Move tailings, DOE says

And Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, who represented the area before the 2000 redistricting, was also a champion when moving the tailings was a low priority on the national radar screen.

"This is great news," Cannon said. "If we had the flooding in eastern Utah that we had in the southwestern part of the state, there is a good chance that instead of houses washed downriver, we would have dissolved uranium in the drinking water of 15 million people."

In February, members of the Utah congressional delegation sent a letter to Bodman urging him to select an alternative that would move the tailings from the banks of the Colorado River. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, also addressed the issue with Bodman in several meetings over the past few months.

Bennett, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, has also ensured that federal funding was available to continue work on the remediation of the Atlas uranium tailings site while the DOE made decisions about final disposition of the pile.

"I have always believed that the best action, given the science, was to move the Atlas tailings pile," Bennett said. "I am pleased with the Department of Energy's announcement today and remain committed to securing federal funds to expedite the process."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, agreed. "The tailings have to go, and I'm glad the DOE finally saw the light and agrees with us."

Details of just how the tailings will be relocated aren't likely to surface until midsummer, Langianese said, estimating it could take as long as a decade to move them. "It's a huge pile. It's 12 million tons. It's going to take a long time."

Huntsman said he hopes the project is put on a fast track.

According to the state Department of Environmental Quality, the price tag for the project is $395 million, all paid for by the federal government. The official timeline for the project is eight years.

The relocation site, Crescent Junction, is located just north of where I-70 and U-191 intersect some 30 miles north of Moab and 15 miles east of the Green River. The other site considered, Klondike Flats, was near the area airport and a little closer to Moab.

Dianne Nielson, DEQ executive director, said while either location would have been a good choice, the Crescent Junction site won't require construction of a railroad spur. "Now that we have a decision, DOE is as anxious as we are to be able to move forward and accomplish this," she said.

The tailings will likely be slurried and moved via the railroad adjacent to the site, although some material may have to be trucked out, Langianese said. That may worry some area residents.