Rocky opposes 'hotter' waste

WASHINGTON — A week before city elections, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson is wading into controversy over a deal in Congress that could allow Envirocare of Utah to accept "hotter" radioactive waste.

He wrote to House and Senate negotiators working on an energy bill, asking them to delete a provision included by Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah — a former Envirocare lobbyist — to reclassify some waste at an Energy Department facility in Ohio so that it could be sent to Envirocare for disposal in Utah.

Envirocare and Bishop contend that waste is no "hotter" than what the company can now legally accept. However, Utah regulators and environmental groups say it is significantly more radioactive than any of the current mill tailings that Envirocare takes under a federal license.

Anderson said Tuesday, "Again, the federal government is behind schedule and over budget and wants to saddle Utah with the burden of being the nation's dumping ground for hazardous radioactive waste."

He added, "Over the last four years, we have aggressively fought the shipment of high-level waste through Salt Lake City to Yucca Mountain, the storage of nuclear waste on the Goshute reservation, and made clear our opposition to the storage of Class B and C wastes at Envirocare.

"Now, Utah and Salt Lake City, through which the majority of this waste would pass, are being targeted by back-room politicking that leaves the public and their elected representatives completely out of the decisionmaking process," Anderson said.

He added, "We call on our Utah representatives and senators to protect our health, families and future by pursuing every available measure to remove this language from the energy bill."

Anderson commended Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, for having made such a request in writing.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com

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