Friday, April 01, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Bill would block nuclear waste storage in Utah

Lawmakers, environmental groups seek to designate 100,000 acres wilderness

SALT LAKE CITY -- U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop announced Thursday he would resurrect a bill designating 100,000 acres of Utah's West Desert as wilderness, which would preempt a plan to store spent nuclear fuel 50 miles west of Salt Lake City.

Bishop, R-Utah, was joined by Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Chris Cannon, R-Utah, Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman and representatives from environmental groups in announcing he would reintroduce the twice-defeated measure.

The legislation says nothing about a plan by the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes to store nuclear waste on its reservation near the proposed wilderness, but the designation would mean the tribe couldn't use a rail spur running through the land to transport waste to the site.

It also could help protect the Utah Test and Training Range. Combined with nearby Dugway Proving Ground, the range provides 3.2 million acres of restricted air space for military training and is the only place in the country to test cruise missiles.

The Skull Valley nuclear depository has wound its way through the federal regulatory process since 1997. Some fear that if it is approved, military activities would be restricted at the range because flight patterns crossing the site engender the possibility of a catastrophic plane crash into a nuclear waste storage cask.

The training space is also considered an important asset to nearby Hill Air Force Base, which Utah is fighting to save in a new round of military base closures. Closing the base could cost the state millions of dollars and thousands of jobs.

The coalition gathered for the Thursday announcement represented a broad spectrum of interests in Utah.

The legislation "brings together our concerns and points us toward a common solution," said Heidi McIntosh, with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, adding that it was a rare instance in which there was "unanimous agreement" on a wilderness designation in Utah.

The proposed Cedar Mountains Wilderness contains habitat for elk, deer, bats, golden eagles, reptiles and scores of other species.

The legislation is virtually identical to a piece that passed the U.S. House last year, but failed in the Senate. The only substantive difference this time is that it also grants the Goshutes development rights on some nearby federal land, an attempt to compensate the small, impoverished tribe for its inability to turn the barren land into a lucrative nuclear dump.

The nuclear storage area would hold up to 4,000 casks filled with depleted nuclear fuel, about 10 million rods, across 100 acres of the Skull Valley. The waste would be shipped mostly from reactors east of the Mississippi River. Utah has no nuclear power plants.

It would be operated by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight utilities.

The site still faces several regulatory hurdles, including approval by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, but those gathered Thursday said this was a powerful legislative tool that could make those irrelevant.

"We are running out of options when it comes to Private Fuel Storage," Matheson said.