Another dump for Nevada

In an op-ed essay in the Reno Gazette-Journal, Republican Dean Rhodes, a state senator, and Democrat Harry Reid, a U.S. senator, were critical of plans to create a 95-year garbage dump for California in Nevada’s Humboldt County near Winnemucca at Jungo, a former railroad station.

“The proponents of the Jungo dump claim that it will be the safest of facilities, but the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has determined that leachate from the site will pollute local groundwater,” Rhodes and Reid wrote. “In addition, the proposed dump would have to get exemptions from two Nevada laws that we think make a great deal of sense.”

Ashley Powers at the Los Angeles Times channeled the thinking of Nevadans with a letter:

“Dear Nation: Please stop trying to dump stuff in our state. We know, we exist because of your willingness to blow your money at our poker tables and hotels. But we clean up your spilled margaritas and tolerate your fanny packs. So let’s call it even, OK?

“You tried to put a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, a plan partly dependent on titanium drip shields being installed a century from now—by robots. There’s a reason that, in these parts, the legislation making Yucca the nation’s nuclear repository is often called the “Screw Nevada” bill. Now although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has proclaimed the project dead, a new threat looms. Garbage. From California!!!!!!! …

“Reid has also declared the proposed dump a ‘threat to Nevada’s sovereignty and dignity.’ That’s right, California: We’ve got lots of dignity here. We keep whatever you lose in Vegas. So back off. Your friend, Nevada. P.S. Come visit soon!”

Nevada has a mercury dump in Mineral County and a low-level nuclear and chemical waste dump in Nye County.