Groundwater issues already being studied

To the editor:

Dave Bender’s Saturday letter on contaminated groundwater was very timely. I have no comment on his suggestion to use uncommitted funds from the Yucca Mountain project, other than I assume the electric utility ratepayers who provided this money would want it refunded to them if not used as required by law.

I serve as a member of the Nevada Site Specific Advisory Board for Department of Energy environment programs. We are a group of private citizen volunteers who provide the assistant secretary for environmental management with recommendations on issues at the Nevada National Security Site, who many remember as the Nevada Test Site. Among those issues are clean-up standards and environmental restoration, including contaminated groundwater studies and work plans.

I assume Mr. Bender used the term Yucca Flats generically to include all historical underground testing areas, not just the specific Yucca Flat basin. There are higher priorities for contaminated groundwater studies than Yucca Flats. Highest priority is the Pahute Mesa underground testing area. The reason is that there is known radioactive contamination moving off the site boundaries to the southeast and this is where the closest members of the public reside. Second priority is the Frenchman Flat underground test area, for the same reason.

Although contamination in Yucca Flats may be higher due to the larger number of underground nuclear tests, this is a lesser priority given groundwater must travel longer distances to reach off site. Essentially we have more time to address Yucca Flat.

What makes Mr. Bender’s letter timely is that our next public meeting is this Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the National Atomic Testing Museum, 755 E. Flamingo Road. At this meeting there will be two technical briefings on current groundwater contamination issues.

There is no fee and all interested members of the public are encouraged to attend.

John M. McGrail

Las Vegas

Che fan

To the editor:

James Moldenhauer’s letter (May 8) needs a response regarding its assessment of Che Guevara and its tone in respect to the display of religious themed artwork.

First, Che was an Argentine and a medical doctor who was directly instrumental in the revolution in Cuba in 1958. As a doctor, he worked with lepers when few others would. The words Mr. Moldenhauer uses to describe Che – specifically “cruel,” “murderous” and “tyrant” – are better applied to the president of Cuba during that time, Fulgencia Batista, and others like him such as Augusto Pinochet, (Papa Doc) Duvalier and Rafael Trujillo, all of whom we supported for years.

Insofar as displaying art goes, to remove any work of art that people find objectionable is opening the censorship can of worms which conscientious democracies disallow. Religious-themed art, it’s fairly clear, is perfectly acceptable anywhere so long as its point is not to proselytize – much of the work of the great masters is in fact religiously focused. Who would object to their display? No one, just as no one should complain about a painting of someone who believed strongly enough in revolution to die for it.

John Esperian

Las Vegas

Performance bond

To the editor:

In response to Vin Suprynowicz’s Sunday essay on immigration:

There is a simple solution to those would-be temporary workers denied visas. It is called a “performance bond.” About $50,000 a head ought to do it. The worker’s sponsor puts up $5,000, the bondsman the other $45,000. This keeps the sponsor’s monetary expenses down to affordable, even if painful.

The bond guarantees the worker’s timely departure or readjustment of status. If such is not accomplished, the bondsman either loses his financial shirt or employs that handy-dandy gadget known as the bounty hunter. Problem solved.

All of which is so simple, one would have to be at least a GS14 in order to remain ignorant of the technique.

Dave Hanley

Las Vegas