Nuclear fight isn't over; Cannon's fight has just begun

Webb: There's a bit of a lull in the 2006 election year, so instead of joining Frank in campaign political analysis (see below) I'm going to address what I think is the most burning issue of the moment, one that I hope citizens and leaders will immediately engage in — the fight to keep high-level nuclear waste out of Utah.

I'm afraid too many people think this fight has been won. It hasn't. Private Fuel Storage has a permit to pour a concrete slab on the Goshute Reservation to store 4,000 casks containing spent fuel rods from eastern nuclear plants. PFS is out marketing the site to eastern utilities: "THIS IS THE PLACE to dump your nasty waste."

All PFS needs is a permit from the Bureau of Land Management to build a transfer station adjacent to I-80 to offload gigantic casks from train cars to huge trucks. But here's our opportunity: The BLM wants to know what we think — what citizens, political leaders, business organizations, unions, environmental groups and church groups think.

Sen. Orrin Hatch and other leaders are convinced that if enough Utahns express opposition to the transfer station and to the PFS operation, then an excellent chance exists the BLM will reject the permit application. If we are complacent, however, and the BLM does not receive an outpouring of thousands of letters and e-mail messages, then we may have the dubious honor of housing the world's most dangerous waste, the stuff no other state wants — 4,000 giant casks, plopped on a concrete slab 45 miles upwind of the Wasatch Front; adjacent to the heavily traveled I-80 freeway; next to an Air Force bombing range that is crucial to the nation's defense and to Utah's economy (and bombs do go astray and fighter jets do crash).

This, literally, may be our last and only chance to keep this stuff out of Utah. No doubt, the common perception is that writing a letter on a public policy issue won't make a difference. Trust me (better yet, trust Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., Hatch and other leaders), this time it will. It really will.

Take a minute and shoot off an e-mail. We need 10,000 Utahns, better yet, 20,000, to comment. We haven't defeated nuclear waste. Not by a long shot. We need employers to encourage employees to send a message. We need unions, environmental groups, business associations and churches to engage their members.

Comments must be sent before May 8 to: Pam Schuller, Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake Field Office, 2370 S. 2300 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84119. Fax 801-977-4397; e-mail pam_schuller@blm.gov. Let's flood the BLM with messages! For more info: www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/no_high_level_waste/index.htm.