During President Bush’s 2000 election campaign,
he promised that any decision about whether to store high-level
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be based on “sound
science.” Now, his administration seems to be junking science
altogether. In August, the U.S. Department of Energy announced that
it will cut the U.S. Geological Survey’s budget for
evaluating the geological integrity of Yucca Mountain by 89
percent next year. Earlier this year, a series of e-mails
was released that indicated USGS scientists may have falsified
quality-assurance data in order to meet deadlines (HCN, 4/18/05:
‘Sound science’ in doubt at Yucca Mountain). USGS officials say
that the budget cut, which will leave them with just $940,000 next
year, may force their agency to abandon its scientific work on the
project entirely.
A federal judge has halted
logging on some 2,000 acres in California’s Giant Sequoia
National Monument (HCN, 6/9/03: Giant sequoias could get
the ax). The logging project was originally approved just before
President Clinton’s April 2000 designation of the monument,
which was formerly part of Sequoia National Forest. The Forest
Service has touted the logging as a fire-prevention project —
but the judge noted that it was odd that the agency “waited five
years to execute this contract because of unfavorable timber
prices.”
Three powerful New Mexicans are trying to put
the kibosh on the El Paso Corporation’s efforts to
open the Valle Vidal to oil and gas drilling. Rep. Tom
Udall, D-N.M., has introduced a bill to prevent leasing in the
Valle, which is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and lies
northeast of Taos (HCN, 3/1/04: Oil and gas drilling could oust elk
— and Boy Scouts). On Sept. 20, Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.,
introduced a similar bill in the Senate. New Mexico’s
attorney general, Patricia Madrid, is vowing to fight as well if
the U.S. Forest Service decides to lease the area for drilling.
Pennzoil Corporation donated the land to the Forest Service in
1982.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The Latest Bounce.
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