Latest on Envirocare

[Steven.Rima@DOEGJPO.COM (Steven Rima)]

     Interested RADSAFERs,
     
     The Envirocare case has been turned over by the State of Utah to the 
     FBI, who says they don't know when criminal charges will be filed. 
     (Note they are saying when, not if.) The full text of the Salt Lake 
     Tribune article reporting this latest development is reprinted below.
     
     
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     Utah Officials Turn Over Envirocare Case to Feds
     
       BY JIM WOOLF
       THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
           
           Criminal investigation into the secret financial relationship 
     between a former state regulator and the owner of a Tooele County 
     disposal site for low-level radioactive wastes has been turned over to 
     the U.S. attorney's office and FBI. 
           The Utah Attorney General's Office had been leading the 
     investigation with assistance from federal officials. But Reed 
     Richards, deputy chief at the Utah Attorney General's Office, said 
     Monday that control of the case was shifted from his office to federal 
     investigators for three reasons: 
           -- Larry F. Anderson, the former director of the Utah Division 
     of Radiation Control lives in Mesquite, Nev. Utah investigators have 
     limited authority outside the state's boundaries and have been unable 
     to persuade Anderson to sit down for an interview. Federal 
     investigators will not face this problem, said Richards. 
           -- The U.S. attorney's office has easy access to a grand jury to 
     assist with the investigation and consider indictments. Utah 
     investigators can call a grand jury when necessary but it is easier to 
     use the federal system. 
           -- ''When you look at the possible crimes and penalties, they 
     are not nearly as harsh in Utah as under federal law,'' said Richards. 
           Khosrow Semnani, owner of the Envirocare of Utah landfill for 
     radioactive wastes in Tooele County, admitted last year to having paid 
     $600,000 to Anderson over eight years. The payments were in piles of 
     $100 bills, gold coins and a Park City condominium. Semnani contends 
     the money was extorted from him by Anderson, who had direct regulatory 
     control over the Envirocare site. 
           Anderson admitted to receiving the payments but contended he had 
     a legitimate consulting arrangement with Semnani. 
           The Utah Attorney General's Office has been investigating this 
     relationship for several months and ''a lot of work has been done,'' 
     said Richards. 
           He declined to speculate about when federal officials might file 
     charges. 
           The state still could bring criminal or civil charges against 
     Anderson if it is found he failed to report his full earnings on Utah 
     income-tax returns, said Richards. 
           Rod Snow, an attorney for Semnani, said his client has 
     ''cooperated fully'' with state officials and will do the same with 
     their federal counterparts. 
           ''We hope to bring this investigation to a swift conclusion,'' 
     he said. 
     
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     Steven D. Rima, CHP
     Manager, Health Physics and Industrial Hygiene
     MACTEC-ERS
     steven.rima@doegjpo.com