Vetoed environmental measure dead
The Senate voted late in the day to override, 21-8, the veto that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. had slapped on SB70, the bill to remove his authority to single-handedly torpedo the establishment of a new low-level nuclear waste disposal site or the expansion of the existing one.
But House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, cast doubt on the likelihood of the override passing the House with the required two-thirds majority, which is 50 votes.
"We didn't have 50 votes when it went up and passed" the first time the House voted on it, he said. "And if we don't have 50 votes now, why spend time debating it?" He added that he was not really passionate about the measure.
The bill also applies to hazardous waste and non-hazardous solid waste but not to highly radioactive spent fuel rods. But nearly all of the debate has focused on the low-level waste issue.
After the Senate voted Wednesday afternoon, Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, the measure's sponsor, said he was pleased the Senate had upheld the Legislature's constitutional prerogatives. "It's ironic that it took an override" to do that, he added.
When the House came into session at 7 p.m., after the Senate's action, it did not immediately place SB70 on its priority list. Instead, it began debating less-controversial issues.
If the House failed to override the veto by midnight, a law would remain in effect that was passed in the early 1990s, requiring concurrence by the Legislature, governor and state regulators before such a change could take place.
Substitute HB100, sponsored by Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, passed the House earlier and the Senate on Wednesday. It requires entities that do business in the state to file a bond with the Division Corporations and Commercial Code when it begins the environmental litigation.
However, the fate of two other environmental bills launched by Tilton remained unclear as the night wore on. Also involving bonding for environmental actions, they are substitute measures HB335 and HB259. Both passed the House and were awaiting action in the Senate.
Water project bills — potentially with a $1 billion price tag — had smooth sailing.
SB27, the Lake Powell Pipeline Development Act, passed both chambers and awaits Huntsman's signature. It authorizes the Utah Board of Water Resources to construct the Lake Powell Pipeline Project, delivering water from that reservoir to booming southwestern Utah.
You can be the first to comment on this story.