LOCKYER: U.S. WILL END PUSH FOR NUKE DUMP AT DESERT SITE

Decision on Ward Valley plan no surprise

In another blow to backers of the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump,
state Attorney General Bill Lockyer said Friday the federal government is
ready to bow out of its long-running dispute with California government
over the Mojave Desert site.

Lockyer said the decision, which was not unexpected, was disclosed during a
meeting he held this week with U.S. Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in
Washington, D.C. The development means that Gov. Gray Davis, who has long
opposed the Ward Valley dump, will have more control over its fate.

Federal officials "will not continue to fight future California efforts to
achieve a good-government solution (to the waste problem)," Lockyer said in
a conference call with reporters.

The site, on U.S. Bureau of Land Management acreage southwest of Needles,
has been controversial since it was proposed in 1985 as a repository for
low-level wastes generated by hospitals and research centers.

In 1993, on the last day of President Bush's administration, 1,000 acres
was transferred to the state for a dump. Babbitt's first act as incoming
interior secretary for President Clinton was to rescind the land shift.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson and U.S. Ecology Inc., which has a contract to
develop the dump, filed suits seeking transfer of the property and recovery
of alleged losses caused by the delays.

At the same time, environmental groups have fought the siting process,
claiming the dump could contaminate portions of Southern California's water
supply.

Native Americans, concerned about potential desecration of sacred lands,
also joined the fray.

When Davis and U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, also a long-time critic of the
site, won their elections last fall, it was widely seen as the death knell
for the project.

Davis said earlier this week that he is reconsidering the state's role in
the lawsuits.

Joe Nagle, president of American Ecology, U.S. Ecology's parent company,
said Friday he hadn't been advised of Babbitt's decision, but doubted that
the federal government could simply walk away from the controversy since
U.S. Ecology has a license to develop the site. "I hope the three parties
can sit down and have a reasonable discussion of options."

But Mike Paparian of the Sierra Club said "most observers felt (the
project) had been dead for some time. It was just a question of what exit
strategy will be used."

California remains under federal mandate to create a safe repository for
low-level nuclear waste. Agencies generating such waste currently store it
on site or ship it to a South Carolina waste dump.

Lockyer expressed confidence Friday that a safe repository can be built
elsewhere. Paparian said the governor has several options, including
convening a panel of scientists to recommend a site.

Lockyer also met in Washington with U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and
White House drug czar Barry R. McCaffrey, to discuss California's
Proposition 215, which legalized marijuana for medical uses.

"Both were very clear that medical marijuana use violates federal law,"
Lockyer said, and McCaffrey added that a massive research effort is needed
to determine if marijuana has any medical value.

Lockyer said he told McCaffrey that state law authorizes him to conduct
certain marijuana-related research. But McCaffrey told Lockyer he'd be
violating federal law and risking arrest if he did so.

In the short term, Lockyer said, there will be no change in federal policy
and California's law should be improved so solid statutes are in place if
and when the federal government recognizes it.