University Daily Kansan, April 20, 1983
Page 11
Legislators naive about nuclear waste Officials don't know issue, lobbyist says
By ANNE FITZGERALD Staff Reporter
Many state government officials are reluctant to give nuclear waste disposal high priority because they fail to understand the intricacies of the issue, a local pro-environment lobbyist said yesterday.
"The more I lobbied in Topeka, the more I found out, and the more I realized how much other people didn't know. I heard they said, 'Stevi Stehena, the best.'"
To educate more people about nuclear power and waste disposal, Stephens and other environmentalists form the Nuclear Awareness Network.
She plans this week to ask the net-
work's first 50 members to help finance
an initial mailing to almost 2,000 in-
tials and groups throughout Kansas.
"RIGHT NOW, WE just have an office at 1347 MASSACHUSETTS. St., with some desks," she said, "but within two weeks, we should be fairly active."
State Rep. Betty Jo Charlton, D-Denver, said that the Legislature had failed to resolve the issues of nuclear power and high-level waste during this session because of more pressful fiscal problems.
"Up to a point," she said, "this session hasn't dealt with the waste issue because of the tremendous financial problems of the state.
"There is a lot of disagreement on Wolf Creek — there are some who think that the law is unfair."
it's something we ought to go ahead and, with them, we not convinced of the
"And then there are those of us who oppose nuclear power both in its operation and in our own lives."
THE SAID THAT TFW legalisators were "soft" on the issue, which meant that most of them held strong opinions, making them tough to deal with.
Charlton co-sponsored a bill introduced by State Rep LeRoy Fry, D-Little River, that would bar high-level storage in any salt mines in Kansas.
The bill, which has been introduced during the last three years, stained this session in the Judiciary Committee, but will be held over until the next session.
"The waste problem has not been solved." she said, "and we question whether it even can be. People talk of disposing of it, but you cannot dispose of it. You can only store it for a very, very long time."
In her work as a lobbyist, Stephens said, she discovered that pro-environmental groups, such as the Sierra Club, Kansas Natural Guard and Kansas Natural Resources Council, did not coordinate their efforts.
SHE SAID THE LACK of an information network had directly affected the Legislature and was partly to blame for legislators' failure to act on the issues.
To improve the situation, Stephens said her office would urge members of the network to lobby the Legislature when the issues of nuclear power and waste came before their representatives' committees.
One bill involves the low-level radiation repository in Lyons and will probably be voted on during the next session of the legislature, she said.
"there is a lot of scary legislation coming up," she said.
Lance Burr, a Lawrence attorney who ran for state attorney general in the last election, said that once the license for low-level waste storage was approved, approval for storage of high-level waste would soon follow.
BURR SAID THAT Attorney General Robert Stephan had the power to stop the storage under the Kansas Conviction law so that far he had not used the power
Burr said that the awareness network could play an important role by educating legislators about the hazards of nuclear power.
Fry represents Lyons, whose salt mines are the proposed site of a multi-site mine.
Some residents of Lyons oppose the low-level waste site, but some people favor it because of the income the site might bring to Kansas from other states that need to store their waste here. Stephens said.
The language of the proposal, which would dictate the locations of waste sites in certain regions of the country, does not restrict the number of states that can join each region, she said, more states could use a dump site after it started to operate. Eight states are now signed up for Kansas' region.
SHE SAID THAT if Kansas refused to join, the state could not ship its own cargo.
Steve Woydial, Lyons resident, said there were a number of reasons he on-
posed the use of Lyons' salt mines for nuclear waste disposal.
"one of the biggest problems with the mines is water erosion," he said, "and no one really understands how far south that water goes."
Woydziak said that putting nuclear waste in the mines underneath Lyons could be disastrous because of the seepage.
In 1980, Woyzdik and others were instrumental in stopping the sale of 17 acres in Lyons which would have capped plans to open the waste repository.
HE SAID THAT the Lyons Chamber of Commerce had approved the sale, which was its use of saying that it applauded the use of the mines for nuclear waste.
Mike Towsend, vice-president of Chandler Bank in Lyons, which supported the sale, the said use of Lyons' assets in the state would be a boon to the local economy.
But Woydziak said, "It would be a feather in their cap, but I can't see how it would employ more than five people."
Stephens said that in addition to making people more aware of the problems involved in storing nuclear waste in the Lyons mines, the network would work to stop the opening of the Wolf Creek nuclear power plant.
SHE SAID THAT it would be difficult to stop the plant's opening because of the money already invested in its construction.
"My idea, realistically, is to make them spend as much money as possible," she said. "The longer we keep it from going on line, the better the chances are that something will happen and the longer it will be stalled."
BOCO official predicts low turnout
Three large cranes loom over the Haworth Hall addition construction site. The crane in the center is more than eight stories high and will be part of the campus scenery for at least a year.
Staff Reporter
By SARA KEMPIN
Voter turnout in the Board of Class Officers election tomorrow probably will not be high despite increased student interest in the organization, the BOCO elections chairman said yesterday.
DeAnn Johnson, Wichita sophomore and the chairman, said that the elections had not been as widely viewed this year as they had been in the past.
"The voter turnout really depends on how well the candidates have campaigned and how many people they get to the polls," she said.
Johnson, sophoraer class secretary,
said she thought that about 500 people
are running on a platform of how they would change Encore," she said.
*STUDENTS ARE MORE interested in voting this year because candidates
Most coalitions have said they would devote a lot of time to organizing
Encore, a student variety show, was organized and sponsored by BCOC this year.
Polls will be set up in front of Wescoe Hall, the Kansas Union, Fraser and Learned halls and inside Wescoe, Johnson said.
Dave Kelsey, junior class president,
said, "People are beginning to care
BOCO WAS IN charge of homecoming, Encore and the Big Blue Rally this year, he said.
The students running for office are:
Forecourt Coalition: sophomore class
Bill Wiedeman, president; Brad Mazon, vice president; Miss. Keesa Turner, assistant general manager.
president; Alison Orlich, vice pres-
ident; Kristin Preckweger, Kelley
Surley, secretary.
Senior class — Frank Bucerco,
president; John Petree, vice president;
Ann Cromwell, secretary; David Welch, treasurer.
Accreditation, Brendan McCormick,
Junior class - David McCormick,
Input Coalition: sophomore class — William Eley, easter; John Allison, vice president; Melissa Bell, secretary; Tricia Heinz, treasurer.
Junior class — Dan Lowe, president;
Julie Flynn, vice president; Angela
Young, secretary; Ken Prendergast,
treasurer.
Senior class — Steve Russell, president; Clare Focht, vice president; Kay Lawrence, secretary; Mike Wagner, treasurer.
Support Coalition: senior class --- Rick McNabb, president; Jay Cladwick, vice president; Ann Backer, secretary; Stephanie Albright, treasurer.
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