as to determine what the other person is allowed to read.
A violator will often blame the violated person by saying, it was just a joke, a little tap on the chin, when in reality, the woman has broken teeth and a split lip. She over reacted, she knows all the right buttons to push, she knows I don't like my eggs cooked that way. Shifting the blame, claiming innocence, even denying the event are all part of the controlling of another person.
In Nevada, domestic violence is a major factor in the overall crime rate, with the Silver State having more female violent deaths per capita than any other state. Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto is leading the fight statewide. “Addressing the issue of Domestic Violence in Nevada is one of my top priorities as our state’s Attorney General and working with law enforcement and prosecutors is key to offender accountability,” she said. General Masto announced the implementation of two statewide programs to address domestic violence in the state.
One program is intended to assist law enforcement officials, the other to assist prosecutors. “These two programs are important because they are giving valuable information to our state law enforcement and prosecutors on how to best handle cases of domestic violence.” Some 300 training CDs will be available for law enforcement training and would be used by as many as 16,000 officers at the local level. The program was put together in a collaborative effort between the AG and the Nevada Commission on Peace Officers Standards Training, known as Nevada POST.
“The problem most prosecutors face in a domestic violence case is that most of the time, the victim will end up recanting his or her story, so the prosecutor needs to rely on physical evidence that a crime has been committed and prosecutors rely on the responding law enforcement officers to provide that evidence,” said Kareen Prentice, Nevada’s Domestic Violence Ombudsman. “This training CD will assist law enforcement officers and those who complete it will also receive POST credits toward their annual certification requirements.”
The other program is aimed at helping Nevada’s prosecutors in prosecuting domestic violence cases. In 2004 the Prosecution Advisory Council initiated the Nevada Domestic Violence Prosecution Best Practices Project, which utilized federal grant funding to convene a multi-disciplinary advisory group that surveyed current prosecution practices and developed a statewide set of Best Practices to enhance victim safety and offender accountability.
Pilot implementation sites in several communities are now building the best practices into their current infrastructure with technical assistance from NVPAC. This grant is from the Office of Violence Against Women and is administered by the Office of the Attorney General. Those communities include the City of Henderson and Churchill, Eureka, Humboldt, Lincoln and White Pine Counties.
One of the problems with domestic violence stems directly from the dominating and controlling individuals, the threats of violence, the actual violence with threats of more if the person who has been abused goes to the police. Children are used as shields, threats of being left destitute are regularly used, telling the victim that the police will never believe such nonsense. It takes a strong person to get out, and luckily for many, there are ways to get help getting out.
One of those is called an Order of Protection or more commonly a protective order sometimes simply a court order, and it is designed to require "an abusive household or family member or dating partner to do or not to do certain things," according to the Nevada Network Against Domestic Violence (NNADV). The protective order law came into effect in 1985 and involves a civil court proceeding that specifically addresses domestic violence situations. It has probably saved many lives, protected many adults and children in its short life.
There are two kinds of protective orders, temporary and extended. There is no cost to acquire an order of protection, no attorney is needed, and the order is given within one day. For a temporary order, the victim goes before a judge, the accused is not called on for testimony, and the judge must find there is good cause to grant it. Temporary court orders are in effect for 30-days. The order must be served on the accused before it goes into effect.
With a temporary court order, a judge can order any or all of the following:
• Forbid any further threats, harassment, or injury
• Order the abuser to vacate the home or not to enter the shared home for a period of time
• Prohibit the abuser from entering the victim's place of employment, school, or other specified location
• Award temporary legal custody of any children involved
• Any other relief the court considers necessary
An extended order involves a hearing with both parties present and usually follows a temporary order. An extended order can last for up to one year and usually has a few more restrictive prohibitions.
The key for relief is to get out, go to the police for help, get that court order, and follow through all along the process. It is only through power and control that an abuser wins, gets away with destroying a life, and doing hateful and harmful physical violence. Nevada's First Lady Dawn Gibbons is quick to comment when asked about domestic violence, "We must be vigilant in ensuring all women and children are safe from violent acts that are perpetrated against them by either a stranger or a loved one until there is---never again another abused woman or child"
When a person is faced with possible physical abuse, immediately call 911 and leave the scene to find help from a neighbor or friend. If the abuse is feared and you want help, there is a national hotline, 1-800-799-7233 and a Nevada statewide hotline 1-800-500-1556. Many of Nevada's counties have programs in place to help those suffering domestic violence and abuse.
For more information on the subject, go to the Attorney General's website, http://ag.state.nv.us.
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Angle's Tax Revolt
Comes To Abrupt End
Threatened Court Action
Halts Petition Drive
The latest attempt by former state assemblywoman Sharron Angle to change Nevada's tax law has failed following threats by a union official to challenge the initiative petition in court. Angle said following her disclosure to not offer the petition for signatures, that she is not done attempting to create a California Style Prop 13 in the Silver State. She called the court challenge by AFL-CIO official Tommy Thompson another in a long line of nitpicking.
The petition, or one of its variants has been brought before the public several times in the last few years but was never on the ballot through either a lack of signatures or failed court tests. Angle said she would have needed to gather slightly more than 58,000 signatures by May 20, 2008 to qualify for next November's ballot.
Arguments against the tax proposal include unfair taxation in that identical properties could be taxed at different rates depending on sale of the property. Angle said she may have the petition rewritten to exclude any of the little nitpicking procedural questions Thompson and his group has. Angle's group is called We the People Nevada.
In Nevada, the Secretary of State is the official elections officer and Deputy Secretary of State for Elections, Matt Griffin said the petition as delivered had many mistakes including typos that would be a precursor to court action. The petition also did not have a disclaimer that indicates passage would constitute a constitutional amendment. Thompson said his group would challenge any future petitions presented by Angle and her organization.
Angle has been raising money for several months looking forward to paying people to gather signatures, and now says the court proceedings are designed to empty her vault. The legislative session of 2005 produced a tax bill that caps property tax in most cases at three percent for private property and eight percent for commercial property. Under Angle's proposed tax law, when a property is sold it is reassessed at full cash value and taxed accordingly. Under existing law, that does not happen.
According to many, Angle's law would create unfair taxation for some. Identical properties would be taxed differently Thompson said when one of the two properties was sold. Thompson believes the new owner could pay several times what the other property owner would be paying. In the 2005 legislation, Angle was in the Assembly representing a district in Washoe County and was the only legislator to vote against the property tax revision and law.
In the Angle initiative, property tax would be capped at two percent, but when property changed hands it would be reassessed and taxed at full cash value. The petition failed in 2004 and 2006. Angle said her initiative has already had a court test because the provisions in her law are identical to California's Proposition 13, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992. California's law was passed in the late 1970s.
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Unemployment Still
High In Nevada
Sales Tax Income Still
Off As Well
Housing Market Drives Much
Of Nevada's Economic Picture
Housing foreclosures continue at a high rate in the Silver State and homes, new and used are not selling. Mortgage companies and banks have tightened their belts and do not offer highly speculative programs to those unable to fulfill contracts. And all of this is leading to what some call a serious downturn in the Nevada economy. Nevada's unemployment rate stood at five percent for August with 3.4 percent more workers on the job compared to a year earlier.
In Las Vegas, the unemployment rate was also five percent while the Reno rate stood at 4.4 percent. The national rate is 4.6 percent, and California's rate (July) was 5.3 percent. Construction jobs in Nevada were off by more than three percent and that is believed to have led to a decrease of more than one percent in gaming jobs. Government employment of course increased a solid 4.4 percent.
The sales tax picture for July was not good with a decline of 2.6 percent with large purchases off the most, such as automobile sales and furnishings for the home. Governor Jim Gibbons said, "Nevada continues to feel the effects of the slow housing market and decline in auto sales, a trend exhibited over the past several months." In Clark County, sales tax receipts were off by 1.3 percent, and in Washoe County the decline was 4.1 percent.
According to the state taxation department, 11 counties showed a decrease in taxable sales for July compared to July 2006, including Carson City, Churchill, Clark, Douglas, Esmeralda, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Nye, Pershing, and Washoe. The state took in $294,850,235 for July, down 2.26 percent from one year ago. Gibbons pointed out there were increases in sales in the wholesale and general merchandise business categories with strong sales in the clothing category. He said, "We will be cognizant of future economic tendencies and their affect on our state."
In the meantime, the Gaming Control Board has released figures that indicate the total gaming win, that is what the casinos took in from table games and slot machines before any expenses are deducted, was off considerably in August compared to August of 2006. The report, a regular monthly paper released by the Board indicates the casinos in the state raked in $1,016,465,602, off by 4.41 percent from a year ago. For the current fiscal year, which began July 1, the win is up by 2.84 percent from this same period in fiscal year 2006-07.
The Clark County casino win, including the Strip area was off by 5.42 percent while Washoe County's casinos showed a decrease of slightly less than one percent. North Las Vegas showed the largest decline in the state, off by more than 24 percent while Elko County was in the black, up by 13.68 percent. Governor Jim Gibbons said, "Following several months of strong growth, August gaming results were below expectations."
Part of the strength in the north may have come from the major special event, Hot August Nights, while there were no major events in southern Nevada. The state coffers were filled with $58,141,148 in taxes during September based on the August win. Gaming taxes are collected on the gross win (See this edition's feature article). The tax collection is off by 13.24 percent compared to one year ago. For the fiscal year, taxes have amounted to $182,834,576, off by 2.5 percent from this same period in fiscal year 2006-07.
In recognition of the failing housing market, Gibbons called for a "summit" with various representatives of the industry including bankers, mortgage company reps, builders, and others with the idea of having "a better chance to make progress toward finding help for those Nevada homeowners who are in need of assistance," according to Mendy Elliott, director of the Department of Business and Industry (DBI).
The meeting took place on October 4 in the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce conference rooms. Speaking of the turn out of industry leaders, Gibbons said, "While each institution has its own experience and level of exposure to the problem, I am pleased that so many lenders and credit guarantors are stepping up to the plate." Gibbons is holding a budget hearing today (October 15) to discuss a possible shortfall created by the economic problems discussed in this article.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) also met with state, federal, and agency leaders to discuss ways they can work together to help Nevadans with foreclosure problems. Reid got very political using the current Iraq war to make a point by saying, "For one week of spending on the Iraq war, roughly $2.3 billion, the federal government could provide housing counseling agencies the resources they need to help 1.7 million families."
Reid is calling for increased funding at the federal level for foreclosure prevention. Reid met with Gail Burks, President and CEO of Nevada Fair Housing Center, Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie (D-Reno), and Wells Fargo Nevada Region al President Kirk Clausen to develop a solution to the foreclosure problem.
Nevada has the less than enviable position of leading the nation in the number of mortgage loan foreclosures per capita, and the housing market isn't just flat, it almost doesn't exist. New and used homes are simply not selling, prices are falling, and auctions are taking place weekly. Las Vegas is the leader in foreclosures in the state. For the last several years there has been a booming market with prices constantly climbing. Speculators, able to get loans that many are now saying should never have been let, were buying and selling properties all over the state. When a slight slow down in the market hit, many of those loans came due before the speculators could sell off the property.
Many people who were not speculators were also given very good treatment in getting their mortgages, and when the mortgage rates were reevaluated, could no longer afford to pay the premiums. The governor said, "As governor, I have an obligation to help solve problems facing our state and our families." He went on to say, "While I cannot promise that we will immediately have a plan that will solve 100 percent of the problem, I can promise that I will work with these lenders and credit guarantors to find ways to address this complicated issue using private market solutions." He said that state taxes are not the answer.
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DOE Changes Direction
One More Time
Going For Bigger,
What About Better
by Johnny Gunn
For more than 20 years the Department of Energy has been attempting to build the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository with one failure piling on top of another, with unknown science replaced by lies and deception, and now it's time to double the effort. By law, the repository was supposed to hold 70,000 tons of high level nuclear waste, most of it coming from the nuclear power industry and the rest from military and lesser sources. According to a press release during the first week of October, DOE now says they want to double the size and capacity of the repository and store as much as 135,000 tons. They were planning to seek licensing from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in June of 2008 and nobody seems to have an answer as to how this larger capacity would affect that procedure.
First, the budget
The energy department has asked congress to support legislation increasing the budget for the Yucca Mountain Project by several billion dollars to pay for these design size changes. There was immediate reaction from Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley. Berkley (D-NV) sharply criticized new figures from the head of the Yucca Mountain Project that show the total price tag for the proposed nuke waste dump will climb 35 percent to roughly $80 billion. In addition, Berkley is gearing up for a renewed fight against a Bush Administration push to double the amount of toxic radioactive waste that will be dumped at Yucca Mountain. The statements about the soaring cost of Yucca Mountain and plans to double the size of the dump were made by Ward Sproat, Director of DOE’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, during a hearing before the House Budget Committee on nuclear waste issues.
Berkley has been against the project from the beginning and believes as many do that the waste should be stored at the site of the nuclear energy plants, located in 31 states across the country. “Yucca Mountain is nothing more than radioactive pork that benefits the nuclear power industry and now the price tag for this failed project is going to top the $80 billion mark." In a press release from the congresswoman's web site, she said, "Doubling the size of Yucca Mountain will only double the danger to more than 50 million families who will be potential targets because they live along nuclear waste transportation routes." Berkley was referring to continued questions about safety from terrorists if the high level nuclear waste is transported to Nevada by way of the nation's railroads and highways.
There have been no tests conducted on the casks and transportation systems as far as terrorist weaponry is concerned. The only tests, and these were done years ago and there have been changes in design since then, gave the casks a passing grade from falling and from controlled fires. A shoulder fired missile would more than likely present a different scenario to the testing. Rail and truck transport of the casks has been at the forefront of many that oppose the concept of Yucca Mountain, and since 9/11/2001, the idea of terrorist attacks has topped the list in debates. The energy department has not involved itself in the debate.
“When it comes to Yucca Mountain, two things are certain: the price tag only grows larger and the delays only grow longer," Berkley said. "As a nation, we have already spent more than $10 billion on a hole in the Nevada desert and it is long past time we quit shoveling bundles of cash into this fiscal abyss. On-site storage of nuclear waste is safe for the next 100 years, costs a small fraction of what we could spend at Yucca Mountain and avoids the danger of an accident or terrorist incident involving shipments of radioactive waste. Let’s pull the plug on this wasteful spending and come up with a real solution to nuclear waste that does not involve turning Nevada into a toxic dump site.”
DOE released two draft environmental policy act documents dealing with the Yucca Mountain repository. The first is a supplement to the Yucca Mountain Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) according to DOE, and the second relates to transportation within Nevada. A 90-day comment period began October 12 and ends January 10. Here is the schedule for public hearings:
November 2007
• November 13, Hawthorne Convention Center, Hawthorne, NV
• November 15, Caliente Youth Center, Caliente, NV
• November 19, Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno, NV
• November 26, Longstreet Inn and Casino, Amargosa Valley, NV
• November 27, Goldfield School Gym, Goldfield, NV
• November 29, Statham Hall, Lone Pine, CA
December 2007
• December 3, Cashman Center, Las Vegas, NV
• December 5, Marriott at Metro Center, Washington, D.C.
According to DOE Yucca spokesman, requests for additional information may be submitted to the EIS Office, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, 1551 Hillshire Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89134 or from the Project website http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov.
Transportation in-state
Along with the changes in the size of the Yucca Project, DOE is also working to build at least one railroad in the Silver State to handle the waste after it is transported through thousands of communities across the country on commercial rail systems. There are several projects that DOE has listed in their EIS for rail transport including the Mina route that many people thought was a dead issue when the Schurz, Nevada Paiute Tribe said they would not allow nuclear waste to travel through tribal land. The Mina route connects with Union Pacific near Wabuska and travels south through Fallon, Schurz, Hawthorne, Mina, Luning, Tonopah, Goldfield, and Beatty before reaching Yucca Mountain.
In order to reach the Mina connection, the high level nuclear waste would travel through every community along the Interstate 80 corridor from the California border in the west to the Utah border in the east. The EIS does not include any of those major Nevada communities. DOE has said at various scoping and other public meetings that their interests are only on what they need to build in Nevada. Environmental impact statements are not needed to transport the high level nuclear waste on commercial rail systems in the country, they say.
Some waste may also be transported by trucks on existing highways, but there are standards for that and the roads that exist into Yucca Mountain do not meet those standards. If truck traffic would be used, it would probably have to meet a rail line for the final transport into the Yucca Mountain Repository.
The route most favored at this time by DOE is what is described as the Caliente Route but the almost 3,000 page EIS goes into great detail on routes that many felt had been abandoned by DOE including what they call a Carlin, Jean route, and the Mina route. The Caliente Route involves building a 300 mile railroad from a railhead at Caliente and around other federally controlled lands.
Why should the federal government build a railroad on public land that skirts existing federally controlled land? Parts of that controlled land is on the Nellis AFB bombing range, part is on the Nuclear Testing Grounds, and part probably is very close to Area 51. The agencies involved have said they do not want trainloads of high level nuclear waste moving through their property.
The Caliente Route then would travel north through Lincoln County, traverse west through parts of Nye County, venture south through Esmeralda County and back into Nye County, before finally reaching Yucca Mountain, which is in Nye County. A rail corridor about one quarter of a mile wide and more than 300 miles in length is included in the plans and the EIS. The major Nevada cities and towns the line would come near include of course, Caliente, the railhead, Tonopah, Goldfield, and Beatty. Pioche, Silver Peak, and Pahrump would be well outside the main corridor.
The Commission on Nuclear Projects, a Nevada State Agency held a meeting in Las Vegas on October 12 to give the agency's executive director an opportunity to brief the chairman and other members of the agency. Bob Loux indicated he would be discussing these newest developments along with other potential problems DOE is facing in attempting to get the Yucca Project licensed. The Chairman of the agency, former senator and governor Richard Bryan was in attendance.
Among the subjects under discussion will be the discovery of earthquake fault lines directly under where DOE planned to build a pad on which tons of waste would be cooled before being taken underground. The fault, believed to be part of the old volcano that created Yucca Mountain and is just 200 feet below the surface. Loux has said the concept of DOE not knowing it was there is a perfect example of their brand of "good science."
More costs
In the 1980s nuclear energy was coming on line, the cold war was hot, and the fear of high level nuclear waste moving into the hands of the USSR, China, or another communist entity was high. The nuclear power industry in conjunction with the Department of Energy convinced Congress that the best idea was to bury the waste, and since those along the beltway only knew Nevada as being a desert, the concept of Yucca Mountain came into being.
Contracts between DOE and the nuclear power industry were written and the federal government became responsible for the waste although taxes on the energy were written into the law. Those taxes were designed to help pay the way for DOE creating the depository and transporting the waste. The only waste that has been transported is hundreds of millions of pages of government talk, with no repository in sight for at least another 20-years, if ever, and frustration from the nuclear power industry. They have a valid contract regardless of how out of date it might be in today's world.
Click on image to enlarge.
One nuclear power company, Xcel Energy, formerly Northern States Power Company of Minneapolis, MN, was just awarded $116.5 million because of the government's failure to create an underground repository. The contract between the government and industry dates from 1982, the repository was to be on line by 1998, and the lawsuit is designed to get some of the taxes that have been paid, returned. Ratepayers have been paying that tax ever since the DOE created the idea of Yucca Mountain.
At this time, no one is willing to discuss the possible fallout from the lawsuit, but if precedence has been set, there are numerous nuclear power companies, numerous taxpayers organizations, and many more nuclear watchdog groups that could file civil actions as well. The State of Nevada has many lawsuits moving through federal courts at this time as well. In the following article, there is a discussion of energy sources and a look at how the nuclear power industry intends to ramp up the use of nuclear power in the nation's grid.
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Debate On Energy And
Its Sources Steams Up
Coal Needs To Go, But
What Replaces It?
The general consensus among scientists, ecologists, and many within the public sector agree that coal fired energy plants are dinosaurs and need to be replaced; there is no consensus on what that replacement might be. Nevada seems to be working against the idea that coal needs to be replaced, with three very large coal fired plants in the planning stage and very little movement toward replacing coal with any other form of production.
One man with tremendous clout at the national level, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is also Nevada's senior senator and he has vowed to stop the development of the three new plants, two in White Pine County and one in Lincoln Country. Speaking at a gathering in southern Nevada recently, Reid offered an open challenge to Nevada's primary energy company, Sierra Pacific Resources (SPR) and its CEO Michael Yackira. Reid said that the argument used by SPR that an intra state transmission line will only be built if their coal fired power plant is built is a case of smoke and mirrors, a case of "switch and bait."
Yackira responded immediately by saying SPR does not engage in "switch and bait or bait and switch." Yackira however did not say the proposed transmission line was separate from the coal fired projects. Nevada currently purchases over half its power from out of state, but the addition of three 1500 megawatt coal fired power plants actually have little to do with Nevada's power needs according to most in the industry. The plants are planned because Nevada, unlike its neighbors does not have air pollution laws dealing with coal fired power plants. The plants can be built here but not in Utah, Arizona, California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, or New Mexico. Most of the power would be distributed out of state.
Reid says the only thing Nevada would get would be "more dirty air, more horrible weather, more illness." Reid backs the further involvement of the state's leading energy producer in renewable resources such as wind, solar, and geothermal. Two major solar plants in southern Nevada are almost reaching capacity at this time, large geothermal plants in northern Nevada have been producing enough energy to fulfill the needs of every home in Reno, and there is tremendous research going on currently dealing with wind potential in the Silver State.
Nevada Solar One in southern Nevada is the first large commercial solar production plant in the Silver State developing 64 megawatts of energy by concentrating solar energy through tracking mirrors, heating mineral oil that moves through tubing and heats water to drive standard turbines. The relatively new system is being refined regularly, has been used successfully in the Mojave Desert areas of southern California, and producers have been able to lower the cost of production considerably.
Another type of solar power production comes from photo voltaic cells that track the sun as well, but the energy is developed immediately through the cells. An 18 megawatt plant is almost on line now at Nellis Air Force Base, developed by the SunPower Corporation. Look for other solar plants to come on line in the next few years. One of the problems that was faced by Nevada Solar One was financing because of the low economic picture offered by Sierra Pacific Resources following the Enron debacle. SPR has much better economic ratings today, and financing may be easier to get.
In line with Reid's comments on bad air and illness the byproducts of coal fired power plants in Ely, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking toward changing its standards as far as ozone in the atmosphere, and Ely would be out of compliance at this time. Interestingly, it isn't because of power plants in Ely; it's pollution coming north from Las Vegas and the southern California areas near Los Angeles. If the coal fired plants are built in White Pine County, the air will be that much worse according to federal officials.
One fear among many is the effects the coal fired plants would have on Great Basin National Park one of Nevada's beauty spots. Other than the ozone creeping into the county, White Pine County has been honored more than once by national groups such as the American Lung Association for its clean air. Those that have visited Nevada's National Park are blessed with some of the most pristine countryside in the state, and the cleanest air.
Something that doesn't get a lot of play from the Nevada press is the planned proliferation of nuclear energy in this country. According to the nuclear power industry, some 30 new nuclear operations are expected to either be on line or be in the building stage within the next three years. For almost 30 years the industry has not made many strides for the development of nuclear plants mainly from the problems that created the Three Mile Island disaster. The industry seems to believe that memories of that disaster have dulled enough that the general public will accept new nuclear energy plants.
It appears that the current administration supports this concept, has offered tax credits of as much as 1.8 cents per kilowatt hour for the first 6,000 megawatts generated by plants, has offered risk insurance, and is guaranteeing multi-billion-dollar loans to nuclear companies. While major questions dealing with the waste product, that is high level nuclear waste, and safety are not answered, the industry is bragging about its pollution free production. There are many that believe the resurgence of nuclear power would not be taking place without the "massive -- you could say unprecedented -- federal subsidies," the words of Tyson Slocum of the group Public Citizen.
Slocum says the nuclear plants do produce less greenhouse gasses than coal, but what they do produce is far more deadly, high level nuclear waste. Most of the plants that are being planned are along the east and southeast coast of the U.S. There are already 31 states that have either nuclear power plants, or have high level nuclear waste on the ground. Some have been saying for years that research should have started years ago to recycle the waste into a useable form and continue to reuse the product.
The Department of Energy (DOE) recently issued a report that indicated that a 100 square mile area of southern Nevada could produce enough solar energy to supply the country. Senator Reid uses that report when he demands that energy companies in the Silver State quit using coal and spend their ample resources on developing renewable energy sources. It is pointed out regularly that Nevada is one windy state, and while wind energy has built in problems, it is a source that has been developed and is a regular source of energy in many places in the west and mid west.
The idea of changes in our climate, in our atmosphere, in our way of life are coming because of how we pollute the air, those changes will come over a long period of time, and can be reduced or even reversed based on how we use resources at our disposal. The worldwide use of king coal adds millions of tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually, and other resources are available, almost as economical, and far less detrimental to our health. Nevada can't change the world, that doesn't mean it has to add to the problem.
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Inquest Law Fails
In Intent: ACLU
Others Question Whether
New Law Is Step Forward
Clark County is still having a difficult time convincing the public that its inquest laws are designed to be fair to all parties involved. A coroner's inquest is held when a law enforcement officer kills an alleged criminal suspect. In Clark County virtually every death has been considered justifiable. It is the proceedings that have come under fire since a murder suspect was shot in the back while handcuffed and the shooting was considered justifiable. Committees have been working to make the law more equal but some say what has come from the County Commission is far from what was expected.
The Country has revised the inquest ordinance, but those who have studied the new law are not pleased with what they see. Nothing has changed, they say, and the system is not addressing the problem. Under the old law there were hearing officers appointed by the district attorney and the new law calls for the inquest to be conducted by Justices of the Peace. The thinking, JPs are elected and can be held accountable.
One of the most controversial parts of the old law was the district attorney's role in which prosecutors were allowed to question uniformed officers but rarely if ever included the deceased's family members and never an attorney representing the best interests of the family. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups say the closeness of the DA and the cops created an unfair atmosphere. The new law will allow representatives from the State Attorney General's Office to conduct the examinations and will allow, under some restrictions, representation for the family.
According to representatives from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) the closeness between prosecutors and cops created an atmosphere of character assassination instead of court hearing. The current law does not address the rights of family members at the hearings according to Gary Peck of the ACLU. According to Peck, witnesses for the family would have to present their testimony in writing and it would have to be accepted by the hearing officer before the inquest jury would hear it. Peck would rather have the entire process open and feels that is the only fair way to conduct an inquest.
All of the weight of testimony and the proceedings themselves, favor the police, even in the new inquest law, according to Peck. Police involved death leads to findings of justifiable death in every case in Clark County. Peck specifically mentioned one case in which a person described as an expert testified that a jail inmate who was choked to death died from, and Peck can't resist a small smile, "sudden inmate death syndrome."
One major problem remains, that of attorneys being able to question or cross-examine a police officer during the inquest proceedings. The hearings, by design, are not adversarial in nature and many believe this hampers those seeking the truth. There is a closeness between the DA's representatives, the police in question, and the hearing officers. The inquest jury is left in the dark when questions and answers appear to have discrepancies. There is no cross-examination.
The one constant that comes from many of the coroner's inquests in Clark County is civil law suits, generally at the federal level, that in turn cost the county in settlements and findings. There have been innumerable shooting deaths, police involved, that are deemed justifiable that end up being turned over in court.
Police in Clark County work under the same procedurals as most police including when they can draw and fire a weapon, and too often, in Clark County it seems that a threat to an officer can be as benign as giving a serious stare, or, as in one case, carrying a basketball in a threatening manner. What brought the issue to a head was the shooting of Swauve Lopez. Lopez was 17 at the time of his death and had been picked up by Metro officers as a suspect in a homicide. He had his hands cuffed behind his back when he was able to get out of the police cruiser and try to run away. He was shot in the back, and the coroner's inquest called the shooting fully justified.
Will the new ordinance make these proceedings as fair as general court hearings? Most outside police agencies say probably not, but that it might be a step in the right direction. Police, the same as any citizen, must be held accountable for their actions and a coroner's inquest has always been the answer in the past. It hasn't been a very good answer in the minds of many, and police involved shooting deaths remain high in Clark County.
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Mack Trial Moved
To Clark County
Change Of Venue Rare In
Nevada Jurisprudence
by Johnny Gunn
In what can only be described as a sensational crime, the trial of pawn shop owner Darren Mack has had to be moved from Washoe County to Clark County because a jury could not be seated in the northern county. The crime itself drew tremendous amounts of publicity in northern Nevada and the actions of Washoe County District Attorney Richard Gammick added to the volatility of the issue.
Procedural protocol was evaded, some say, criminal procedure was more like it say others, and the sum total, as District Judge Douglas Herndon said was that "After three days of jury selection and the review of approximately 340 juror questionnaires, the Court had sufficient information to now address the change of venue request on its merits." Herndon is sitting on the case because of the inflammatory conditions in Washoe County. Herndon is a Clark County District Judge. Trial is still scheduled to get underway October 15 in Las Vegas.
On June 12, 2006 it is alleged that Darren Roy Mack murdered his wife Charla with a hunting type knife in their Reno home and then, using a scoped hunting rifle attempted to kill District Judge Chuck Weller, who in his capacity of Family Court Judge was overseeing the divorce of the Mack couple. It is further alleged that Mack then fled the country eventually showing up in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It is at this point that the case changes from a sensational murder/attempted murder to a murky legal situation.
While in Mexico, Mack allegedly contacted Washoe County District Attorney Dick Gammick, a long time family friend, to attempt to negotiate a surrender. In later testimony in court, it became known that Gammick may have been aware that Mack had legal counsel, arranged by the Mack family, and did not inform that counsel about his negotiations with an alleged murderer. Gammick arranged for Mack to give up, exchanged numerous telephone and e-mail conversations with Mack, and eventually Mack was returned to Reno to be arraigned and tried.
Because of Gammick's alleged interference, the defense immediately called for two things, that the Washoe County District Attorney's office not be involved in prosecution of the case. And, that Washoe County judges be barred from the case because one of their own had been shot, allegedly by the defendant. Gammick has been saying the decision to remove his office from the prosecution is his call, but many don't believe a word of that.
The Clark County District Attorney assigned two high level prosecutors to the case, Christopher Lalli and Robert Daskas, and Douglas Herndon was assigned to hear the case. There were several pre-trial court hearings to discuss the phone calls and e-mails between Mack and Gammick. The telephone calls were ruled inadmissible as evidence, however, the e-mails have been declared admissible for use during the trial.
Mack has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and some had feared that because of the inept procedural problems created by the Washoe County District Attorney that he might walk. His defense is led by Clark County's well known David Chesnoff and Washoe County's Scott Freeman. Between the defense and prosecution, there may be as many as 250 witnesses called to testify.
It is the divorce case at the heart of the murder of Charla Mack and the shooting of Judge Weller. Child custody, payments for childcare, and alimony all figure in the case, which has been referred to as contentious from the beginning. Darren Mack's personal life style as a swinger and "player" add to the sensationalism. According to police reports, Charla had come to what was their home to meet with Mack and in their garage, he allegedly killed her with a hunting knife. They found her body in a large puddle of blood near her car.
At the time of the killing, a friend was also at the Mack residence as was the Mack's daughter. Mack allegedly told the friend to take the daughter to her grandmother's, and afterward, the friend became suspicious and related experiences to the police who in turn found the murdered woman. In the meantime, it is alleged, Mack drove to a downtown parking garage that sits just across the Truckee River from the Washoe County Courthouse where Weller has offices on the third floor. From the fifth floor of the parking garage it is an easy shot into Weller's office. Weller was shot in the chest with a high-powered rifle, and survived.
The change in venue is one of the few on record in Nevada, and it may be the first in a capital murder case in Washoe County. There are vast differences between a potential jury pool in Washoe County and one in Clark County; the biggest difference is population. Washoe County has a total population of under 300,000 so there is a small number of people available for jury duty. Clark County's population of over two million makes the chore considerably easier.
The question is always raised about whether a jury is truly a group of one's peers. When questioned, if one knows or has read a considerable amount about a case that person is often dropped from duty. Many argue this leaves only those that are uninformed, unread, possibly uneducated to sit on a jury. Being judged by a jury of your peers is one of our constitutional rights in this country, and even with the potential problems with the system, it is far better than is found in many other countries around the world.
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Court Records May
Become More Accessible
Supreme Court Looking
At Checking Sealing
Many judges, primarily in Clark County have been sealing court records and have not had to justify the procedure. Since 2001, more than 100 civil cases have been sealed in southern Nevada alone. This practice was discussed during the last legislative session and the consensus was that it should be handled by the Supreme Court rather than by lawmakers. The Court appointed a Commission on Preservation, Access, and Sealing of Court Records to come up with a solution. The chairman is Washoe District Judge Brent Adams who has fought the sealing of records for a long time.
The committee has made a proposal to the Supreme Court, which would require civil court records to be open with few reservations. According to court sources when a case is sealed it is virtually gone, not just from the record, but gone. It would take a major effort to unseal a case even with a separate court order. It has been a tenet that civil cases are open unless something "compelling" forces the sealing. It has been the other way around in many Nevada courts recently.
According to the commission, the draft they will offer the Supreme Court will allow anyone, whether a party to a case or not, to ask for the records to be unsealed. Objections could be made, but they would have to be very compelling. Proprietary trade secrets or state or federal law requiring secrecy would be considered compelling. What will make the policy work is that before a case could be sealed a judge would have to prove to the court that it should be sealed.
One other segment of the draft policy allows the case to be identified, which is not the case currently in Nevada. Certain information must be available even if a case does pass the "sealing rules," Adams said. Such things as docket numbers, names of the parties involved, and attorneys and judges in the case must be public record. According to the draft document, such things as juvenile records and domestic relations records, which are sealed by law, are not changed by the new proposed policy.
The Supreme Court will take whatever amount of time it needs to discuss and debate the policy report. There is no timetable in which the court will release a final decree. The one part of the proposed policy change that Adams and others are most excited by is that entire civil cases will no long be sealed, a practice that has become prevalent in Clark County. Interestingly, one of the Clark County District Judges that often sealed many of her cases, Nancy Saita, now sits on the Supreme Court.
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Five Winners Announced
For Industry Awards
Governor's Dinner To Be
Held November 1 In Reno
The annual Governor's Industry Appreciation Awards dinner will be held November 1 at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno. The presentations are hosted by the Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA) and the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN). According to Ron Weisinger, executive director of NNDA, “Each of our company award winners are successful businesses that are thriving while also exemplifying strong corporate citizenship.”
This is the first year multiple companies are being honored. “We had an extraordinary number of qualified companies to consider, and the five businesses chosen represent the best of business in Greater Reno-Tahoe this year, and a true commitment to making the community a better place to live,” said Chuck Alvey, president/CEO of EDAWN. The award recognizes companies that have been in business locally for more than five years, demonstrate strong corporate citizenship, and contribute to the regional economy.
The five include:
• AT&T Nevada, the premier U.S. provider of wireless, broadband, long distance, and local voice services
• CGI, Inc., which designs and manufactures precision motion control products
• High Desert Special Operations Center, of Hawthorne, Nevada, is the west coast's leading training facility for law enforcement agencies, special operations units, and armed security forces
• Intuit, Inc., offers payroll software and services for small business, and
• Microsoft Licensing, GP, manages the worldwide licensing and protection for the software giant of the industry.
Governor Jim Gibbons will be on hand for the festivities and will hand out the awards. A no-host social hour is scheduled for 5:30 with dinner and the program scheduled to begin at 6:30. The Governor’s Industry Appreciation Awards will feature Alan Webber, co-founder of Fast Company magazine, who will share his knowledge and insight into an economy fueled by information, change and innovation. As a columnist for USA Today, Webber has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, The New York Times Magazine and The Washington Post.
It has been pointed out that northern Nevada's economy is highly diversified, and these companies are solid indicators of that. High tech is a way of life in the northern counties of the state. For more information on the program, reservations, and information about EDAWN, go to http://www.edawn.org. In 2006, the Governor's Industry Award went to Charles River Laboratories of Reno, and in 2005, the award honored Ormat Technologies of Reno.
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Railcar Runaways No
Laughing Matter
Congressman Jon Porter
Weighs In On Problem
Congressman Jon Porter (R-NV) hosted a hazardous material transportation roundtable in Henderson recently, the need for which is the runaway rail tanker filled with deadly chlorine that cruised effortlessly through a large swath of Las Vegas back in August. The tanker held enough chlorine to sicken or kill thousands of people along its journey if it had derailed and burst open.
Unfortunately, we read about tanker cars filled with fuel burning for days regularly; one filled with ethanol recently caught on fire after a derailment in the midwest and burned for a week. They do burst open, are ripped open, and in some cases, explode with some regularity. The tanker in question in Las Vegas was filled with 90 tons of chlorine. The roundtable was not a congressional hearing, but Porter plans to share his findings with colleagues in Washington.
In a press release, Porter said, "During Monday's roundtable discussion, Union Pacific officials assured everyone they've put safety mechanisms in place to stop that type of incident from happening again. Also, for the first time, Union Pacific discussed exactly how that tanker got loose from the yard. They attribute it to human error.
"Here's the basic outline of what they say happened: During switching operations, the chlorine tanker got accidentally switched from one of the six tracks in the yard to a main line. From there, it should have gone to a dead end track, but at the same time there was a train with permission to leave the yard, so the conductor, thinking that was the train, switched it to Las Vegas."
Chlorine gas is bad enough to think about, what if that had been a train car filled with casks of high level nuclear waste? Union Pacific is calling the incident a safety concern and accident. There was a period of almost ten minutes in which the railyard did not notify anyone of the "lost" tanker. The railroad is calling that a "breakdown in communications."
Porter believes the railroad wants to do things the right way, "But as I mentioned, we can do a thousand things right and then we do one thing wrong and we have a crisis and we want to prevent that one thing and that's what today (the meeting) was about, working together." Porter believes there are at least ten to 12 issues involved and will bring those back to Washington for further discussion. One of those proposals will give local and state government more leeway in deciding routes for dangerous material.
Chlorine has a mixed reputation and history, being something that makes drinking water and swimming pools safe, and in WW I killing thousands as a weapon. Saddam Hussein planned to use chlorine gas as a weapon, and in the current Iraq conflict, trains and trucks filled with chlorine have been targets of choice. Terrorists fully understand the deadly affects of chlorine gas.
The Arden Yard in Las Vegas is huge and thousands of rail cars filled with hazardous material flow through the area monthly. In northern Nevada, another huge rail yard is in Sparks, Reno's sister city on the Intercontinental Mainline for the railroad. Large amounts of hazardous material flows through the area regularly. This is the kind of "what-if" discussion some would want if they could have been at the meeting with Porter.
• What if the rail car had been set loose on purpose by a terrorist group and then when it reached a high density neighborhood had been hit with a shoulder fired rocket?
• What if when a trainload of hazardous material is riding through Reno's train trench, either west or east, and a terrorist drops a hand grenade or two down onto the railcars?
• What if this same kind of security that was obviously not present at the Arden Yard is to be the norm when DOE attempts to move 70,000 tons of high level nuclear waste through thousands of U.S. cities?
• And one why. Why isn't Homeland Security involved in these discussions?
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