Hutchison: I will talk to Rubio on Yucca

CARSON CITY — Lt. Gov. Mark Hutchison will continue to chair the Nevada presidential campaign of Republican Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, despite the fact that Rubio has said he supports the proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, which Hutchison opposes.

Rubio, speaking with a reporter for GreenvilleOnline, the website of The Greenville (S.C.) News, said he supported opening the Yucca Mountain facility, given the amount of money that’s been spent on the repository and the fact that he thinks on-site storage is unsafe.

The interview came in the same week that Hutchison was named campaign chairman for Rubio in Nevada.

Hutchison said today that he didn’t discuss the controversial Yucca Mountain issue with Rubio before agreeing to helm Rubio’s Nevada campaign, but noted that the Florida senator also said he was open to looking at different options and recommended following the science.

“I was happy that he said he would consider options, and that he would let the science direct him,” Hutchison said today. “So as long as he’s open to options and as long he lets the science dictate what’s the best option, I’m going to use my own personal influence and my relationship with him to make Nevada’s case against Yucca Mountain.”

But Rubio’s remark — that science should decide the issue — is almost exactly what former President George W. Bush said while running in 2000. But Bush moved aggressively to open Yucca Mountain after the election, notwithstanding a substantial body of scientific evidence against the repository.

In addition, Rubio added this: “So you do need a permanent, central depository for it. Yucca Mountain is the place that’s gotten the money, and it was chosen years ago. So unless someone can identify a better project, that’s the one we should move forward on.”

Hutchison said he hadn’t spoken with Rubio since the interview, but that he’d be visiting Nevada in the next few weeks. “We’ll talk,” Hutchison said.

But in the meantime, doesn’t this development mean that Hutchison agrees more with President Barack Obama — who has called for researching a different solution than Yucca Mountain — than he does with Rubio, his chosen candidate for president?

“I agree with anybody who thinks Yucca is a bad idea,” said Hutchison.

Asked why he chose Rubio out of a Republican field that’s got at least six candidates and is poised to grow, Hutchison resorted to a familiar theme he highlighted from his own campaign.

“I just think he’s a next-generation leader,” Hutchison said. “And he is somebody who can not only unite the Republican Party, but also can inspire the country. He’s got a great experience, living the American dream.”