Yucca Mountain presents an opportunity
To the editor:
Sen. Harry Reid and others of the anti-Yucca Mountain ilk are doing the great state of Nevada, and Southern Nevada in particular, a great disservice. Clearly with unemployment at a record high since the Great Depression, and state funding for education being asked to take another 10 percent cut, moving forward with the repository could be a great boon for the area and the state. Sen. Reid and others have not considered how a change in the mission of the repository could bring hundreds of millions of dollars and many jobs into the area, as well as bolster higher education initiatives here in Southern Nevada.
The nation suffers from inadequate supplies of cheap energy — energy needed to drive industry, commerce and improve our overall quality of life. While much is said about “green” energy initiatives and programs, the use of nuclear power has been almost absent from the discussion until the president mentioned it in his State of the Union address. Locally, most individuals do not realize that most nuclear waste can be recycled into useful fuel for reactors and that the United States has taken only baby steps toward other possible uses for spent nuclear fuel.
Bringing the waste product here and converting the mission of a repository to one of recycling and new-use engineering efforts could lay the foundation for whole new industries attracting worldwide interest, not to mention a healthy flow of dollars for our economy and funding for UNLV for scientific research.
What limitations are currently known about spent nuclear fuel are minor compared to what many in nuclear science believe we can do with the waste as a recycled material. That Southern Nevada could be the home of a new science and vibrant industry has apparently never crossed the minds of our elected representatives or those who argue for increased industry and tax diversification for a languishing state.
Perhaps we should begin to think outside the box on this issue, recognize and use the investment made in Yucca Mountain thus far to our mutual advantage and challenge ourselves to make something very useful out of something very problematic. We went to the moon in a decade of intense and dedicated effort having little of the science or know how when the quest began. Is it not possible to repeat such an effort focused on nuclear waste?
Mark T. Trudeau
NORTH LAS VEGAS
No bargain
To the editor:
I love Gov. Jim Gibbons’ suggestion that collective bargaining should be suspended for public employees so their salaries can be cut during this economic downturn (Review-Journal, Tuesday). Collective bargaining has been suppressing public schoolteacher salaries for the past three decades. When the economy here in Las Vegas was booming, teachers were given a pitiable increase in salary in comparison to the increase in cost of living, and there was nothing they could do about it but accept the handout.
Teachers are prohibited from striking because their salaries are negotiated under collective bargaining. If the governor can eliminate collective bargaining, teachers will be given the green light to strike.
What this state needs more than anything is a kick in the pants in regard to educational funding. I, for one, cannot wait for that day.
Jim Hayes
LAS VEGAS
Pay up
To the editor:
Here’s an easy solution to the state’s budget problems:
Impose a flat 5 percent state income tax. No write-offs. No adjustments. A flat 5 percent for everyone.
We even create a couple of new jobs for enforcement purposes. Everyone wins.
Why should 14,000 state employees support more than 2 million Nevada residents? It’s time everyone pays their fair share for the services we all receive.
Joel Tyning
LAS VEGAS
Take control
To the editor:
In response to David Chess’s Monday letter stating that we should “temporarily” increase the sales tax so that state employees won’t be forced to take a pay cut:
Is Mr. Chess or someone in his household a state employee? That would explain how he would feel that taxing everyone else is a fair approach preferable to cutting state employee pay.
First of all, does anyone really believe there is such a thing as a “temporary” tax? Remember a few years ago when the federal government gave us back the long distance telephone tax for the previous three years? That tax was put there to finance the Spanish-American war and was “temporary.” It was stopped only by a lawsuit against the government. The federal government had no intention of eliminating the over 100-year-old tax on its own.
Second, why should state employees be any different from the rest of us who are being hurt by this terrible economy? Surely no one wants to take a pay cut or a layoff, but it happens in private enterprise every day. At least state workers still have jobs, which beats the many millions in America who don’t.
This is just another case of the public employees thinking that the American public works for them. According to USA Today, “The average federal employee salary is $71,206, compared with the private sector’s $40,331.”
In the recent Review-Journal article “$900 million shortfall: Jobs on line for state, schools,” by Benjamin Spillman and Ed Vogel, a Chamber of Commerce study reports that the average pay for Nevada state employees is $55,266. This figure is higher than the typical Nevadan’s income. So why should the rest of us sacrifice for the state employees?
Wake up and smell the coffee, people. It is time to take back control of our government.
Jacqueline Humfeld
MESQUITE
Big savings
To the editor:
School officials in Republic, Mich., changed the school week from five days to four days to reduce costs. Hours were increased on those four days so that students had the same in-school time. How much would Clark County save if school buses stayed parked one day a week?
Jack Krueger
LAS VEGAS
