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"No."
That appears to be the U.S. Department of Interior's
"final answer"
to Private Fuel Storage's 12-year-old question as to whether or not it
can store spent nuclear fuel at the Skull Valley Goshute Indian
Reservation.
On Thursday, both the Interior Department and Bureau of
Indian
Affairs published lengthy reviews detailing why none of PFS's various
proposals for transporting and storing the highly radioactive waste are
acceptable.
Transportation problems, proximity to the West Desert
Test and
Training Range, public outcry in the form of 4,500 letters sent to the
Bureau of Land Management, the creation of the Cedar Mountain
Wilderness area were all issues that doomed PFS.
Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, who used every stratagem
imaginable to kill
the deal, was elated about the news and called the Transcript-Bulletin
Thursday. "We've got a big story," he said. "I just got off the phone
with the Department of the Interior and they pulled the plug on PFS,"
the senator said. "Not only did they deny PFS's rights of way to
transport the waste, but they also denied the lease."
"PFS is dead. It's that simple," he said. "Storing
nuclear waste in
Skull Valley would have put Utahns on a collision course with
catastrophe. Transporting and storing nuclear fuel so close to an
active military training ground was a recipe for environmental
disaster. I'm relieved that the DOI realized that and killed the Skull
Valley plan."
James Cason, associate deputy secretary of the Interior
wrote: "Upon
weighing the benefits to the band against the significant uncertainties
and other factors discussed, we conclude that it is not consistent with
the conduct expected of a prudent trustee to approve a proposed lease
that promotes storing spent nuclear fuel on the reservation."
Sue Martin, spokesperson for PFS, said her company still
needs to
review the findings from the Interior Department and that Hatch's
pronouncement that PFS is dead could be premature. "It will take some
time before we determine our next step."
Tooele County Commissioner Dennis Rockwell said pressure
from Utah's
congressional delegation was instrumental in squashing the plan. "Orrin
Hatch and Jim Hansen, when he was there, and then Rob Bishop and Sen.
Bob Bennett worked hard to keep it out of Utah. I think it's good news
for Tooele County. I still think that nuclear waste can be stored
safely, but transporting it is another thing," Rockwell said.
"Gov. (Mike) Leavitt was against the plan from the very
start. The
state basically took control of the Skull Valley road when he was
there," Rockwell said. The road is now designated as a state route
instead of county road.
While environmentalists, state leaders and LDS Church
officials
rallied against PFS's plan, the county commission remained quiet
because of a contract with PFS. Part of the deal was that they would
not speak out against PFS. Meanwhile, PFS paid for trips for county
leaders to Yucca Mountain in a quest to educate them about the nuclear
waste business.
"We're indebted to the thousands of Utahns who took the
time to
write DOI on this issue," Hatch said. "It proves that every citizen can
make a difference, Utahns spoke, and the DOI listened."
Rockwell said he feels the state's main concern is to
dispel its
image as a dumping ground. Current Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. recently
rejected a plan to allow Energy Solutions to expand its operations in
the west desert. The governor was also ecstatic with last week's
announcement.
"This is the best news I think our state has seen in
recent years,"
Huntsman said. "We can finally put a period at the end of a sentence."
Last year, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a
license to PFS
to store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel in Skull Valley contingent
on the Interior Department's approval. After that, Utah's congressional
delegation picked up the pace in battling PFS.
They pushed legislation to create the Cedar Mountain
Wilderness Area
next to the Goshute Reservation knowing that it would block building
rail access to the site.
In December 2005, Hatch pushed the White House and the
Department of
the Interior to re-open a comment period to let Utahns have a say on
PFS's applications for transportation routes across Bureau of Land
Management land. In a rare move, the government complied with the
request and allowed Utahns to make the case for whether or not the
applications were in the public interest.
The first two PFS proposals included building rail lines
to the
reservation. The first two proposals differed in only the location for
storing the fuel. A third proposal included building an intermodal
transfer facility near Timpie, where the waste would be taken from the
train and then heavy-haul vehicles would transport the waste down the
Skull Valley Road. The fourth proposal included the intermodal
facility, but storing in a different area on the reservation.
The Interior Department did not want to grant rights of
way needed to transport the waste, a part of all four proposals.
The DOI documents also indicate that the Department of
Defense did
not prepare a study and submit an analysis of the military readiness
and operational impacts of a proposed revision to a land use plan for
the Utah Test and Training Range.
e-mail:mwatson@tooeletranscript.com
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