Chance of hotter waste is rising

Envirocare of Utah has doubled its chances it could be allowed to take "hotter" radioactive waste from a federal cleanup at Fernald, Ohio, and possibly a second cleanup site in Niagara Falls, N.Y.

A provision to allow the Department of Energy to reclassify Ohio uranium mill tailings as "commercial" so it can be handled by private companies like Envirocare has now been added to the Joint House and Senate Energy and Water Appropriation Act. And it remains attached to the main energy bill, where it has provoked considerable controversy for several weeks.

"It's in both places," Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said Monday.

Bishop, who sparked protests from anti-nuclear waste advocates for supporting the provision, is still weighing information from experts to determine whether to modify the legislation, which would allow radioactive waste now stored in concrete silos in Ohio to be shipped to Utah for storage.

Also added to the bill is a provision, proposed by the Senate, that allows for the commercial disposal of radioactive materials now at the Niagara Falls Storage Site.

Bishop didn't know who requested the addition of the other federal cleanup site, and he didn't know details of that proposal.

Also of Utah interest is a section in the Energy and Water Appropriations Act that allows for 940 acres of the federally owned land at Martin's Cove, Wyo., to be leased to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the next 25 years.

The church wants the property now owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management so it can expand its Handcart Visitors Center southwest of Casper. About 150 Mormon converts died at or near the cove in a blizzard in 1856.

Most attention, however, was focused on the political maneuvering in Congress over waste, and the latest, double-barreled strategy has opponents feeling defeated.

"To hedge their bets, it looks like the folks pushing this included language in both bills to see which one would stick," said Jason Groenewold of Families Against Incinerator Risk. "This battle has been lost. The war continues on other fronts to try and stop this."

The Department of Energy's proposal to reclassify radioactive wastes has sparked heated debates over whether Envirocare is trying to skirt state laws. The wastes are many times hotter in radioactivity than allowed under current Utah law, and state lawmakers have a moratorium in place on hotter wastes pending a two-year task force study.

Adding the provision to the appropriations act may actually shift the heat from Bishop and onto Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who sits on the Senate appropriations committee. Bennett hasn't officially taken a position on the proposal yet.