Will Nebraska build a low-level nuke dump after all

Some of you have met Ed Howard, the editor of Nebraska StatePaper.com and statehouse correspondent for the Nebraska Press Associated. He's a character. That fact came shining through last May when he fell to the floor in mock shock during political storytelling at the Buffalo Commons Festival in McCook.

But, while Howard can be a wild man in person, he's a very serious and dedicated journalist, avidly following happenings on the state level and reporting them in a weekly column for the Nebraska Press Association.

But, today, Howard's report is coming to us via the web pages of Nebraska StatePaper.com. Here's how the report starts:

"Great glowing outhouses! Could it be true? Might a multi-state compact yet build a dump in Nebraska for low-level nuclear waste?

The StatePaper goes on to report: "After years and years of torrid public debate, battles over licensing, a federal lawsuit and a $151 million judgment against the state, the prospect of building a nuclear dump in Nebraska is again on the table."

Why's that? Because, the StatePaper.com reports. "Gov. Mike Johanns is willing to consider building the dump in Nebraska if it will help to avoid paying that enormous financial judgment, Sen. Don Pederson of North Platte said Tuesday."

Wow! If true, that's big news.

According to StatePaper, Pederson made the revelation during a meeting of the Legislature's Appropriations Committee, but a spokesman for Johanns, Terri Tueber, wouldn't confirm or deny Pederson's comment.

The possibility of the state building a nuclear waste dump comes about because the state is faced with paying a $160 million judgment (including interest) for failing to build the dump, as mandated by a multi-state compact.

The controversy pits Johanns squarely against U.S. Ben Nelson, the McCook native who was governor when the state decided against building the dump.

Johanns has proposed a one-year, half-cent increase in the state sales tax rate to put away money for the judgment against Nebraska.

This angers Nelson. "I believe the tax increase ... is more about solving this year's budget crisis" than the federal judgment, the senator declared. Nelson said trying to use the federal court decisions to date for blaming him, "is like, in hunting, shooting your decoy." Johanns denied the charge.

On one hand, this is very serious business, since millions of dollars of Nebraskans' money is at stake in the nuclear waste dump dispute. But, on the other hand, it smacks of politics, as Nelson, a Democrat, and Johanns, a Republican, are very likely going to be the contestants in the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Nebraska. We're betting Ed Howard stays on the story. When the stakes are high for the state, the veteran newsman is like a bloodhound in pursuit of the facts.