EDITORIAL: Yucca decision attacked by Council

It may fall on deaf ears, but it needs to be said. Aiken County Council is drafting a resolution to the Department of Energy to encourage the use of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a nuclear storage facility.

Billions of dollars of American taxpayers' money has gone into preparing Yucca Mountain for the storage of nuclear materials which will be unsafe for thousands of years. Shortly after taking office, President Obama ordered that Yucca Mountain funding be terminated and that another site be found for long-term storage. That order turned the clock back more than 20 years on our federal government's promise to remove waste from the Savannah River Site and similar facilities. It seems that political promises - in this case one made to Nevada Sen. Harry Reid - are more important than long-standing policies which are the result of years of scientific study and congressional collaboration.

In his comments to County Council, member Chuck Smith of North Augusta was perhaps most irate. "We have been deceived by the federal government," he said of the government's futile efforts to solve the nuclear waste issue. Pointing out the billions of dollars that have been spent on a project that has gone nowhere, Smith concluded, "Everybody ought to be incensed about what is taking place."

We certainly are.

National policy, approved and funded by Congress and with the OK of both Republican and Democrat administrations, has pointed toward the use of Yucca Mountain as the repository for nuclear weapons material waste. To abandon it at the behest of one person is not only unfortunate for the future of the nuclear facilities affected, but also flies in the face of decisions passed by the entirety of Congresses past and for what is best for our country.

Mr. Obama, use this mountain.