An A-list of Nevada gaming leaders led by Republican Party mega-donor Sheldon Adelson are petitioning Congress to ax funding to restart the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
The Obama administration closed Yucca Mountain, which for decades had stored nuclear waste 90 miles north of Las Vegas, but the Trump administration wants to reopen it. Despite opposition from the GOP-controlled Senate, which has rejected funding for it two years running, the administration is budgeting $116 million for the Department of Energy to resume the federal licensing process.
In a letter signed by Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands, and seven other gaming company heads, the group said it wanted to “express our vehement opposition to the inclusion of funding for the Yucca Mountain” and to “ensure that Yucca Mountain remains part of Nevada’s past and that nuclear waste is never stored anywhere near the world’s entertainment capital and Nevada’s treasured public lands”.
The signatures included those of MGM Resorts International Chairman and CEO James Murren, Boyd Gaming CEO Keith Smith, Penn National Gaming CEO Tim Wilmott, Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox, Caesars Entertainment CEO Mark Frissora, Red Rock Resorts President Richard Haskins and William Hill US CEO Joe Asher.
The letter stated the effort to restart the repository would “resurrect a project that would so directly imperil the health, safety, and economic future” of Nevada.
“Our members stand together with the community in opposing this dangerous idea that has re-emerged in Washington,” said Virginia Valentine, president of the Nevada Resort Association, who also signed the petition along with Bill Miller, CEO of the Washington D.C.-based American Gaming Association, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority CEO Steve Hill and Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce CEO Mary Beth Sewald.
Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, and Nevada’s representatives in Congress from both parties oppose Yucca Mountain, a battle that also includes a legal challenge aimed at preventing the DOE from shipping weapons-grade plutonium to a site near Yucca.
“We will continue to make our voices heard on Capitol Hill for as long as our community and economy are at risk,” Valentine said.
Adelson, whose contributions in recent years to Republican candidates and political action committees have been the largest of any individual in U.S. history, has financially supported Donald Trump and is a strong backer of the president. Earlier this month, Adelson, who has been battling cancer and hasn’t been seen in public since December, attended Trump’s keynote address at a Republican Jewish Coalition gathering at LVS’ Venetian resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
