From "Greenwire", Monday, June 30, 1997.
NUCLEAR WASTE: UTILITIES SEEK STORAGE ON UT RESERVATION
A coalition of nine utilities on 6/25 applied for a license with the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store nuclear waste on an Indian
reservation in northwestern Utah, kicking off a three-year environmental
review of the project.
The consortium, led by Minneapolis-based Northern States Power Co.,
signed an agreement in 12/96 with the Skull Valley Band of Goshute, UT, to
lease part of the tribe's 17,700-acre reservation (Greenwire, 1/13). The
storage facility, which would hold up to 40,000 metric tons of waste in
4,000 metal containers, could be operating by 2002, according to project
manager Scott Northard. The agreement with the tribe includes a 25-year
lease with a 25-year renewal option.
Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (R) "strongly" opposes the project, having
supported recent protests by other tribes and environmental groups
(Greenwire, 6/9). In 4/97, Leavitt created a new state office of nuclear
waste storage opposition (Tom Meersman, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 6/26).