Moving Moab tailings is win-win situation for all
Marjorie Cortez
But last week, the Moab Times-Independent was justified in its use in a banner headline that heralded: "It's official — DOE: Move the tailings!"
The headline topped a story on the Department of Energy's announcement that it intends to move some 12 million tons of radioactive waste piled dangerously near the Colorado River. The DOE plans to move the uranium mill tailings to a site near Crescent Junction about 30 miles from Moab. The announcement was a major victory for Grand County officials, who have been lobbying the federal government for a decade to move the uranium tailings pile, waste generated from uranium mill operations between 1956 and 1984.
"It's a huge deal. It's a huge deal for Grand County in all kinds of ways," said Grand County Council member Joette Langianese, who lobbied members of Congress and powerful Colorado River users to support the move. Some 25 million people rely on the Colorado River, and anything that impacts its health is of grave concern.
Now that the Department of Energy has announced a plan for relocating the tailings pile, Congress has to come up with a means to pay for it. Langianese says the project has strong allies in Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, who is on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Downstream, Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have a vested interest in protecting the millions of people who rely on the Colorado River.
A February lobbying trip to Washington happened to coincide with a conference of California water districts. "I had every water user in one place at one time. Every one of those folks said, 'We're on it. We're writing letters.' And they did," Langianese said.
As a journalist who has observed public processes for more than two decades, I have often wondered what prompts elected and appointed officials to make the decisions they make. Do they base their decisions on a cold examination of facts and evidence? Are they persuaded by the human face of an issue? Do they respond to a deluge of letters and e-mails from constituents? Does face-to-face lobbying make the difference?
Or, in this case, was it the weather patterns? Mother Nature showed off her destructive side with the Indonesian tsunami on Dec. 26. The official tsunami death toll is about 178,000. The number of missing is believed to be as high as 128,426, with most presumed dead.
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