Hatch says his Yucca opposition helps Utah

WASHINGTON — It's four against one in Utah's congressional delegation when it comes to Yucca Mountain, but Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, believes his reluctance to go against the proposed nuclear waste repository in Nevada has kept the Bush White House on Utah's side in fighting Private Fuel Storage.

Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, was selected as a site for permanent storage of nuclear waste. PFS wants to temporarily store such waste in Utah's Goshute Indian reservation in Tooele County's Skull Valley. Both proposals have generated extreme controversy.

"I stick with the administration, which is ultimately the only way to kill this (PFS) project," Hatch said in an interview.

As the five congressional members stood shoulder to shoulder at a press conference Friday announcing the latest turn in the fight against the proposed nuclear waste site planned for Skull Valley, each acknowledged the others' efforts in getting the job done. Hatch praised his colleagues' work but also focused on help from the White House.

"We need to get continued support of this administration to put this issue to bed with regard to Skull Valley once and for all," Hatch said.

House and Senate negotiators approved Rep. Rob Bishop's Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area in the 2006 National Defense Authorization bill. Although the bill still awaits final passage, the Utah Republican is confident it will make it through. The wilderness designation would rob PFS of a preferred site for a rail line to carry waste to the Tooele site.

The House approved Cedar Mountain earlier this year, but it took intense lobbying and a day-by-day effort to convince lawmakers to keep it in. Hatch said the White House sent people to the Hill to discuss the eventual compromise, something that he thinks would not have happened if he opposed Yucca.

In September, Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, made a Senate floor speech withdrawing his support for the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Hatch and Bennett had voted to move the project forward in 2002.

But Hatch did not withdraw his support, and he says that by sticking with Yucca, which the administration strongly supports, he has been able to get help that will make a difference in the fight against PFS.

"I have never felt good about having to vote for Yucca Mountain, except I understand we need Yucca Mountain," Hatch said in an interview this week.