Amid growing political opposition to any such study, the office of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. confirmed Thursday that the Army has contacted the state on its study about moving deadly mustard agent from Colorado to Utah.

Huntsman, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, came out swinging Thursday against shipping the material to the state.

"There is no way this governor will ever support transporting such toxic chemical weapons into Utah," Huntsman said in a written statement.

"We will utilize all means to prevent any quantity of mustard gas from moving into the state of Utah," he added.

The safest place to store the agent is in the bases where it already is, he added. "Conversely, the most dangerous option would be to ship the mustard gas interstate on a publicly accessible rail route through populated areas."

The governor said he made a campaign pledge to prevent Utah from becoming a dumping ground for such potentially dangerous material, "and I don't intend to back down from that position now."

Mary Jane Collipriest, spokeswoman for Bennett, said in 1996 Bennett "added language to a defense spending bill which blocked funding for a study to transport chemical weapons across state lines."

"His position remains the same as in '96, and consequently, he's signed on as a co-sponsor to Sen. Allard's bill which is similar in language and intent."

On Wednesday, Colorado Sens. Wayne Allard, a Republican, and Ken Salazar, a Democrat, joined forces to sponsor a bill to block further funding of the study to ship chemical weapons out of Colorado.

Matheson's opposition came in a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"A decision to relocate this material would be contrary to the requirement that Congress included in Section 143 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995," he wrote.

Matheson questioned spending tax money for the study. "Department of Defense short-term budgetary considerations should not be more important than the safety of our citizens and complying with federal law," Matheson wrote.

Jason Groenewold, director of the Health Environment Alliance of Utah, said it's good to "finally see someone from the Utah delegation speak out. I'm disappointed the others haven't so far."

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Contributing: Jerry Spangler

E-mail: bau@desnews.com