This afternoon, Governor Huntsman announced he signed an agreement with EnergySolutions to limit the volume of waste the company can dispose of at its current site.
Forget what we said about EnergySolutions being on a roll. Today, Gov. Huntsman got the company to withdraw its request to stack waste twice as high and has ensured that as long as he is in office, there will be no vertical expansion of any kind at EnergySolutions' current site.
So despite the passage of Senate Bill 155, the immediate outcome is EnergySolutions cannot expand vertically and Gov. Huntsman has done what the people of Utah have asked him to do: keep his promise to prevent our state from being the nation's nuclear waste dump.
Please call Gov. Huntsman at (801) 538-1000 and thank him for the cap he has put on EnergySolutions. Today, the Governor stopped a major expansion of nuclear waste in Utah and for that he deserves a lot of credit.
To that end, I would like to apologize to the Governor for doubts expressed in my earlier email today about his intention to carry through with his promise to Utahns. In our opinion, a gubernatorial veto of Senate Bill 155 would have been consistent with this promise. And we are still wary of the fact that decisions to expand EnergySolutions' current site will never be made through the legislative process.
But Gov. Huntsman has proven once again that when it comes to nuclear and toxic waste in Utah, he is a man of integrity and a Governor who is accountable to the wishes and desires of Utahns.
Gov. Huntsman brokered a tremendous deal today. Whereas before, EnergySolutions had argued there was no limit to the waste it could pile at its current site, Gov. Huntsman got the company to agree to limit waste to the disposal cells currently approved. That ensures the costly and lengthy legal battle we are fighting on the geographic expansion will not have to happen for vertical expansions as long as Gov. Huntsman is in office.
The question of course remains: will future governors keep this agreement? We must commit ourselves to holding any future occupant of the Governor's Mansion to the high standard set by Gov. Huntsman today.
But for now, we can celebrate! Join us on Friday, March 23rd, from 6:30-8:30pm at Tony Caputo's for a Divine Strake Victory/ End of the Legislative Session Celebration (more details tomorrow).
John Urgo
HEAL Utah, Outreach Director
68 S. Main St, Suite 400
SLC, UT 84101
(801) 355-5055
