Whenever I explain the OffNow Project (
http://www.offnow.org/handbook)to someone, they initially respond enthusiastically. Something to the effect of, “Wow! That’s cool! The federal government shouldn’t be spying on us!” But when I further explain that the idea behind OffNow includes shutting off state supplied resources to NSA facilities – like the water necessary to cool the super-computers at the Bluffdale, Utah spy facility – those same people get nervous. “Shutting off the water seems like an extreme move. Can we even do that?” they ask.
Yes, we can do that.
And it will work.
It’s been done before at a place called Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
Yucca Mountain is located about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. It was originally selected as a nuclear waste dump site for the country in 1987, but it wasn’t until 2002 that President Bush and Congress officially approved the site and moved to make the dump a reality.
This was not a popular move in Nevada. The Governor filed an official Notice of Disapproval of the site selection with Congress, but Congress overrode it.
In the years leading up to 2002, it became clear that Yucca Mountain would not meet EPA standards required for a nuclear waste dump. The area is prone to earthquakes and even some recent volcanic activity. Moreover, the nuclear waste repository would be located above the water table in an oxidizing setting that would corrode the waste containers over time. Obviously, Yucca Mountain was not a safe place for nuclear waste. But the federal government apparently had its heart set on the site. Instead of telling the Department of Energy (DOE) to abandon the proposed nuclear waste dumping site, the EPA just changed its standards so the project could move forward.
As a result, Nevada filed several lawsuits against the the EPA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) disputing the EPA’s standards for the site, as well as asserting the NRC’s duty to uphold public and health safety standards.
But the state didn’t simply count on the federal courts to protect it. It took some action of its own.
In addition to these lawsuits, Nevada denied the DOE’s five applications for the use of water to construct and operate the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain . The federal government wanted to continue taking soil samples from the site despite all of the negative results it had already obtained. To run the drill rigs necessary to take soil samples as well as other operations , the feds needed to pump 430 acre-feet of water to the area each year. But state law governs the use of groundwater. So, the Nevada State Engineer rejected the applications on the basis that the intended repository was detrimental to the public interest.
Nevada still allowed DOE officials to use a limited amount of water at the site for showers, restrooms, and fire emergencies, but effectively blocked the drilling operation, slowing progress on the project to a crawl.
Continued...
http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2014...f-their-water/
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Originally Posted by tod evans
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