Waste bill now a law

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. allowed the controversial EnergySolutions bill, SB155, to become law on Tuesday — but he is acting to thwart the radioactive waste disposal company's wish to import more waste than currently allowed.

If Huntsman has his way with an interstate compact on low-level radioactive waste, EnergySolutions may not be able to build a "super cell" 85 feet high for disposing the material it seeks. At present, cells are limited to about 41 feet high.

Mike Mower, spokesman for the governor, told reporters that 1,000 calls, letters and e-mails had bombarded the executive office opposing the bill. Only about five people had contacted the office in favor of SB155, he said.

SB155 passed both houses of the Legislature with large majorities, enough to override a veto if lawmakers were to stick with their original votes.

The measure removes the governor and Legislature from direct oversight over what happens on EnergySolutions' property in Tooele County. But the company must operate with the approval of the state's Radiation Control Board and under the purview of the Northwest Interstate Low-Level Waste Compact.

The anti-nuclear Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah immediately attacked Huntsman while EnergySolutions praised the decision.

In a press conference at Huntsman's office Tuesday night, two of his top aides, Mower and Department of Environmental Quality executive director Dianne Nielson, explained that the bill actually was what backers had said all along: a technical cleanup, restoring a provision accidentally knocked out of the statute books in 2004. Huntsman was not there because he was speaking at a long-planned memorial service, Mower said.

The governor will petition the Northwest Interstate Low-Level Waste Compact to limit the volume of waste coming to EnergySolutions to the currently approved volume, as a press release phrased it. In effect, that means no "super cell."

Even though radioactive waste does not come to Utah from the Northwest, the compact governs what waste is disposed of at EnergySolutions. Asked whether the compact had to accept Huntsman's restrictions, Nielson indicated it did.

"The Northwest Compact's authority is derived from the governors who are members of the compact," she said. "So his action has effect for as long as (Utah) governors support that action."