LAS VEGAS — Nevada has stepped up its campaign against burying nuclear waste under one of the state's mountains, with the governor vetoing a presidential endorsement and activists readying a lobbying campaign to reinforce his action.
In February, President Bush picked Yucca Mountain as the place to entomb up to 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel that will remain radioactive for 10,000 years. The site is 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
A veto of Bush's endorsement was signed on Friday by Republican Gov. Kenny Guinn and was to be submitted to the House and Senate on Monday.
Guinn's veto was allowed under rules Congress wrote for developing a national nuclear waste dump. Congress will have the final say, however, and a vote on whether to override Guinn is expected before August.
Opponents of the Yucca Mountain plan were organizing a coast-to-coast lobbying campaign against an override vote.
Opposition to the project is overwhelming in Nevada.
"Nuclear energy can be a good thing," Earl McGhee, a 74-year-old retiree, said from his home in Amargosa Valley, less than 15 miles from Yucca Mountain. "But if it's mishandled, it's a bad thing. A longtime bad thing."
The lobbying effort is being directed by two former White House chiefs of staff — Democrat John Podesta, who worked for President Bill Clinton, and Republican Kenneth Duberstein, who worked for President Ronald Reagan.
The campaign is to include television ads targeting lawmakers in races that could swing on votes from environmentalists.
Spent nuclear fuel has accumulated for decades at power plants and defense facilities in 34 states, as lawmakers debated whether and where to establish a national repository.