Strange bedfellows — from the governor to military backers and from a congressman to some of Utah's strongest environmentalists — were prepared to announce support for a wilderness bill today.

The measure, to be introduced by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, is designed to protect the Air Force's Utah Test and Training Range. It would designate a 100,000-acre Cedar Mountain Wilderness in Tooele County. Backers believe it also could block construction of the proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear-waste facility in Skull Valley, Tooele County.

Lawson LeGate, the Sierra Club's Southwest representative, noted that Bishop had introduced the bill in the House last year.

"Part of his interest in it is dealing with the Skull Valley issue," LeGate said. "He is united with most Utahns in opposing the nuclear waste above-ground storage there."

Bishop's office announced that the bill "would protect the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR), designate wilderness lands in Utah and stop the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage facility." The storage facility is planned for land owned by the Skull Valley band of the Goshute Indian tribe.

Among the unusual aspects is that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., environmentalists and the pro-military Utah Defense Alliance were joining in a press conference in support of the bill, according to Scott B. Parker, Bishop's chief of staff. The session is scheduled for this afternoon at the state Capitol complex.

If wilderness were designated in the region, federal rules would block construction of a railroad spur through the area. The rail spur is planned to service the Private Fuel Storage plant.

The 2004 version of the bill, which one environmentalist said is like last year's, included areas of the western Utah desert that are important to wildlife habitat. The Deep Creek Mountains, Fish Springs, Notch Peak and other wilderness areas were involved.

The bill passed the House of Representatives last year but not the Senate, said Peter Downing, legislative director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

"We need to get the same kind of momentum we had in the House in the Senate side, if we're going to pass this bill," he said.

The measure seems to have strong support throughout Utah, he said, from people concerned about nuclear waste, jobs and wilderness.

Downing said he is encouraged by Huntsman's backing for the bill. The governor, he added, "adds an important voice to the coalition that we've already got."

---

E-mail: bau@desnews.com