Utah attacks PFS nuclear waste plan

Hundreds of comments about Private Fuel Storage hit the Bureau of Land Management Monday, the last day of a 90-day public comment period.

The state of Utah, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and a reported 700 people with environmental concerns filed written statements Monday. Another 300 with environmental comments sent e-mail messages to the BLM through the same group that facilitated the 700.

As of Friday morning, more than 4,300 statements had been filed on proposals to build a rail route or a loading facility to service the proposed high-level nuclear waste storage site, said Pam Schuller, planning coordinator with the BLM's Salt Lake Field Office.

In an e-mail, Schuller indicated more comments may be coming in a few days, because mailed statements had to be postmarked by Monday to be included in the study.

"Each comment must be reviewed and processed individually," Schuller wrote. "In some cases, one lone substantive comment may take one day to a week to accurately access, research and/or review."

For an ordinary public comment period, processing statements can take from two to three months, she said. But with the large volume of responses on this proposal, "we cannot give an accurate assessment on how long it will take to process all of the comments."

In addition, the BLM will not be able to make a final determination until the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs makes a decision, Schuller added.

Among the most massive of Monday's comments was the state of Utah's official response — 40 pages of legal arguments and exhibits.

The governor sent a cover letter with the state's formal comments. Huntsman noted that PFS's intermodal operations site would store nuclear fuel casks "next to Interstate 80 and under the low-altitude flight paths of military and commercial aircraft."

Allowing PFS to use the federal land for the loading facility "would unfairly and adversely affect adjacent property owners," he wrote.

"BLM's resource management plan for the intermodal area cannot accommodate the use of public lands for high-level nuclear waste operations," the governor added.

"If BLM were inclined to grant PFS a right of way, it would need to amend the (agency's) Pony Express Resource Management Plan. Such an amendment would need to await completion of a Department of Defense study," as required by law, the letter added.

Huntsman requested that the BLM deny both of the right-of-way applications.