From Deseret News archives:
Utah's nuclear waste ploy fails
Plan might have blocked storage, even protected Hill
A conference committee of senators and representatives working out differences between two versions of the bill has refused to include language, already part of a House version of the bill, that would have declared the Cedar Mountains area of Tooele County a wilderness area.
"It is a disappointment," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. "A lot of bipartisan effort by all members of the Utah delegation went into trying to get it in."
Matheson and other Utah officials did not know why the conference committee did not agree to the wilderness language.
A wilderness designation could have blocked the construction of a railroad spur needed to transport nuclear waste to Goshute Indian tribal lands in Skull Valley.
Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a consortium of mostly Eastern nuclear power utilities, has a contract with the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes to store 40,000 tons of nuclear waste in above-ground canisters on tribal lands about 75 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
The language was included in the House version of the bill, at the behest of Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who had a stand-alone bill on the same issue that passed out of a House committee unanimously. But attempts to keep it in during the conference committee failed.
"This seems to me to be a repeat of the stealth tactic (former Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah) tried to do," said Sue Martin, spokeswoman for PFS.
Utah Gov. Olene Walker met with the Utah delegation earlier this week to plot strategy, and the wilderness approach was deemed the best strategy currently available to help the state's efforts to block the waste.
Utah officials had raised the wilderness issue during hearings by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, a three-judge panel deciding whether to recommend federal approval of the PFS license. The board rejected the state's argument.
The wilderness language is supported by Utah environmental groups and Hill Air Force Base, which sees it as a way to preserve the viability of its Utah Test and Training Range.
"It's a three-fer," one Utah official said.
Comments
- Grizzlies lend forward to AHL team 2:06 a.m.
- Basic Sports Training clinic Saturday 2:06 a.m.
- Tony Finau reaches Big Break finale 2:05 a.m.
- Chicken-lovers dance for free food 2:02 a.m.
- Kansas' Secret Santa gives away $ 1:24 a.m.
- 75 hostages seized in Phillippines 1:24 a.m.
- Gates: US to be Afghan partner 1:23 a.m.
- Al-Qaida claims credit for blasts 1:23 a.m.
- Utah Utes campus briefs 12:39 a.m.
- SUU campus briefs 12:37 a.m.
- Hot Rod behind mic for Lakers
- Max Hall wants to look ahead
- Cougars use depth to beat ASU
- Panel passes BCS playoff bill
- Non-BCS schools not given fair shot
- Crash landing next to I-15
- Psychologist: Mitchell schizophrenic
- Palin signs books, chats with fans
- Snow brings big chill
- Jazz go up against 'the best'
- Letters: Global warming a lie
229 - TCU to play Boise in Fiesta Bowl
206 - BYU football: Bronco weighs in on Hall
184 - Cougars going back to Vegas
150 - Utah/BYU rivalry can be more civil
147 - Andersen apologizes for Jordan hoax
138 - Max Hall wants to look ahead
119 - Revive full food tax?
100 - Yet again, we learn BCS is a big joke
94 - Palin signs books, chats with fans
94
Love him or hate him, Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch knows how to get attention.
My wife Lisa and I would prefer never to argue. But that's not going to...
For the latest news in the health care debate and how it affects you...
Top 5 Players in minutes played: Utah 1 Fr, 2 Jr, 2 Sr Jr Carlon Brown...
Yep "self righteous" if the rest of us who don't rubber neck left, you would...
Thank you for keeping the team here for all of these years, and for always...
of misery, inconsistency, road games losses and of course, NO TITLE ! Long...
Glad to hear about Matt and the others who demonstrate you can play at a high...
I guess they forgot that God made clothes for Adam and Eve and that was...
and good luck.
There is an inherent problem in any rating system -- it takes into account...
Give Phillips some credit. He was 5/5 in field goals in the YBU game, and the...
Mr. Bender's kind of thinking doesn't even acknowledge that the world is...




You can be the first to comment on this story.