Groups that use the Green River for personal and commercial recreation, educational activities and scientific research have filed a formal protest with the state over an application for water rights that would benefit a proposed nuclear power plant.

Deputy state engineer Boyd Clayton said Monday that the next step will be to decide if two separate sets of protesters have legal standing to intervene and then to hold a public hearing, which he said could be months away.

Clayton said Green River resident Bill Adams is a Green River water-rights holder, which by statute permits him to file a protest. Adams has aligned himself with the advocacy group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah (HEAL).

Adams and HEAL filed a protest separate from those filed by the conservation and environmental groups Living Rivers, Moab Local Green Party, Red Rock Forests and Uranium Watch.

Clayton said the Kane County Water Conservancy District's application is a request for an extension on the time required by the state for the rights holder to prove a "beneficial use" for 29,600 acre-feet of water. Protesters say simply stating "more time is needed" does not constitute a "reasonable cause for delay" that the state engineer would consider in granting the applicant's request.

Some of the water to supply at least one 1,500-megawatt reactor could come from the Kane County Water Conservancy District, whose director is Utah Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab.

The proposal to build the plant comes from Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, who also is chief executive officer of Transition Power Development. Earlier this year, Tilton contacted the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to say his company intends to submit by April 2010 an "early site permit application" for two nuclear units somewhere in east-central Utah. Tilton lost his seat in the Utah House during last spring's Utah County Republican Convention.

An industrial park near the city of Green River in Emery County may be the site of the power plant, and the park is also being eyed for a uranium mill.

Clayton said Kane County Water Conservancy District has not yet filed a "change application" with the state to indicate that the water rights will be used for a nuclear power plant. In the 1960s, the same water rights were intended for use in coal mining in northern Kane County. Now, the stated intent for that water from the Green River is more vague, indicating only that it will be for public benefit, according to Clayton.

The courts, Clayton said, could end up having the final say on the applications for time extension and change of use if the state engineer's office can't sort it all out.

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E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com