Gov. Mike Leavitt is betting Utahns will embrace his proposal to spend $1.6 million to thwart efforts to store high-level nuclear waste on Goshute tribal lands in Utah's western desert.
But utility companies wanting to ship the waste to Utah say the real waste is the amount of taxpayer dollars being spent to stop something that is not only legal but safe.
"They are looking for, grasping for every political straw they can, and they are using more than $1 million (in taxpayer funds) to do it," said Sue Martin, spokeswoman for Private Fuel Storage, the consortium of eight nuclear power utilities that intends to store 40,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods in the desert near Dugway.
But Leavitt says it is money well spent, and he will "deploy every tool I can" to fight the utilities.
"We are engaging in serious legal warfare to keep this lethally hot waste out of Utah," Leavitt said Thursday at a news conference announcing the creation of a legal strike force to hound the consortium of nuclear power utilities.
Goshute tribal chairman Leon Bear is puzzled by it all. He said the money could be used to help all the tribes in Utah, rather than fighting one small one.
"All I can say, it's a lot of money," he said Friday. "There's eight tribes in Utah here, and if (Leavitt) spread the money over all the tribes, some of that money could be used for economic development projects."
The Office of High-Level Nuclear Opposition will formulate legal strategies to stop Private Fuel Storage, which currently has a license application pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store the waste in steel casks mounted on concrete slabs in the desert about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
"Our new office's acronym stands for 'Oh, hell no,' not by intention, but by happy coincidence," Leavitt said.
By executive order, Leavitt has dedicated $50,000 in emergency funds to get the office up and running, and he will ask Utah lawmakers to appropriate another $1.6 million to hire at least five attorneys to work full time on the state's behalf. Some of the money will be used to educate the public on the potential impacts of the waste.
Leavitt said he is also developing a legislative strategy that includes a combination of taxing the utilities, regulating them into submission and even possible criminal measures to regulate the transportation and storage of nuclear waste. Sen. Terry Spencer, R-Layton, will carry the legislation.
"Our children and grandchildren will thank us," Spencer said. "We need to be united as citizens of the state of Utah."
Leavitt's legal strategy has been formulated by an unlikely alliance of Democrats and Republicans who comprise the "No! The Coalition Opposed to High-Level Nuclear Waste."
"This is going to be a difficult and complex fight," said Salt Lake attorney Dan Berman, a prominent Democrat and co-chairman of the coalition. "This isn't a problem where there is one magic silver bullet."
Leavitt has found little success thus far fighting PFS, which entered into a lease agreement with the Goshutes in 1997. Particularly troublesome has been the fact the Goshutes are a sovereign nation not subject to Utah rules and regulations on waste storage.
Leavitt has speculated the NRC is predisposed to grant the license to store the nuclear waste, which has been piling up at 109 nuclear power plants across the nation, none of them in Utah.
If he can't stop the NRC, Leavitt is hoping to stymie the transportation of the waste, which must pass through dozens of states and countless communities on rail cars. Transportation of waste is the primary concern of 23 national organizations that Wednesday appealed to President Clinton to stop PFS through executive order.
"Transporting high-level nuclear waste is inherently dangerous because it exposes people along transportation routes to the risk of radiation release in areas where emergency responders may not be equipped for a nuclear accident," the letter states.
Environmentalists are appealing to Clinton to intervene, saying "it is clearly unacceptable to allow PFS to proceed with this flawed proposal, which places the economic interests of the nuclear industry above democratic process and the legitimate safety concerns of citizens."
Utah, with the blessing of environmental organizations across the nation, intends to file a litany of lawsuits to further its opposition.
"This gives us hope," said Margene Bullcreek, a Goshute who stands in opposition to her tribal council's lease agreement with PFS. "This is an invasion of large corporations on a small, traditional tribe. We still do have our traditions, the sacredness of the land and Mother Earth."
E-MAIL: donna@desnews.com