House boosts taxes, fees for Envirocare

Utah lawmakers were set to drop the heavy hammer of taxation on radioactive-waste giant Envirocare of Utah. But when the dust settled in the House, the company escaped with but a rap on the knuckles.

"We know this is going to hurt business, but the original bill would have shut us down," said Envirocare President Charles Judd.

By a 57-15 margin, the House on Tuesday passed a watered-down version of HB370, which would impose a gross receipts tax ranging from 5 percent to 12 percent, depending on what type of waste is accepted. It also calls for an annual payment of $200,000 starting in 2002. The state would use that money to manage the facility should Envirocare close.

The bill also would impose a tax for the first time on International Uranium Corp., a company that "recycles" old uranium mill tailings at its mill in Blanding.

The bill awaited Senate action Wednesday, the final day of the 2001 session.

According to legislative fiscal analysts, the tax would raise $744,000 next year — a far cry from Rep. Jeff Alexander's original bill that called for a $34 million annual tax.

"What we are really trying to do is send a message: If people want to dump their waste in Utah, they should pay a fee," said Alexander, R-Orem.

The most contentious point of the debate concerned the state's tax on gross revenues, which include about $5 million a year in taxes paid to Tooele County. That, said Rep. Jim Gowans, D-Tooele, a staunch defender of Envirocare, amounts to paying taxes on taxes.

"I am not certain what this (tax) will do to Tooele County," Gowans said. "We have people who work out there, and this would have an effect on their jobs. The West Desert has been our economic development."

Envirocare accepts low-level radioactive wastes, called Class A wastes, that are primarily contaminated soils. It will soon begin taking barrels of Class A waste that are somewhat more toxic, and the company has applied for a license to accept Class B and C wastes up to thousands of times hotter than what it is currently licensed to accept.

The company has annual revenues of about $100 million, of which $5 million goes to Tooele County. The company currently pays the state $2.50 per ton as a fee to cover the cost of environmental regulation. That changes under Alexander's bill to 10 cents per cubic foot and $1 per curie, the standard measure of radioactivity.

That is in addition to the gross receipts tax.