Move tailings, DOE says

WASHINGTON — Pack 'em up and move 'em out.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and the Utah congressional delegation were cheering Wednesday at the news that newly appointed Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman had ruled that Atlas radioactive mill tailings should be moved from their current site along the Colorado River outside Moab — something Utah officials have been fighting to see happen for more than a decade.

"I have stressed time and time again that science, health and safety, precedent and public law all support remediation of the 12-million-ton pile of radioactive waste away from the river," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. "After more than 10 years and millions of dollars spent studying the site, we need to move forward and remove this threat from residents of Grand County and millions of downstream water users."

The announcement by the Department of Energy does not make moving the tailings a certainty. Rather, the DOE will recommend as its "preferred alternative" a plan to move the tailings to Crescent Junction near the I-70 and U.S. 191 interchange.

The biggest fly in the ointment will be whether Congress actually funds the project. It has a price tag of more than $300 million, which is far more expensive than just capping the tailings in place.

But those details were lost in Wednesday's celebration as Utahns, as well as those in downriver states of Arizona, Nevada and California, praised the decision to remove the radioactive tailings that scientists say are poisoning the Colorado River and contaminating drinking water for 25 million people downstream.

"This is just a wonderful day for Grand County. We've been working very hard on this issue for many years and this decision that has been made is exactly what we wanted," said Grand County Councilwoman Joette Langianese, who also visited Washington, D.C., to lobby DOE officials and Congress.

Those lobbying efforts made the difference, she said. "We did what we thought we could do and I truly believe that had an impact."

Supporters of moving the uranium mill tailings, Langianese said, "were feeling like the decision was going to be to cap it in place for a while. We recognized we had very little time to really get people riled up and put the political pressure on."

Huntsman agreed that the intense lobbying paid off. "This wasn't on their radar screen until recently," the governor said. "I think a lot of people have done some extraordinary work to get it front and center before decision makers at the Department of Energy."

Both Huntsman and Langianese singled out Matheson for his efforts. The governor also did his share of lobbying.