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Show PAGE21 THE ZEPHYRJUNE 1992 won't cure all those things, but it will make i significantly bigger impact on the county for health of the county, than anything care, for roads, for education, for employment and the well-beithe on scene. is else that Redd also stated his belief the study could answer the questions that some may have about the benefits and drawbacks of the MRS. There's no need for us having, I guess for lack of better terminology, I would call it religious positions on things when we can discuss them in objective, scientific terms. We have the capability to make those decisions very logically, very rationally." Lewis agreed that at least the issue should be studied, the grant should be accepted and put to use. "Why can't we look at it and seer he asked at that same meeting. "We're going to at least study this to see if it has possibilities." Lewis added that though the estimates are preliminary, n would employ 0 an MRS with a 40 year people, at an annual payroll of $12-1- 5 million, and those numbers were characterized by the office of the negotiator as "conservative" and In the ballpark." And support for pursuing the study has come from a wide array of sources. Although Governor Norman Bangerter stated he did not want a MRS in the state, he was not opposed to the San Juan efforts. State Representative David Adams also gave his nod to the study effort, and said he would hold off on deciding now on file actual MRS. "When we get the results of the study, after we looked at it all, then well determine what to da" of the Moab Times Independent Sam Taylor gave his ok to the study as well, 14 editorial. Tm fully on the side of Commissioners Bill Redd and Ty Lewis on fids a in May and that one. Get money study the hell out of things, fellows," wrote Taylor. The Salt Lake Tribune, often critical of what it sees as plans to turn Utah into a national dumping ground, dedded fids study was fine, as long as no further commitment was made at this time. "There should be time enough for suitably debating benefits vs risks when and if the resulting answers are finally, comprehaisivdy developed." So, if the government swears the facilities are safe, if transportation poses no environmental hazards, if the money far the study comes with no strings, no commitments, what could be wrong with taking the money? the MRS is scheduled to open and begin accepting materials. The permanent site, according to the DOE, would not be ready to accept waste until the you 201 Q, IF EVERYTHING GOES WELL And so far, that's been nowhere near the case. So the MRS would be holding the waste while the feds are still trying to figure out where to eventually put it If five negotiated time frame of the MRS runs out before the final repository is ready, the DOE would have no choice but to keep it open, possibly even expand it "All an 'interim solution' means is it will tum into a long-ranrelationship," conduded Moody, "to where once it's here, it will never, ever, go away." ng life-spa- ge DECISIONS, DECISIONS Politicians are aware that if they come out for the MRS, it could very easily backfire, as it did on Grant County, North Dakota. Local residents, angered at the commissioners' decision to pursue the plan without consulting the public launched a recall effort, removed all 3 250-35- commissioners, and killed the study. But there will be pressure to go for the MRS as well, because where there is poverty, there is always a tendency to go for a quick and seemingly easy solution. Rural officials, who federal government easterners on questions continually say that they can't trust pointy-heade- d of wilderness, endangered spedes, and other land issues, fall all over themselves believing the same people's pledges of undying money and services if they'll only take care of this little, perfectly safe, nudear waste thing. And we can expect southeast Utah MRS supporters to use the Goshutes as a weapon against opponents. The Goshute Skull Valley Reservation is a small area in Toode County, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Proponents of the San Juan site will say to the governor. Lode, if we don't get it, five Goshutes will THEY will negotiate with the federal government, not the state of Utah. THEY will get the economic benefits, not five state. THEY will get the increases in educational, health, and other benefits, not Utah as a whole. THEY will decide how, when, and where it's built, when it begins, when it ends, they will control the situation, not you. So you'll end up with an MRS 50 miles from the capital and none of the goodies, instead of all the goodies and a site 300 miles away. er WHY NOT I Plenty, according to some environmental activists who have been following file unfolding of the MRS program over the past few years. One such individual is Jim Ratz, executive director of the National Outdoor Leadership School, looted in Lander, Wyoming. Lander is in Fremont County, one of the 4 non-Indi- The entire question could be academic Some tribe hundreds or thousands of miles away may get the MRS, or, extremdy unlikely but possible, some local county may convince their governor to take the plunge. But if San Juan continues along five MRS road, it will permanently change the face of the region. For once that road is taken, there is no turning back. And once San Juan and Utah make that tum, Moab goes with it an jurisdictions pursuing the grants. Fremont County shares some similarities with southeast Utah. Both have had active uranium mining, both have had uranium mills, and both are experiencing growth as tourist areas and as places people from crowded, polluted metropolitan areas have moved for scenic, psychic, and recreation reasons. Fremont received its grant in January, and according to Ratz, the resultant study has further polarized that county. "The middle ground has just about completely disappeared." Ratz added that problems began right from the beginning, with the establishment of a dtizens committee to look into file question. There were same people "In the case here, it was packed with people who tended to be for SLICKROCK INN 286 S. 400 EAST it who were certainly neutral when it started, but there was definitely an agenda to exdude people who were opposed to it" According to Ratz, the $100100 grant established a group of people, a paid administrative Btaff, that Boon, realized their own self interest dictated continuing the process, and moving an to the next grants. That led to the politicization of the study. "They had a vested interest in seeing this tiling continue!, and they don't want a lot of negatives, they don't want a lot of critics involved. That riled up a number of people, The administrative people purposely withheld information from the committee that was supplied by a statewide environmental watchdog committee, the Wyoming Outdoor Council," said Ratz. "What happened is you got this escalation, this polarization, and if San Juan County keeps going, that's exactly what you'll see." Ratz believes the studies, rather than providing "objective, scientific data, will become a vehide for public relations in favor of the MRS, and that with the expansion of those studies, the biased character of the information will deepen. "As some opposition pressure comes an, the tendency will be to hunker down, to gut it out Opponents also question the rosy economic numbers being thrown around, pointing out that since there are no MRS facilities currently in operation, and therefore no evidence to back up federal government guesses. And along with the number of jobs, they also wonder about the type of work available. Do San Juan County residents have the technical expertise to work on a sophisticated, high level nuclear waste site? Or will most of the jobs go to those outside the area who already have advanced scientific and technical training? WHOM DO YOU TRUST San Juan nfficfalu and the mmmtHee they put together will, in the end, be taking the word of the DOR, which is in charge erf the MRS program. The DOE hasn't got the greatest record in the world in terms of following through cm promises," Ratz conduded, "and promises now are the easiest thing in the world." That theme was picked up by San Juan Commissioner Mark Maryboy, also a Navajo Nation elected who voted against the study because of his concern about the safety of the the nuclear industry. The Navajo Nation has spoken out strongly against federal attempts to put nudear facilities on reservations, characterizing it as racist, a charge hotly denied by the federal government, but widely held among Native Americans. . The bottom line," says Maryboy, Ts there are no guarantees." That warning fakes on new meaning in the wake of recent Pentagon disclosures of dozens of ffiidfflMeliiH accidents over the'decades, inducting a plane crash here in southeast Utah, accidents that were kept secret from the public. And it is ironic that the same day San Juan County Commissioners voted to accept the study grant, the federal government made its first radiation exposure compensation check to the heirs of Chesney Snow, a Marysville, Utah, uranium miner who died of cancer in 1970. A bill the payments to both sponsored by Sena tor Orrin Hatch and Congressman Wayne Owens allows of miners who were never told by the government of the dangers uranium, and to downwinders who suffered nuclear fallout from testing in five desert, testing they were told at the time was completely safe. That lesson has been learned by upstate residents, who have, in poll after poll, shown states' and federal toxic waste. opposition to plan to turn Utah into a disposal site for other And Utah's Speaker of the House and now Republican candidate for Congress Craig Moody indicated five reaction of northern Utah residents with his strong statement last month, "We've in the 50s, and that they didn't already had the federal government admit that they messed up put the people of Utah first Let's not go through that again." WAITING FOR YUCCA MT. OR GODOT, WHICHEVER COMES FIRST five negotiated While the length of time five MRS would be in service would be one of or even could, keep to the questions, there is no guarantee the federal government will, until 1998, the same year come won't agreement. Approval of plans for five permanent repository 259-22- 66 "...the foundation from which ,A ' adventures begin." LOOK DfiM?.. MERE AtWTUR5 WVtER BC&wi'.' ; Open: to 6:00 p.m. Monday, thru Saturday 8:00 a.m. IUsfeD& 655 SOUTH MAIN MOAB 259-643- 5 Locally owned and operated iftKrA piciuRfr Mb UTS 40 3 |