Most Utahns say they don't trust federal government on toxic waste

By Jerry Spangler
Deseret News staff writer
Published: Saturday, Feb. 10, 2001 10:59 p.m. MST
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Marriage counselors are quick to point out that a good relationship is based on mutual trust nurtured over time.

But if that's indeed the case, then the marriage between Utah and the federal government is in serious trouble, at least when it comes to trusting the government on things like the effects of above-ground nuclear testing and storage of high-level nuclear waste.

According to a Deseret News-KSL TV poll, Utahns simply don't believe the federal government has been — or is now being — honest with them. And they are none too happy with the state's toxic legacy that includes hazardous and radioactive waste dumps, as well as incinerators that burn a plethora of dangerous chemicals and wastes.

When asked how honest the U.S. government has been with the state about the effects of radiation, military weapons testing, hazardous chemicals and nuclear waste on Utah's environment, only 20 percent responded the government had been very or somewhat honest.

In contrast, 75 percent of those polled said the U.S. government had been somewhat or very dishonest with the state.

Utah's top elected officials still find political fodder in the 50-year legacy of government deception, pointing not only to tragedies occurring long ago but to recent events like President Bill Clinton's secretive creation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and the ongoing predisposition of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to allow high-level nuclear waste to be shipped to the state.

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And that begs the question: Can the federal government ever be trusted on anything? "I don't know that trust is right word," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "But we should be skeptical of government all the time. It is skepticism that makes better government." Hatch said he witnessed first-hand government deception during Senate committee hearings on his legislation to compensate those sickened and killed by exposure to radiation from Cold War nuclear testing and uranium mining.

"The government did lie to them and frankly we proved it," said Hatch, who fought the government 10 years before compensation legislation was finally passed in 1990 that formally acknowledged the government made mistakes. "I remember tough hearings where the government denied everything. And we took them apart, we kicked their tails."

But Hatch said he is not out to find criminality or great fault in what happened in the past. "Let's face it. This was a price we paid to end the Cold War, and it was a war," he said.

Utahns overwhelmingly support Hatch's efforts to win compensation for victims of nuclear testing and uranium mining, not only those in Utah who suffered disproportionately but those in surrounding states like Nevada, Arizona and Colorado. Some 87 percent of those polled said they strongly or somewhat support such compensation, while only 8 percent somewhat or strongly opposed it.

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