Democrats are applauding the statement Thursday from the leadership of the LDS Church opposing nuclear waste.

A day after the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement opposing storage of nuclear waste in Utah, state Democratic Party chairman Wayne Holland thanked the church leaders in a prepared statement. The church opinion was a "welcome addition to the thousands of Utah citizens who have been fighting the reckless disregard" of Private Fuel Storage, which wants to store high-level nuclear waste in the West Desert.

"Democrats have a long history of environmental care and protection," he said. "Our advocacy for environmental stewardship is a decades-long struggle to protect the citizens of this state, and our country, from any and all hazards that will affect their health, their well-being, and the quality of their lives."