WASHINGTON — The Energy Department's new 2028 completion date to clean up uranium-mill tailings in Moab shocked Rep. Jim Matheson at an Energy and Commerce Committee hearing Thursday.

Matheson asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman about the project's status and why the department has a pending request for a contractor to move only 2.5 million tons of waste over five years.

The project, as approved by Congress, is to move the 16 million tons of uranium mill tailings from a pile near the Colorado River, north of Moab, to a location near Grand Junction, Colo.

Bodman told Matheson that the department has made the decision to move the tailings pile, but the project is expected to take 20 years, with completion in 2028.

"This is news to me," Matheson said. "DOE (the Department of Energy) has been telling us that the pile would be cleaned up within a decade, and the secretary now seems to think that 20 years is an acceptable time frame."

Matheson said the department had said before that the project would be done in seven to 10 years.

The congressman said he now is waiting for answers on the project's total cost and time line for cleanup.

Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said the department is committed to making progress at Moab. So far, the department has decontaminated 75 million gallons of water, she said.

Once a contract has been awarded, the contractor will have a cost and timetable in place. She said the 2028 date is the estimated closure date, based on current funding levels.

Matheson said Congress can advocate for more money to help hasten the cleanup, and the 2028 date was not what was originally agreed upon.

The department requested about $24 million for the project in the 2008 budget request, released Tuesday.

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