Craig’s Latest TV Ad A Lie, Andrus Says Senator Never Fought N-Waste Shipments, Former Governor Says

Former Gov. Cecil Andrus on Thursday called Sen. Larry Craig’s latest TV ad a lie for suggesting Craig fought nuclear waste shipments in 1991.

Andrus, who closed the state’s borders that year and called out the National Guard to block waste shipments before mounting a court fight, said, “I think somebody has to point out that his latest ads are totally false. He claims that he has spent all these years fighting the nuclear waste from coming into Idaho, when the truth of the matter is … that he opposed my actions at every turn.”

“For him to, now that he’s reading the polls, take the position that he stopped any of this waste is just flat untrue,” Andrus said in a conference call with reporters from New York, where he’s attending a KeyCorp board of directors meeting.

Craig’s campaign spokesman, Mike Tracy, stood by the ad, saying it refers to a specific agreement Craig helped secure. Tracy didn’t dispute that Craig vehemently opposed Andrus’ efforts.

“Sen. Craig opposed that approach,” Tracy said. “But he did not oppose trying to work with the Department of Energy.”

Craig and then-Sen. Steve Symms got a letter from the federal Department of Energy in late 1991 promising that waste from West Valley, N.Y., and Fernald, Ohio, would not be shipped to Idaho.

But the main waste issue that year, and the one that prompted Andrus’ blockade, was the DOE’s plan to ship hundreds of shipments of commercial waste from Colorado’s Fort St. Vrain nuclear plant to Idaho. The shipments already had started.

At the time, Craig and Symms both blasted Andrus’ blockade and court battle. Craig said the Fort St. Vrain waste was valuable to Idaho as research material, and suggested Idaho risked losing the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory because of Andrus’ moves.

Andrus said the waste never was used for research.

Symms proposed a congressional resolution in February 1991 to override Andrus’ blockade.

Andrus, a Democrat who along with former GOP Sen. Jim McClure has a $192,000 consulting contract with the INEL’s main contractor, Lockheed Martin, said he felt obligated to speak out. Andrus has been campaigning for Craig’s opponent, Democrat Walt Minnick.

“I’ve seen a lot of campaigns unfold and I’ve seen a lot of innuendoes, but seldom have I seen it where they came out and told a total falsehood,” Andrus said. “He did not resist. To the contrary, he supported importation of that waste.”

Andrus also contended that Craig put Gov. Phil Batt in a poor negotiating position by not working in Congress to block waste shipments to Idaho. With Congress threatening to force Idaho to accept waste, Batt last year negotiated an unprecedented agreement that allowed more shipments, in return for court-enforced promises that existing waste would be cleaned up and most waste would be removed within 40 years.

Tracy said Craig always has opposed turning Idaho into a nuclear waste dump for the nation. “The efforts that Sen. Craig started … have now come to fruition, in terms of actually having sites open to move nuclear waste out of Idaho. That’s the bottom line,” Tracy said.

Craig pushed legislation through the Senate to open a temporary dump in Nevada, but it faces an uncertain fate in the House, and President Clinton is likely to veto it if it passes.

Craig also has successfully pushed legislation to open a New Mexico waste facility by 1998.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Craig’s disputed ad The television ad, which began airing Wednesday statewide, says: “In 1991, Larry Craig blocked New York and Ohio nuclear waste from coming to Idaho. In 1993, he took on Congress and the Clinton Administration for failing to develop a permanent waste site in Nevada. This month, Congress passed the Craig nuclear waste amendment, which will move waste from Idaho to New Mexico, starting next year. It’s been a long, tough fight. Larry Craig, always one of us, always fighting for Idaho.”