The reopening of a nuclear waste repository in Nevada could potentially devastate the multi-billion dollar tourism and gaming industry there if a serious accident occurs with the waste, American Gaming Association CEO Geoff Freeman said Wednesday in a letter to Congress.

Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the site of the nation's largest long-term repository for spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste. President Barack Obama slashed funding for the project in 2012 at the urging of state leaders, but President Donald Trump has proposed restoring funding for Yucca Mountain as part of his push to promote U.S. energy production.

In his letter, Freeman noted Yucca Mountain is located just 90 miles from Law Vegas, which received 43 million visitors last year alone. Nevada's gaming industry supports more than 430,000 jobs, pays more than $18.7 billion in wages and generates $7.9 billion in federal, state and local tax revenues, he said.

"Any problems with the transport of nuclear waste to the site, or issues with its storage there, would bring potentially devastating consequences to the local, state and national economies," Freeman said.

The letter was addressed to the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment and the Economy, which held a hearing on the proposal Wednesday. http://bit.ly/2q65eMZ

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