Accord puts hot waste on hold

Radioactive waste from Ohio won't be coming to Utah anytime in the near future under terms of a deal struck between Envirocare of Utah and Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah.

Envirocare says it will not bid on a federal cleanup contract to take uranium mill tailings from Fernald, Ohio, until after Utah first receives oversight responsibility for the waste from the federal government and after a legislative task force completes its work on a statewide waste policy at the end of next year.

That means the waste won't be coming to Utah before 2005, if at all.

"Envirocare is taking a risk that it may not get this material," Bishop told the Deseret Morning News on Tuesday. "But Envirocare agrees that it is a good policy for the Utah Department of Environmental Qual- ity to be the final arbitrator over this waste."

Envirocare officials said they are willing to hold off even if it means delays would weaken the company's chances of winning the federal cleanup contract for radioactive uranium mill tailings now being stored in silos in Ohio. That federally regulated waste is more radioactive than what Envirocare is currently licensed to store at its facility about 75 miles west of Salt Lake City under its state permit.

"Envirocare supports the state of Utah's involvement in helping to ensure the public's safety. This decision will eliminate the confusion and allow all to be heard by the task force, the Utah Division of Radiation Control, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). It will provide an opportunity to clear the air and give the public more confidence in the process," said Tim Barney, Envirocare's senior vice president, in a prepared statement.

Critics aren't too impressed with the deal.

"I see the damage has already been done on (Bishop's) end," said Jason Groenewold of Families Against Incinerator Risk. "(Bishop) has clearly said he is not going to help us and in fact still supports dumping this waste in Utah."

For Envirocare to bid on the Ohio waste, the federal government would have to reclassify it as "commercial" waste. At the request of the Department of Energy, Bishop inserted language into an energy bill that would have allowed that to happen, and a similar provision was added by Ohio lawmakers to a water and energy appropriations act last week.

Also included in the spending bill is a federal cleanup project of similarly hot radioactive waste from Niagara Falls, N.Y. Although it's not part of the Bishop-Envirocare agreement, an Envirocare official says it had no plans to take that waste, which is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers.