LAS VEGAS (AP) — Facing a new presidential administration and a newly Republican Congress, top Nevada elected officials are gearing up to resume a 30-year fight to stop proposals to bury the nation's radioactive waste about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
A commission heading an anti-Yucca Mountain fight that has cost the state $50 million since 2001 agreed Tuesday to urge "steadfast opposition" to the project from the upcoming state Legislature and Gov. Brian Sandoval.
But times have changed since the project was mothballed in 2010.
Former U.S. Senate leader Harry Reid has retired. He can't block federal funding anymore.
And elected officials in nine rural Nevada counties aren't opposing the repository idea.
Nye County Commission Chairman Dan Schinhofen says they see jobs and economic opportunities ahead if Yucca Mountain can be developed safely.