Gov. Mike Leavitt has said he will do whatever it takes to keep a consortium of energy companies from storing their nuclear waste on a tiny Indian reservation about 70 miles west of Salt Lake City. That, so far, has been a popular stand. About eight of every 10 Utahns is in full support.
Whatever it takes. But what does that mean? Or, better yet, is the governor prepared for what it might mean?
My guess is, we'll find out soon. Ralph Nader has just entered the fight, and he says he's on the governor's side.
Not that the Republican governor invited the Green Party candidate, who symbolizes the fringe side of the left, to help. Nader announced his support at a Washington news conference last week, calling the Goshute Tribe's proposal to store 44,000 tons of spent fuel rods above ground "off the wall." Nader vowed to mobilize his advocacy group, known as Public Citizen, and to marshal the forces of several other protest groups as well.
What does this mean? Think Seattle and the World Trade Organization. Think Genoa, Italy, and the G-8 summit of world leaders last month. Think Quebec and the international trade summit last April. Think Sweden and the reception it gave President Bush earlier this year. In other words, think mass protests and violence. Think truncheons and rubber bullets and tear gas.
Michael Mariotte, who heads a group known as the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, was quoted in this newspaper as saying the usual lineup of activist groups plans to mimic protests that have dogged every nuclear shipment in Europe. Power plants and storage facilities there became so worried about safety that they had to invest $100 million or so per shipment for extra security.
When it comes to the Goshutes and Skull Valley, "We are going to make it cost them much more than $100 million each," he said.
That sounds more like blackmail than a simple protest. Utahns are up for a fair fight, but they may not be quite ready for this.
So far, Leavitt's anything-it-takes approach has been a bit more, shall we say, conventional, civilized and orderly — the sort of thing you would expect from a Utahn. Indian reservations are under federal, not state, control. The Goshutes need only federal approval to begin storing waste. So the state has filed lawsuits, engaged in legal maneuvers and passed clever laws. Leavitt has urged the state to acquire roads leading up to the proposed site so it could deny access to trucks carrying the waste.
The Legislature has passed laws that prohibit anyone from shipping nuclear waste into the state, that require the consortium, known as Private Fuel Storage, to pay a hefty $150 billion up front, and that require anyone providing services to the project pay a 75 percent tax. It also has prohibited Tooele County, by law, from providing police, fire and other services to the storage site.
Private Fuel Storage, in return, has sued, claiming all of these tactics are unconstitutional.
This is all pedestrian stuff — the sorts of things that are decided by judges, juries, rules and laws. No one has donned a black mask or broken any windows — the sorts of things that scare people into changing their minds.
At its simplest level, this is a noble fight. Private Fuel Storage claims the waste is entombed in hardy storage casks that can withstand train wrecks and thousands of years of anything the elements can dish out. But safety isn't the real issue here. This has more to do with fairness and reputation.
When it comes to radiation, Utahns have suffered enough from lies and broken promises. We have been bombed, literally, by our own government and used as unwitting guinea pigs. The state, and particularly the Wasatch Front, which is expected to grow by millions over the next 50 years, has to put a stop to the idea that this is a wasteland where the rest of the nation can dump its trash. If the stuff is so safe, the folks who produced it should keep it. Frankly, we've had enough.
But do we want protests and violence from people who don't live here?
Unfortunately, much of the public arena these days is guided by who screams the loudest rather than by sound reasoning and the rule of law. If you can harass someone into stopping, that's as good as a court order, isn't it?
Maybe, but the power of debate and the rules of logic get lost in the cacophony.
Perhaps it is a short logical hop, skip and jump from clever laws and special taxes to mass protests and violence. The latter method is certainly more effective. Nader sounds so convincing when he says, "This project will never be built."
But my guess is most Utahns would rather live in a world where laws, elected officials and judges define the limits of "whatever it takes."
Jay Evensen is editor of the Deseret News editorial page. E-mail: even@desnews.com