Rep. Rob Bishop recently introduced legislation that could save Hill and block nuclear waste at the same time. The Utah Republican wants to accomplish both goals by designating 100,000 acres of Utah's western desert as wilderness.

A wilderness designation would block the Goshutes from transporting nuclear waste through the Cedar Mountains.

Eliminating that concern is crucial as Hill struggles to survive a new round of base closings this year.

"This bill would make it so the Goshute Nation can't put spent fuel rods on the reservation at probably the worst place they could possibly find — the driveway into the Utah Test and Training Range," Bishop said.

The proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear-waste facility would hold up to 4,000 casks filled with spent nuclear fuel. Utah leaders have exhausted nearly every option in blocking the waste facility.

Encroachment issues aren't a major problem in the West Desert. The potential for nuclear waste as a next-door-neighbor to the Utah Test and Training Range, however, is a big problem as BRAC convenes, Bishop said.

"Let's say you exclude a big chunk of that range," Hansen said. "The base closure commissioners could say, 'What good is that base; we can't even fly over it?'

"We're headed to another base-closure round. Why give another weak point to the base closing commissioners if you can forestall it?"

The range is a "vital and irreplaceable part of the test and training infrastructure at the Department of Defense," said Gerald Pease Jr., the Air Force's associate director for ranges and airspace, in a 2002 affidavit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board.

"The proposed PFS facility must not impact our ability to conduct tests or train our forces at the Utah Test and Training Range. The Air Force opposes any flight restrictions that might result from the siting of their facility that would impair our testing and training at the Utah Test and Training Range."

Fighting over the remains

If Hill can survive these hurdles, another battle is right around the corner.

The prize: coveted workload from bases shut down in the BRAC process.

"You're kidding yourself if you don't think that other bases are salivating at what's at Hill Air Force Base that they'd like to get their hands on," Hansen said. "It's a dog-eat-dog situation."

A mass-realignment could take all but the intercontinental ballistic missile systems mission at Hill, Bishop said — a move that would dramatically cut the base's civilian staff of about 17,000.

McCall said she believes Hill will not be closed, but a major realignment is not out of the question.

The Utah Defense Alliance's McCall and Rick Mayfield plan to be in Washington, D.C., when the official BRAC list comes out so they can plan their attack.

"Hill would be smart, as every base would be smart, to start looking around and saying if so-and-so closes, can we get that mission? Is that mission compatible with our base?" Hansen said. "Everyone has got to be prepared."

Coming Wednesday: Do Tooele Army Depot and Dugway Proving Ground stand a chance?

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com