Deal on Yucca

Nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain or another site like it is coming to Nevada. The billions of dollars that have been and are continuing to be spent on the issue are the clue. It has been a waiting game for the industry, waiting for Harry Reid to retire.

Nevada’s federal and state lawmakers should reverse course and get on board. Negotiate something out of it for Nevadans and use the Alaska Permanent Fund as a model. Most people are unaware that every Alaskan resident, including minors, receive an annual dividend check of approximately $2,000 for the oil pipeline running through their state.

Perhaps a constructive change would be to have the states and other entities using the storage facility pay for Nevada high school graduates to receive free tuition at Nevada public universities.

Doing something like this will increase slumping graduation rates, provide access to higher education to many who can’t afford it, and attract other industries to Nevada because we will have a better educated workforce.

Doing nothing will represent a missed opportunity on something that will be coming to Nevada in one form or another, anyway.