From Deseret News archives:
$24 million OK'd for Moab tailings cleanup
The House was expected to pass the Energy and Water spending bill, which includes the money for the Moab cleanup project as well as language inserted by Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, requiring the department to outline what it will need to finish the project by 2019.
Also on Wednesday, the Energy Department awarded the $98.4 million cleanup contract to EnergySolutions, headquartered in Salt Lake City.
Matheson said getting the cost estimate is critical to ensuring adequate federal appropriations to complete the work. Matheson also put language into the Defense Authorization bill instituting a 2019 deadline after the Energy Department told Congress it would not be done with the project until 2028.
"With contamination from the 16 million tons of radioactive waste threatening the health and safety of Utahns — plus millions of downstream Colorado River water users — I am committed to keeping the cleanup effort moving forward," Matheson said in a statement.
The department would move the radioactive mill tailings from the current site on the banks of the Colorado River about three miles northwest of Moab to a disposal facility at Crescent Junction.
Under its contract, EnergySolutions has until 2011 to design and install a removal and handling system and perform the initial tailings movement and operations.
"For many years, EnergySolutions has been engaged in environmental cleanup projects throughout the United States," said company CEO Steve Creamer. "It is particularly satisfying to be performing this work here at home in Utah."
Another contract for $22 million went to S&K Aerospace, Inc. of St. Ignatius, Mont., for technical and administrative support services, which is good for four one-year options.
Donald Metzler, the Moab site project director, said the contracts bring the department "one step closer watching the mill tailings being loaded and moved away from the Colorado River."
But Matheson said he was concerned "that DOE still hasn't placed a high enough priority on completing the cleanup."
"This contract award announcement is months overdue, and it is only for five years. The proposal calls for just one-eighth of the tailings pile to be moved by 2011," he said. "That's not acceptable, given the hazard posed by the location of the project. I expect a much more expeditious performance, including meeting my completion deadline of 2019."
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, who sits on the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee that will write its version of the bill, has also been pressing the department to get a better handle on the timeline and costs.
"I am very encouraged that a contractor has finally been selected," Bennett said in a statement. "I made it clear to DOE that 21 years was an unacceptable timetable for cleanup, and I'll continue to make sure this process moves forward expeditiously."
At a subcommittee hearing in March, Bennett grilled James A. Rispoli, the department's assistant secretary of energy for environmental management on the issue.
E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com
