The state commission formed to fight the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain says the timetable is politically motivated.

The head of the Nevada Commission on Nuclear Projects says the Department of Energy wants to ram through the license for the nuclear waste repository before the current president leaves office.

Eyewitness News has uncovered new information about transportation and safety, which could impact the entire Las Vegas Valley.

More trucks with spent high level nuclear waste would be rolling through Las Vegas than first thought according to two more supplemental drafts of the Environmental Impact Study released relating to the overall project.

Friday, the state agency fighting the Yucca Mountain repository was briefed about the fine print in the reports. This is a fight that has the state of Nevada hunkered down behind a collective “not in my back yard” approach.

Elected officials from Nevada, including the governor to the most powerful senator in the United States all say storing nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain repository would endanger our health, way of life, and future.

The executive director of the state agency fighting the federal government says new Department of Energy reports validate the fears.

Bob Loux, with the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said, “We have seen documents from Sandia [in New Mexico] that say schedule is more important than scientific integrity. Schedule is more important than anything else. Others that say if we don't make the June filing date the DOE has told us we are all out of jobs.”

Loux says the Department of Energy is recklessly rushing to submit a license application to open the nuclear waste dump before President George Bush leaves office so it can be rubber stamped.

“There are only going to be 30-percent of the designs for these facilities available. There is not going to be emergency plans and plans for retrieval available because they don't have time to do them,” Bob Loux continued.

Also, Loux says the Department of Energy added an 11th hour plan into new environmental impact draft statements. The latest surprise shows the numbers of high level nuclear waste shipments on Nevada roads will more than double what was originally proposed.

The new report shows 2,700 truck shipments would come in on two possible routes: Interstate 15 to US-95, or Interstate 15 to the 215 Beltway to US-95.

That goes through Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown's district.

Councilman Brown said, “Then you start impacting communities like Sun City Summerlin. You are getting into the core of residential areas in Southern Nevada. The politics will raise itself at this stage of the game.”

The Department of Energy says no formal trucking route has been selected. The federal agency also says the license application will meet all rules and regulations.

Clark County recently did a study showing 76-percent of residents oppose storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

Following that information, the state formally asked the city of Las Vegas and Clark County to become partners in the fight. Up to now both local governments officially watched from the sidelines.

The city's sub-committee on Yucca issues will meet soon to discuss entering an agreement. The county commission will be briefed on the issue over the next month.

E-mail your comments to Reporter Edward Lawrence.