Utah To Discourage Nuke Waste Plan

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday March 19 1:17 AM ET 

Utah To Discourage Nuke Waste Plan

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - In a bid to discourage the storage of 
nuclear waste at an Indian reservation, Gov. Mike Leavitt has 
signed a bill requiring eight utilities to shoulder full liability in case 
of an accident.  

The law strips the power companies, their officers and shareholders 
of a limited legal shield offered to some companies as a way of 
encouraging business development.  

It also requires the governor and the Legislature to approve rights of 
way used to carry the waste to the planned temporary storage 
facility on the Skull Valley Indian Reservation, 40 miles west of Salt 
Lake City.  

``We think this is an appropriate thing, given that we have made it 
perfectly clear we don't want this waste here,'' Leavitt said 
Thursday. ``If it's so safe, why don't they just keep it where it is?''  

The 135-member Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians is split over 
a proposal to build the facility. Spent radioactive rods from power 
plants would be taken to the reservation to await shipment to a 
permanent storage site yet to be picked by Congress.  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to make a final 
decision on the plan in 2001. Utah officials have agreed to fund a 
lawsuit by tribal members opposed to the plan.  

Sue Martin, a spokeswoman for the utilities, said the law is 
unnecessary because the consortium already believed it would be 
liable for an accident.  

The utilities involved are Southern California Edison, GPU Nuclear 
Corporation, Northern States Power, Consolidated Edison of New 
York, Illinois Power, Indiana Michigan Power, Southern Nuclear 
Operating Company and Genoatech.

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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