Opinion: Nevada growing tired of being a dumping ground, nuclear or otherwise

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We at The Ticket would like, for a moment, to channel the good people of Nevada, some of whom are aggrieved over a dicey political issue: a proposed landfill near Winnemucca.

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!!!!!!!

The 4,000 tons of trash would be trucked in, five days a week, for 95 years, to the pit stop of Winnemucca. And, yes, no one knows where Winnemucca is (in northern Nevada) or how to pronounce it (rhymes with Yucca). But, really, after all the fuss over Yucca, we’re still considered your trash can?

Harry sure doesn’t like it. ‘California is a big state,’ he and state Sen. Dean Rhoads, a Republican, wrote in an op-ed piece in December. ‘They should have no problem finding a suitable location for their waste within their own borders.’ 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!

-- Channeled by Ashley Powers

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