Our View: Yucca - A pretty dry subject

We hope the U.S. Department of Energy has a dry sense of humor.

Otherwise, the folks who think it's just fine to ship the nation's nuclear waste to Nevada might be smarting from the way they've been snookered again.

This time, it's Gov. Kenny Guinn proposing a state law that would prohibit the use of water for any nuclear waste storage site in the state.

Perhaps, he suggested, the state could impose a fine of $1 million for every gallon used to store nuclear waste in Nevada.

"We will do everything within our means to see that the Yucca Mountain project dies of thirst," Guinn said.

And it clearly is within Nevada's means to deny the use of water for that reason.

U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt ruled properly that water law belongs in state courts. That means the DOE's request for groundwater permits for a use that clearly threatens the health and welfare of Nevada residents will go to a state court in Tonapah.

We don't want to prejudge the decision there, but we're pretty confident that Judge John P. Davis will side with the state's argument that it has the right to deny permits for uses that are decidedly contrary to the best interests of the state's inhabitants.

Nevertheless, Guinn says the Legislature should go ahead and pass a law that makes it illegal to use water for nuclear waste storage purposes.

We have no problem with that. Even stepping back to consider the broader issue - because we're pretty biased against nuclear-waste storage - we still think it is within the state's rights to determine "beneficial" use of water.

The Nevada delegation in Congress has spent years running interference against DOE's attempts to end-run the process of determining the best way to handle the nation's nuclear waste.

Despite proclamations to let science decide, we know there is no other site under consideration. The rules keep changing. And now DOE wants to start construction of the nuclear-storage facility at Yucca Mountain before the scientists are even finished determining whether it is a workable site.

Unfortunately, the feds need to play by Nevada's rules if they want some water. And if they think we're all wet ... well, it's only figurative.