Yucca Mountain, 1988, Nuclear Waste
Yucca Mountain, Bullfrog, Nevada Cover Date: April 5, 1988 Nevada was about to become America's garbage pile. Nevadans were up in arms. "Take the nation's nuclear waste and dump it some place else!" Then the United States government sweetened the pot with a substantial monetary bribe! How would Nevada react? |
Cover as History: Nevada was in a long standing battle with the United States government whether the national nuclear dump should be put in Nevada in Yucca Mountain (appropriately named, don't you think).
(A map showing Bullfrog County!) So the US government sweetened the proposition by promising to pay millions and millions of dollars in taxes. Yucca Mountain was in a very large and very sparsely populated county called Nye County So in 1987 the state legislature created a new county within Nye county called Bullfrog County.
Now this county was rather interesting. First of all no one lived in the county That's right, not a single person. Second of all the county seat was Carson City which was hundreds of miles away. But the bill was passed and Governor Bryan, who had been given control of the county, appointed a county commission which began figuring out how to distribute the money equitably among the state. Now Nye County officials realized that they were losing a lot of money with the creation of Bullfrog County and challenged the new law. The Supreme Court of Nevada had to agree. Was the Governor of the state to be the sole citizen of the county for ever with absolute control? How could a jury be chosen for a trial that just happened within the county boundaries. The court said the law was unconstitutional and in 1989 the legislature repealed the bill. As one newspaper put it, "The Bullfrog has Croaked!" |
History of Cover: OK, work with me on this one.
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Post Office Dates: June 18, 1987 - November 29, 1989
I am not sure what date the legislation making Bullfrog a county was repealed. I do know it was in 1989 during the legislative session.
I am not sure what date the legislation making Bullfrog a county was repealed. I do know it was in 1989 during the legislative session.