The Obama administration decided Tuesday to use a big chunk of the economic stimulus package to accelerate removal of the Atlas uranium mill tailings near Moab, which have threatened to leach radioactive waste into the Colorado River.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced that of the $6 billion that the stimulus package gave the Energy Department to accelerate environmental cleanup work, he is allocating $108 million to the Moab project.

That had Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, almost shouting for joy. He has fought the Energy Department under previous leadership for years to accelerate the project and was told as late as a month ago that it might not be completed for another 20 years because of lack of funds. Such lack of funds is apparently no longer a problem for now.

"This is good news on two fronts," said Matheson, who in 2007 had convinced Congress to set a 2019 deadline to complete moving the 16 million-ton tailings pile from Moab to a disposal site at Crescent Junction, 33 miles away.

"First, it adds to the Department of Energy's budget to accomplish the long-overdue remediation of the project. Secondly, it means my deadline for completion of the cleanup by 2019 is being backed up by the resources necessary to meet it," Matheson said.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, who has also fought for years to remove the tailings, also hailed the new funding. "The people of Moab have put up with this problem far too long, and I'm encouraged the Energy Department is now stepping up in a major way to eliminate this menace."

Meanwhile, Chu said about that and other spending he approved, "These investments will put Americans to work while cleaning up contamination from the Cold War era. It reflects our commitment to future generations as well as to help local economies get going again."

Some of the other projects funded nationally included $1.6 billion to demolish nuclear facilities and remediate the Hanford nuclear weapons facility in Washington; $1.6 billion for decommissioning and nuclear facilities at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina; $755 million for cleanup at Tennessee's Oak Ridge National Laboratory; and $468 million for cleanup at the Idaho National Laboratory.

About the Utah project, Matheson said, "There is overwhelming scientific evidence that this site is unstable and that the contamination already migrating under the river towards the town of Moab could — with one major flood event — be dumped into the Colorado (River). That disaster would put the health and safety of 25 million downstream users at risk."

The announcement by Chu said the extra money for Moab will allow disposal of "an additional 2 million tons of mill tailings by 2011 (the end of the current five-year contract), accelerating the site cleanup by several years."

It said removal of the extra tailings will happen "by increasing the number of railcars and shipments" from the Atlas site to Crescent Junction.

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