N-waste firm can pursue new site

The radioactive-waste corridor in Tooele County could widen because of a Friday ruling by the Utah Supreme Court that gives a competitor of EnergySolutions the chance to argue its right to build an adjacent disposal site.

The 3-2 decision paves the way for Cedar Mountain Environmental to challenge Tooele County's adoption of a 2005 ordinance that significantly reduced the land area in which radioactive waste sites are permitted.

It also gives Cedar Mountain the chance to appeal the county's decision to allow EnergySolutions to amend its conditional-use permit.

"This clears the way for those prior land-use decisions made by Tooele County to come under review," said James Lawrie, who represents Cedar Mountain.

The company's president is Charles Judd, who ran Envirocare, the forerunner to EnergySolutions.

But Val Christensen, EnergySolutions' president, said Friday's ruling does nothing to address the merits of the case and only means Judd will have a chance to challenge the county's decisions in court.

"All it says is that this lawsuit can be pursued; it does not address the actual land-use decisions," Christensen said.

Lawrie said the decision has significant impact for Utahns and could "potentially be the first step for another" radioactive-waste disposal site.

"This puts everybody on equal footing with EnergySolutions with respect to developing a new site in Tooele County," Lawrie said, who'd argued the commission's actions showed bias for EnergySolutions.

The decision involves the convoluted land dealings of property once owned by Cedar Mountain that after a series of transactions ended up being sold to EnergySolutions and then leased by Cedar Mountain, with a non-compete provision.

Cedar Mountain was first turned away by the Tooele County Commission in its efforts to site a disposal facility in the area, with commissioners declaring there was no need for another radioactive disposal site.

With the land use in question, Cedar Mountain allowed a purchase option on a parcel of land to another company, Broken Arrow. EnergySolutions then purchased the remaining property.

Not long afterward, the commission changed the configuraton of the waste corridor but also granted EnergySolutions' request to amend a land use permit involving the property in question. Broken Arrow then sold its piece of land to EnergySolutions.