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In 1787 the founding fathers of the Constitution wrote in the Preamble: to "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves".(1) While the words remain the same to this day, the values they signify have largely been forgotten by Washington politicians and their appointed experts. Perhaps no other state more closely resembles one of the 13 British colonies than the State of Nevada today. The issue is clear when it comes to the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site, a mere 90 miles from Las Vegas. Despite Governor Guinn's efforts, the House overturned his veto of the plan on May 8 and the Senate not so narrowly adopted a resolution July 9 that would make Nevada the nations high level radioactive waste dump.(2) Meanwhile, questions regarding the safety of shipping the waste cross country to a site that rests on a fault line have gone unanswered. All the more disconcerting is that even after 9/11, not much has changed in the nation's capital. In the area of energy, Congress has neither increased the supply of oil through ANWR, or reduced demand through tougher auto mileage standards. On the demand side, the best hope is from California where an effort to reduce auto emmissions may likely push auto-makers to produce more efficient cars, if federal courts do not find it to be an infringement on their authority.(3) As the House gridlocks over the problem of Middle East oil dependency, there are no plans to phase out nuclear power that provide terrorists with dozens of weakly guarded targets across the US. (3.5) For that reason, there is no forseeable end to nuclear waste trucks on I-15. Drive Carefully! Coincidentally, a solution to America's energy crisis lies on Yucca Mountain, not in it. At the beginning of 2001 MNS Wind Energy announced plans to build a wind farm on the Nevada Test Site that would produce enough electricty for 260,000 people. In the context of Nevada and five other Western states having the potential to more than meet the electricity needs of every home in North America with clean, affordable wind energy , Congress has no excuse for its inaction. (4) While Governor Guinn tries to block funding for the repository through the courts, and his influence on a Congressional energy committee, Nevada voters will be deciding on legislation that would legalize the posession of small amounts of marijuana for use in non-public places within the state. Yet, even if the ballot measure is approved by the citizens of Nevada, an increasingly paternalistic federal government will likely nullify the law, saying it violates their rules. (5) According to advocates for decriminalization, the war on drugs has turned out to be a war on the poor , and its failed to even make a dent in drug use. However there is no debating that it is a multibillion dollar effort paid for largely by federal taxes. Washington should give a big thank you to Nevada. Except for 1986, state residents have received far less in public goods and services than they have forked over to the IRS every year since 1983. From 1993 to 1999 the deficit per person averaged $1,415 . That means on a per capita basis a Nevada taxpayer sent $1,415 more to the federal government (averaged from ’93 to ’99) than he or she got back in federal spending in the form of defense, highways, social security, and agribusiness subsidies. Not surprisingly Nevada consistantly has by far the largest disparity in financial flows between it and the Federal government out of all Western states, and the gap shows no signs of narrowing. (6) |
