INTRO: One of the hottest tickets in Las Vegas yesterday was to see President George W. Bush. He addressed jobs and Yucca Mountain among other things with a friendly crowd of privileged ticket holders. KNPR's Ky Plaskon reports.
SOUND: No more Bush. No more Bush.
PLASKON: A polarized scene separated by yellow police tape. On one side, angry anti-Bush protesters standing in a dirt lot south of the airport. On the other side of the tape, Bush fans anxiously awaiting the president in the New United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America building.
SOUND: Four more years. Four more years.
PLASKON: Republicans, including Governor Kenny Guinn gathered inside to celebrate the president's Decisions over the past three years. One of those decisions was on weather to store Nuclear waste in Nevada's desert.
GUINN: I said I would listen to the scientists, those involved with determining weather or not this project can move forward in a safe manner and that is what I did.
PLASKON: But Nevadan's like Governor Guinn fought that decision.
BUSH: I said I appreciate your opinion. But I will tell you what I will do. I will allow this process to be appealed to the courts and to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
PLASKON: Nevada did fight President Bush's decision saying he didn't actually listen to the recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences as he should according to the law. Mayor Oscar Goodman scoffed at the President's assertion that he allowed the case to go forward. He said the president had no choice.
GOODMAN: He didn't have a choice, it's separation of powers. I have respect for the office of the presidency but we know where he stands on Yucca mountain and if he is trying to soften his position, I don't have any tolerance for that.
PLASKON: In July the court agreed with Nevada, that the Bush Administration hadn't actually relied on the right scientists when making its decision and that public health should be better protected from radiation, not for just 10-thousand years, but hundreds of thousands of years.
BUSH: And I will stand by the decision of the courts and the nuclear regulatory commission.
PLASKON: Governor Gwinn stood up with the rest of the crowd and applauded.
GWINN: He is saying that he will listen to the national academy of sciences and that he will follow sound science.
PLASKON: But the Bush Administration is still moving forward with the project. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency are still evaluating how the court case might affect the project and spending millions.
Ky Plaskon, News 88-9 KNPR