• The possibility that the DOE will not collect and transport waste for the proposed permanent repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., "unless it is first unsealed and repackaged elsewhere," implying that "elsewhere" is Skull Valley.

The petition was submitted by Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff; several staffers in his office: Denise Chancellor, Fred G. Nelson, James R. Soper and Connie Nakahara; and Washington, D.C., lawyers working for the state: Roy T. Englert Jr. and Noah Messing.

Meanwhile, Reid landed a stinging political blow against the storage plant, declaring in a news release that he is casting his lot with Utah against PFS and is dropping his opposition to a proposal to create a new wilderness area near the Skull Valley site. Wilderness designation could prevent the storage plant from opening.

"Reid has traditionally opposed the provision (to create a wilderness area) out of concerns it would set a bad precedent for future wilderness designation," the release states. "But, after a recent conversation with Utah's Sen. Robert Bennett, Reid agreed to set aside his concerns."

In a state where the federal government controls 80 percent of the land, Reid believes Congress "must be very careful in how we approach wilderness designation," according to the release. "While I continue to have concerns about the Cedar Mountain wilderness proposal," Reid states, "of even greater concern is the threat posed by deadly nuclear waste. With the proposed Goshute nuclear waste site moving forward, timing has become critical, and the state of Utah will need every available resource to fight this project."

Hatch said he and DOE deputy secretary Clay Sell are pointing out to the majority owners of PFS — Xcel Energy, according to a Hatch statement — that they should look elsewhere for alternative sites.

Hatch said in a press release that Xcel Energy CEO Dick Kelly and company president Paul Bonavia attended a meeting where he told them "I will pull out every stop" to block the PFS plan. He noted that he thinks progress is being made and that "we're very close to the point where we can move past the private Skull Valley plan and focus instead on a national policy for the interim storage of our spent nuclear fuel."

Hatch said he believes Xcel Energy "understands that the (Bush) administration and I have laid out an impassible minefield that PFS should not want to or even try to run through."

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E-mail: bau@desnews.com