A deal made on N-dump tax bill

Owners of a low-level radioactive waste dump in remote Tooele County will, for the first time, be faced with a state tax bill.

Company officials met with House Republican lawmakers Friday to hammer out a compromise on a proposed tax on low-level radioactive waste shipments coming to Utah. The amount of revenue that would be generated by the tax is not yet known, but it is expected to be several million dollars that will go into a state education savings account.

Rep. Jeff Alexander, R-Orem, sponsor of HB370, said he will introduce the latest version of the tax bill on Monday.

Envirocare officials, which had been looking at a $34 million tax burden under Alexander's original bill, are cautious. "We're going to wait and see what's written," said Envirocare President Charles Judd. "In general terms, we've come to an agreement."

For years, lawmakers have been looking at ways to tax radioactive waste coming into the state. Currently, Envirocare pays the state $2.50 per ton in fees that just cover the cost of regulation.

So earlier in the session, GOP lawmakers arranged, through a verbal contract, to have a consultant study ways to raise more revenue from radioactive waste. Just before the consultant was to make a presentation on his report, Judd called him to say there was a possible conflict of interest because the consultant had worked for Envirocare in the past. The consultant, who remains unidentified, quit and took his report with him.

But some lawmakers leaked the report to the media, which indicated Utah, like South Carolina and Washington state, could be collecting more than $100 million a year taxing radioactive waste.

With only a week before the end of the legislative session, Alexander introduced his proposal to tax Envirocare, as well as International Uranium Corp., which has a uranium processing mill in San Juan County. Envirocare officials were dismayed the tax proposal came without warning.

Judd argued the original bill would significantly harm business, forcing the company to scale back operations, which could affect some of the company's 400 employees.

After the House committee passed a revised version onto the House floor, Judd said the company initiated a meeting with lawmakers that resulted in an agreement to pay a tax on certain types of wastes based on a percentage of gross receipts, a sort of income tax on gross revenues.