Lawmakers were in the mood to play Let's Make a Deal. Or make that The Price is Right.
A proposal that could, in its original form, levy millions in new taxes on low-level radioactive wastes was tweaked, massaged and otherwise amended Wednesday afternoon by a House committee to a point no one really knows how much revenue the tax would generate.
"It is all very confusing," said Charles Judd, president of Envirocare of Utah, the company that would be saddled with most of the taxes.
The other company that would be hit with the new tax is International Uranium Corp., a company that "recycles" old uranium mill tailings at its mill in Blanding. Currently, the company pays nothing to the state for taking tens of thousands of tons of mill tailings for reprocessing.
After lawmakers were done Wednesday, the proposed tax had been reduced to:
A $200,000 annual fee on Envirocare, as opposed to $5 million originally. That money would go into a fund to take care of the waste site for 100 years after Envirocare closes.
A tax of 25 cents per cubic foot for most low-level radioactive waste, compared to the original proposal of $1 per cubic foot. But the tax could go up to $3 per cubic foot for some hotter wastes.
A tax of $300 per curie (the standard measure of radioactivity), compared to the original proposal of $400 per curie.
As passed by the Revenue and Taxation Committee, the new tax would not take effect until 2002, and it would not apply retroactively to existing contracts. That would give Envirocare time to negotiate new contracts that reflect the added taxes and fees.
Not surprising, Envirocare officials testified that the new tax would drive the company out of business. Currently, the state charges Envirocare $2.50 a ton for the waste, which covers the state's cost of regulating the waste. International Uranium officials did not testify at the hearing and did not return Deseret News calls.
Envirocare now charges about $5 per cubic foot to its customers, Judd said. And a tax of $4 per cubic foot would "put us out of business."
Rep. Jeff Alexander, R-Orem, the sponsor of HB370, said the shift to a per-cubic-foot tax would put Utah on the same footing as South Carolina and Washington, the only two states that have waste facilities like Envirocare.
"We're not here taxing Envirocare," Alexander insisted. "We want to be taxing the generators of the waste."
Alexander said Utah residents have been burdened with accepting the waste but have seen no benefits from making the state a national dumping ground for the waste, which consist of primarily contaminated soils.
Tooele County officials testified against the tax, saying Envirocare has been a good corporate neighbor. "I would hate to see 400 employees lose their jobs," said county Commissioner Dennis Rockwell.
Steve Erickson, a lobbyist for Sierra Club of Utah, supported the bill, especially as it applied to the radioactive materials being reprocessed at the Blanding mill, what he called the "Utah's invisible dump."
E-MAIL: donna@desnews.com