Bishop reviewing hot issue for Utah

Rep. Rob Bishop says he's willing to take a second look at a controversial proposal in Congress that would allow Envirocare of Utah to accept "hotter" radioactive waste.

He told the Deseret Morning News Friday that he is sifting through public comments and scientific data to determine whether to modify the legislation he has proposed that would allow radioactive waste in Ohio to be shipped to Utah.

"I'm going through the material given to me at the town meeting and what regulators and scientists say as to the merits of the arguments," said Bishop, R-Utah. "If anything jumps out, once again we can make adjustments."

Critics are cautiously optimistic.

"I would hope so," said Jason Groenewold of Families Against Incinerator Risk and Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah or HEAL Utah. "The information overwhelmingly shows this is extremely dangerous waste."

At a recent town hall meeting in Salt Lake City, anti-nuclear waste activists rallied in opposition to Bishop's amendment to an energy bill to reclassify some waste at an Energy Department facility in Fernald, Ohio, so that it could be sent to a commercial facility like Envirocare for disposal.

Gov. Mike Leavitt and Utah's congressional delegation have weighed in on the issue, as well as Salt Lake Mayor Rocky Anderson.

Anderson joined Utah's sole Democrat, Rep. Jim Matheson, in formally asking House and Senate negotiators working on the energy bill to delete the provision. Leavitt and Sen. Bob Bennett want more information before taking a stand on the issue.

"I'm still trying to learn the scientific basis of the objection," Leavitt said at the governor's monthly news conference on KUED earlier this week. "I don't support importing radioactive material that has more substance, or more radioactivity, than what we are currently importing.

"What I'm saying is the debate is whether or not the material that they want to bring in has more radioactivity than that which they are currently licensed to bring in. And I don't know the answer to that," Leavitt added.

Envirocare and Bishop contend the waste is no "hotter" than what the company can now legally accept. Utah regulators and environmental groups say it is significantly more radioactive than any of the current mill tailings that Envirocare takes under a federal license.