Protesters raise 'red flag' over EnergySolutions bill
Supporters say the bill would correct a mistake lawmakers made a couple of years ago when they said it and the governor must approve any substantial change in EnergySolutions' operations, even on the square mile that it owns. That square mile of Tooele County desert is designated Section 32. For years, EnergySolutions and its predecessor, Envirocare, have had a permit to dispose of Class A radioactive material there.
The bill does not apply to another section where EnergySolutions would like to expand and does not prevent state environment officials from going through the permitting process for changes on Section 32.
Demonstrators sent notes to lawmakers and waited to pigeonhole some as they left the Senate chamber.
The stiff paper flags carried the logo, "No On SB155." The flags represented a comment that Minority Whip Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, who supports SB155, made Jan. 24 during a hearing on the bill when he told Patrick Cone, a member of the Radiation Control Board, that if red flags come up during the permitting process, it's the duty of the control board to "run those red flags up" and take the concerns to the Legislature.
He listed three "red flags" that worried the approximately 30 demonstrators present and responded to those concerns:
• "Why is the State Legislature spending its time" on a bill to help one company? He said EnergySolutions had donated campaign funds to many legislators.
• "Senate Bill 155 does a Divine Strake" on Utah policy, referring to the planned federal detonation of 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site. Utah residents did not have adequate time to respond to the Divine Strake plans, he said, and SB155 will mean that decisions about EnergySolutions will be by state bureaucrats and not elected representatives.
• "Our elected leaders have to weigh, filter and struggle with conflicting ideas." Cutting the Legislature and governor out of that process allows them to "excuse themselves" from difficult questions, he said.
"My biggest concern is that we're talking about a highly dangerous form of waste and we really haven't figured out how to handle it safely," said Ed Firmage Jr., Salt Lake City, in an interview. The material will be around "thousands of years," he said.
Before the Senate adjourned for its noon break, many of the demonstrators wrote notes on their red flags, as well as comment sheets, and sent them in to their senators. They followed instructions to take the flags off the small balsawood staffs.
Others waited until senators began leaving the chamber. A group of several Utahns opposed to the bill approached Sen. Ross I. Romero, D-Salt Lake, talking to him and giving him a red flag on its staff.
"Oh, I think it's very helpful for the citizens to come up and talk to their representatives about issues that are important to them," Romero said.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
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