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NUCLEAR
NEWS FOR LIFE
RADIATION |
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Nuclear Waste and Native Land
12/05 01:42 AM
By ROBERT GEHRKE
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Transportation Commission late Thursday ordered a state takeover of the only road leading to a proposed nuclear waste storage site on the Goshute Indian Reservation. Gov. Mike Leavitt had asked the panel to approve the change so the state could block shipments of nuclear waste running along the 37-mile Skull Valley Road if the storage facility were built.
On a 5-1 vote, the commission declared the road 40 miles southwest of Salt Lake City to be under state authority effective immediately. The decision must be ratified by the Legislature when it meets next month in order to remain in effect.
"The shipment of high-level nuclear waste is an issue for all Utahns and not just those living in Tooele County," said Tom Warne, executive director of the Utah Department of Transportation, who proposed the change to the commission on behalf of Gov. Mike Leavitt. Tooele County officials expressed adamant opposition to the re-designation of the road and were angered at not being consulted. "Tooele County has been stung once more by the Wasatch Front," said Tooele County Commission Chairman Teryl Hunsaker, who wanted the transportation commission to delay the vote so the change could be studied. "The governor has become our guardian angel telling us what we can and can't do."
"If the governor had been ethical he would have come out, he would've sat down with us and I predict we would have come to the same conclusion," Hunsaker said.
Tooele County Commissioner Gary Griffith compared the governor's taking of the road to President Clinton's creation last year of the massive southern Utah Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument without consulting state leaders.
"I had to look close to make sure that wasn't Bill Clinton talking," a bitter Griffith said. "It seems a little ironic how [Leavitt] can ... turn a total about-face on the same principal a few months later."
Rep. James Gowans, D-Tooele, said he learned of Leavitt's intention Wednesday afternoon, and was distressed by the hasty manner it was handled.
"I see us in the state saying, 'Well, we can make the decisions and we don't have to consult with the local officials,' and I'm concerned about that," he said.
Tooele County officials have been negotiating with Private Fuel Storage - the consortium of 11 utility companies petitioning to build the storage facility.
"I suspect the state will do as good a job with that road as it has Interstate 15 (reconstruction)," said Goshute tribal attorney Danny Quintana, in reference to traffic jams and motorists' frayed nerves since the freeway project began in April.
He said it remains to be seen if the state's bid to cut off the reservation access road will survive legal challenges. Quintana believes the fuel rod shipments would be protected by the Interstate Commerce Act.
Stephen Bodily, the only commission member voting against the road transfer, also had doubts.
"I'm not sure we're accomplishing what we think we're accomplishing by designating this a state highway," Bodily said, adding that he also believed the suddenness of the proposal was unfair to the county. Leon Bear, chief of the Skull Valley Goshutes, said the tribe will study the road issues and plans to plow ahead with efforts to secure the facility.
The Goshutes have applied for a permit for the facility, which is being reviewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Leavitt has publicly declared his opposition to the facility and said the change in road jurisdiction is only part of a larger opposition strategy being developed.
PFS has leased land from the 125-member Skull Valley Band for a facility where up to 40,000 metric tons of spent fuel rods would be shipped in heavy steel casks by rail or truck, then placed inside 2-foot-thick concrete storage casks. The fuel would be stored there until the federal government develops a permanent site.
PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin emphasized that whoever controls the road, its commitment to safety would be the same.
"Whether the road is county, state or federal ... it's going to be a
safe operation, no matter what," she said. "The licensing process through
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will insure that."
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