Las Vegas residents, from left, Jean Treichel, Alicia Diaz, Michelle Marchese and Baron Schlegel work their way Wednesday into a standing-room-only venue at the start of the U.S. Department of Energy Public Hearing on the Possible Site Recommendation of Yucca Mountain. Photo by K.M. Cannon.

"This is honest, constructive and impassioned public input on an issue that is paramount to the health and safety of every Nevadan, and every American whose home, school or place of business sits along the proposed paths that the deadliest substance on Earth, if DOE has its way, will be brought to Nevada," Guinn said at the hearing in North Las Vegas.

"We in Nevada will not stand for it," Guinn told the crowd of more than 300 that filled the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration's meeting room and spilled into the hallway.

Hundreds of other people in a nearby room watched the proceedings on television. Gatherings in Carson City, Reno and Elko viewed the hearing on closed-circuit television.

A total of 132 people signed up to speak at the hearing that began shortly after 6 p.m. Fewer than three dozen people had spoken by 11 p.m.

As Guinn spoke, anti-nuclear demonstrators inside the hearing room held signs that said, "What does an active volcano do?" and "Why screw the Indians again?"

Guinn welcomed the support.

"Unlike many of the policy battles that grip Washington, this fight transcends party affiliation, socioeconomic classes, race or gender and galvanizes Nevadans from every corner of this state in opposition," he said.

Two-thirds of those in the room gave the governor a standing ovation as he castigated the federal plan to haul 77,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste to the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, where safety guidelines require that it must be contained for at least 10,000 years.

The plan to accomplish that feat, transporting the waste by trucks and trains for disposal in a maze of tunnels deep within the ridge, is predicated on lies, said Corbin Harney, a Western Shoshone who described the mountain as a snake that's constantly moving. "Underneath, hot water is going to cause a lot of friction in that tunnel," he said.

Shortly before the hearing began, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, who will review 20 years of scientific work this fall to decide if the site is suitable, sent letters to Nevada's members of Congress informing them that he would extend the period for written comments by 15 days, until Oct. 5.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. was joined by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., in testifying at the hearing via television from Washington, D.C.

Reid criticized the hearing process, saying people had to pass DOE checkpoints to reach the facility and some were told they wouldn't be allowed to speak until after midnight.

"What kind of a hearing is this?" he asked. "This is not a fair hearing. This has been unfair from the very beginning.

"I don't believe President Bush knows how the people of the state of Nevada have been treated," Reid said, noting that transporting spent nuclear fuel to Nevada from reactor sites across the country will touch nearly every corner of the nation.

"Forty-six states will have this poisonous substance passing by their schools, businesses and bedrooms," Reid said.

Ensign urged the Energy Department to keep the waste at reactor sites while scientists continue to pursue less dangerous solutions.

"We have to look at new technology for recycling this waste," Ensign said, calling the estimated $60 billion Yucca Mountain geologic disposal effort "the most expensive construction project in the history of this world."

Gibbons said it is "the single most controversial project in Nevada's history, past and present."

He said extending the comment period by 15 days was not adequate. "We should have been given a 60-day extension at least," he said.

"The bottom line is, whether it's five years, 50 years or 40,000 years, disaster is a real possibility in this project," Gibbons said.

Berkley said the federal government should accept that the Yucca Mountain Project is fundamentally flawed.

"As a country, we must stop trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Instead of trying to change the rules and dance around the law, we should immediately begin the decommissioning of the Yucca Mountain Project," she said.

Not all speakers were opposed to the project.

Bill Vasconi, co-chairman of the nonprofit Nevada Nuclear Waste Study Committee, said Yucca Mountain "is a viable solution to the nation's nuclear waste concerns."

"I don't think the location can be better," he said in an interview prior to the speech that was interrupted by hecklers.

He said Nevada's politicians, instead of opposing the planned repository, should explore financial concessions that could be extracted from the federal government. For instance, he said the project could benefit the state's educational system.

"There's opportunity for a railroad system and infrastructure that would alleviate nuclear waste coming through the greater Las Vegas area," he said.

His stance was mirrored by Gary Sandquist, an engineering professor at the University of Utah, and State Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, however, said he would personally arrest anyone who drives a truck with a cargo of high-level nuclear waste through the city.

"If they can't tell us we're safe, how dare they tell us they're bringing this crap here," Goodman said. "Let's see the driver try to get out of jail in my city."

John Wells, speaking for the Western Shoshone National Council, said the federal government has shown it cannot be trusted to fairly evaluate the suitability of Yucca Mountain.

"We believe that the DOE does not want to know the truth," Wells said. "For the DOE, their truth is from an origin in a culture of secrecy."

Pam Holden, of Las Vegas, brought her three daughters to the hearing "to make them aware of the environment and their community. I want them to understand this is something they're going to have to address in their lives," she said, with daughters, Kevyn, 11, Kylee, 9, and Taylor, 4, at her side.

"They should not put that in Yucca Mountain because it can make people have cancer and die," Kylee Holden said.

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