When You Can't Win, Get What You Can

"...As state and local leaders continue to divert millions of dollars from other priorities to stop Yucca Mountain from becoming the national nuclear-waste dump, the public's fervor on the issue may be hitting its half-life – and even morphing into a what's-in-it-for-us bargaining spirit... List believes the $60 billion in construction contracts associated with Yucca could do wonders for Nevada's economy, diversifying it and helping to pay for Las Vegas' dizzying population growth. And he suggests Yucca could become a "reverse Comstock Lode," with the Silver State able to sell off the nuclear waste if and when the industry figures out how to recycle it into new power."