Bishop, Demo duel over waste legislation

Democrat Morgan Bowen charged in a debate Friday that Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, won't support legislation to ban shipment of foreign radioactive waste to America because of heavy donations the congressman has received from EnergySolutions officials.

Bishop responded in the debate on KUED that he wants states to have the right to decide themselves whether to ban or accept any waste without federal interference. He said that belief is heartfelt and is not influenced by donations from EnergySolutions executives.

After EnergySolutions proposed to bring radioactive waste from Italy to Utah, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and others began pushing a bill to ban such foreign imports, but it did not pass this year. Bowen charged that Bishop did not support the bill because of his connections at EnergySolutions, a company for which he was once a lobbyist.

"Congressman Bishop has $28,000 in donations this year from EnergySolutions. He won't sign onto the bill," said Bowen, an LDS seminary teacher who is challenging the three-term incumbent.

"One of the problems in Washington is we have people taking donations and making decisions from big players," he said. "To me, that's fundamentally what's wrong with Washington. ... We need to do things on merit, and not because we have donations."

Bishop responded, "I haven't taken any money from EnergySolutions. I can't take any money from a company — it's a federal offense.

I have taken $28,000 from people who happen to work for EnergySolutions, just like I have taken similar amounts of money from people who happen to be Realtors or people who happen to work for defense industries."

Bishop said, "I think the state of Utah should be in the position to decide what it will and will not import ... Utah has the ability of saying what kind of radioactive waste it will or will not take. I support that. Whatever they want to do, I support that."

Bowen said he does not buy the states' rights argument. "This is a federal issue. We're talking (about materials) crossing our borders and crossing multiple state borders to get here. I don't think the United States and Utah in general should become the radioactive waste dump of the world."

The issue was the one flashpoint between the two during the debate. Otherwise, they agreed on such things as the need for a constitutional amendment to force balanced budgets, opposing the recent $700 billion bailout for financial institutions, and the need for careful review of ways to help the economy.

They had a minor difference on the Iraq War. Bowen said the United States could probably withdraw within 18 months. Bishop said any timetable with the Iraqi government for withdrawal should be kept secret to prevent escalation of terrorist attacks.

The debate is scheduled to be rebroadcast on KUED Channel 7 on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com