Cliff LyonUtah Senate Cedes All Power of Utahns to Energy Solutions
Today, the Utah Senate voted 23-6 in favor of Senate Bill 155, exempting EnergySolutions from the oversight of the Legislature, the Governor, and Tooele County for any nuclear waste expansion on its current dumpsite.
SB 155 carves out exemptions to state law specifically for EnergySolutions so that the company can undergo massive expansions without getting the approvals of the Legislature and governor that current law requires.
Senate Bill 155 rewrites state law for EnergySolutions
What’s the big deal? Senate Bill 155 removes the Governor, the Legislature, and Counties from decisions to expand nuclear waste on EnergySolutions’ current dumpsite, the largest commercial nuclear waste dump in the U.S. No elected leader in Utah will ever be able to say “Enough†to EnergySolutions expansions.
Why change the law for one company? Right now EnergySolutions wants a license to pile its nuclear waste twice as high. Utah law says the legislature and governor must approve expansions of 50% or more. EnergySolutions doesn’t want to have to get these approvals because Gov. Huntsman has said “No†to a prior expansion. To avoid this, Sen. Peterson (R-Nephi) has introduced Senate Bill 155 to exempt EnergySolutions from the law.
Who’s behind this? Besides nuclear waste, Steve Creamer, CEO of EnergySolutions, has also given Utah cracked windshields (Syncrete), burst dams (Quail Creek Dam), and campaign contributions to 76% of incoming legislators.
What others are saying:
· “Basically there would be no public accountability for EnergySolutions…no public oversight, no elected accountability, and nothing from the legislature.” –Patrick Cone, Utah Radiation Control Board member.
· “It would be political folly for Utah to approve expansion of EnergySolutions’ low-level nuclear waste dump without a thorough public debate that includes both the legislature and governor.†–Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, “Waste Elevated,†February 1st, 2007.
· “Hazardous waste disposal needs to be handled with greater care than do other matters because it could have long-lasting effects on the state, its image, and the legacy bequeathed to future generations. When even low-level radioactive waste is deposited here, it renders parts of the state unusable for generations.†–Deseret Morning News Editorial, “Don’t Change Waste Process,†Jan. 25th, 2006.
KSL’s coverage of the Senate vote and the connection to EnergySolutions’ campaign contributions.
Wanna help fight this?
With the Legislative session halfway done, we have three weeks to stop SB 155 from punching a gaping hole in Utah law big enough for EnergySolutions to dump an enormous amount of nuclear waste in our state. The good news is we have more allies in the House, where this bill moves next. Here’s what you can do:
1) Join us next Tuesday, February 13th, at 7:00pm at our office for a strategy session and for information on how you can make a difference in the final weeks of the legislative session. Space is limited so please RSVP.
2) Go for a walk with us. There are just three Saturdays left in the session and we’ll be walking on all of them between 11:00am and 1:00pm. Sign up for one or all and help us pass out flyers and gather petition signatures in key legislative districts (weeknights are also an option).
3) Pick up your phone. Besides calling your legislators, help us call constituents as votes come up. You can help make calls any weekday evening in our office or from the comfort of your own home.
Despite the 23-6 vote today, things weren’t all bad. Your calls and emails helped sway Senators Romero, Fife, and Greiner to vote against SB 155. Sen. Romero even stood up to speak at length against the bill, beginning by saying, “I rise to put my voice on record for my constituents.”
Sen. McCoy deserves the most thanks. Besides asking pointed questions of the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Peterson, that cut to the heart of the matter, he offered an amendment that exposed the rhetoric 23 Senators were hiding behind. While the amendment of course failed, the debate forced Sen. Peterson and Sen. Bramble to come clean that SB 155 does not merely “restore language” or “reaffirm the process”; it exempts EnergySolutions from obtaining the approvals of the Legislature and the governor for massive expansions on its dumpsite.
If you’d like to do some last minute citizen lobbying at the Capitol or just watch the Senate vote, let us know and we’ll arrange to meet you. SB 155 and recent news (including a great Salt Lake Tribune editorial).
Thanks for taking action,
Jessica Kendrick
jessica ‘at’ healutah.org
Field Organizer
HEAL Utah
(801)355-5055
“The citizen can bring our political and government institutions back to life, make them responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can.”
John Gardner
February 7th, 2007 at 10:16 pm
Cliff
Next time you need some Photoshopping, call me first. (c;
February 7th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Its true Ken, you are the best!
February 7th, 2007 at 11:04 pm
Feelin’ powerful yet progressive Utah?
February 7th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Cliff,
Give me a call when you get a chance and we’ll do a segment on this on our show to get the word out.
By the way, isn’t this ironic given the righteous indignation the Legislature (correctly) displayed today regarding Divine Strake?
So…. Envirocare supervision isn’t necessary but federal government information on Divine Strake is insufficient? ‘Splain that one to me!
February 8th, 2007 at 12:37 am
Ken, that photo is absolutely authentic. I can vouch for it personally. The workers put up those letters first, and my colleague at the Nightside Project saw it and snapped the photo before the others went up.
No photoshop. Just photo.
February 8th, 2007 at 6:31 am
The U.S. gov’t is just a slut of Haliburton, as The Utah govt is a slut of Energy Solutions. Corporate free speach far exceeds our own. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
February 8th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Aren’t our legislators hurting themselves? If Energy Pollutions no longer needs favors from the state legislature, they might cut back on the $$$$$$$$.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:50 am
Some Legistators, contend that they’re not on the ‘take’, that the public simply is misperceiving the situation. This accounts for the attempt to cut the ‘misinformed’ people right out of the loop on issues that are really important to us. i.e. the deposition of nuke waste and Divine Strake. It occurs to me that the U.S. senators might be working a trade…No ’strake’ for our taking all the waste. Orrin? Bill? Say it isn’t so.
Regarding the ‘headline’: Insofar as the senate represents its constituents, it can cede power to corporations. Beyond that we, the people, retain all power. I’d like the senate, 100 white guys, to deal with that. Maybe they need a little Divine deposition of nuke waste right up the patoot!
February 8th, 2007 at 11:03 am
Energy Solutions is hardly the driving force behind the will to store waste in Utah. By now several other States have been the target, and Utah is currently in the cross hairs.
No one will help you in the reality based community because the waste has to go SOMEWHERE, and soon. They may be sympathetic, but in the end this is the overarching reality. The greenies will fight, yet the only result will be to shift the monster to another state, or worse, some hapless country, with all the extra costs and transportation risks.
If it looks to become an inevitability, it would be incumbent upon the reality based community that they embrace the process, and institute guidelines, and oversight. In a word, INFILTRATE. In this way despite what looks to be like “working with the enemy”. You can end up wielding far more control and oversight than by being combative based on a moral stance.
Everyone in this country has benefited from the energy and goods that have come from the waste. Electricity from nuclear power travels the grid, and is shared. Chemical have all been utilized by us, knowingly or not.
Concentrating on the geologic reality, claiming that it may not be safe, providing the proof is the best path of defense… and of course MONEY!! Real money, at least as much as Utah stands to make storing the waste, minus the costs of operation. No money, and it will come
February 8th, 2007 at 2:48 pm
Cassandra, thanks, once again for the wise words. Somewhere in all this resistance is the notion that a new power source(s) be focused on, and that, come a day, there’ll be no more nuke waste that hasn’t already been thru the system and stored as safely as is possible. The new ‘Catalyst’ magazine has an article about why Nuclear energy isn’t as bio-friendly as the industry would like us to believe, and how other technologies can and should prevail. Written by Chip Ward.
February 8th, 2007 at 5:01 pm
I’ll read it. Success in alternatives in grounded in actually doing them. Colorado has a 50% rebate program for anyone who adapts their homes to solar, not 100%, but at any level. Utah is sunny, what up?
The Germans are going whole hog on solar, not as a replacement, but as a serious supplement, southwest German homes are now covered with panels. The cost of the panels is mostly reimbursed if personally undertaken. It is a matter of WILL! It is just the right thing to do. Want to keep killing strangers? If not buy some panels, actually do something. Utah is sunny, what up?
If Utah does not adapt to solar, it will convince me that outside of this little community, she deserves the moniker of the nations “dumbest” state.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:12 am
We are pretty dumb. Here’s another reflection of that.Recall the old mathmatical idea, that an arrow approaching a target gets 1/2 way there, then again 1/2 way, then 1/2 etc, will it ever ever reach the target? as the halfs just keep getting smaller?
Flip this mind game on its head and inlay Energy Solutions’ content. No-one feels as if it’s significant when we double one gram of nuclear waste out in the west desert. Doubling two grams, no prob, don’t bother me. Now we have a situation where DOUBLING a tensquare mile pile 45 feet high will be brushed off as not an issue for our concern. Imagine the next cycle, and the next. How far apart in time can these expansions be spaced? Whatever the answer, I predict that this is really a real estate scam on the part of Energy Solutions, whose hope it is to take over the entire planet. (About two years out).
February 9th, 2007 at 8:34 am
Sounds about an appropriate future for the west valley minions. Like I said, it has to go somewhere.
If it happens consider moving, I did, and it didn’t take nuclear waste to get me moving. The ignorant state is just creepy to me.
Lots of places under the sun.