SALT LAKE CITY — Almost a month after it was initially proposed, the Salt Lake County Council passed a resolution that opposes transporting and storing depleted uranium in Salt Lake County.
Although the resolution doesn't have the power to block the radioactive waste, Council Chairman Joe Hatch insisted the resolution was a strong and important statement, not just message legislation.
"The message we are going to say by voting yes, is don't use Utah for the sole solution for a national energy problem," he said.
Council member Jani Iwamoto, the resolution's sponsor and former member of Gov. Mike Leavitt's coalition opposing high-level nuclear waste in Utah, said one of the biggest reasons for the resolution is the unknown danger of depleted uranium.
Unlike other nuclear waste, depleted uranium becomes "hotter" with time. The element's half-life is longer than regular uranium, and the decay products of the element can create equally dangerous substances, such as polonium, the poison used to kill a Russian spy in November 2006, and radium, which decays into radon gas, explained Vanessa Pierce, executive director of HEAL Utah.
Pierce and several council members believed the resolution aligned the county with Gov. Gary Herbert's recent block of 7,000 tons of depleted uranium coming to Utah from South Carolina.
"If we take a position against this resolution, we are making such an incredible out-of-step statement with regards to our constituents and what everyone in this state is trying to do with this stuff," council member Randy Horiuchi said. "Our governor has personally interceded with the Department of Energy and stopped two of the shipments. If you vote today against this resolution, you're telling him what he did was crap." Initially proposed Feb. 9, the resolution was delayed when EnergySolutions CEO Val Christensen spoke during the public comment portion of the council's meeting against the resolution, saying it had factual errors. He presented council members a new copy of the resolution with corrections. The council agreed to delay vote to ensure the document's claims were sound
In response to Christensen's corrections, Iwamoto began Tuesday's discussion by reviewing every "whereas" clause in the resolution and provided federal, state or EnergySolutions documentation for each one.
EnergySolutions Vice President Reed T. Searle said the resolution is a waste of the county's time.
"This issue has already been dealt with," he said. "The governor has worked with the Department of Energy, and there's no depleted uranium coming to the state for a long time. … The governor has accomplished this. Who are they preaching to, themselves?"
In the end, eight council members voted for the resolution, with Max Burdick abstaining. Democrat Horiuchi said the issue is so cut and dry in the public's eye, voting against it would bring certain public backlash.
"As a Democrat putting my evil Democrat hat on, I am praying some of you (Republicans) vote against this resolution because you will unearth a ground swell that you won't believe," he said.
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