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Show The Park Record Wed/Thurs/Fri, April 6-8, 2005 A-7 Bennett is rethinking waste dump SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Three years alter he sided with a Bush administration plan to bury nuclear waste deep inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain, U.S. Sen, Bob Bennett said last week that he might favor leaving the waste at the reactors that produced it. The Utah Republican had supported the effort in a gamble to block a proposed nuclear waste storage site 45 miles from Salt Lake City. But as Yucca Mountain's political and scientific problems mount, Bennett appears to be hedging his bet. The senator's remarks come on the heels of more evidence of fraudulent science presented last week that could doom the nuclear waste dump projeet and turn into a criminal investigation. The Yucca Mountain depository suffered a serious setback last month when it was revealed U.S. Geological Survey scientists may have falsified documents on the suitability of the site. The FBI has launched a criminal investigation. In what may add fuel to the fire. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Ncvada, told attendees at a University of Utah political symposium on Friday thai memos written by government scientists appear to show a concerted effort to cover up or falsify test results at Yucca Mountain, planned as the nation's underground repository for 77,(KM) tons of defense waste and used reactor fuel. Gov. Jon Huntsman has come out squarely against Yucca Mountain and in support of leaving the highly radioactive nuclear material on site at the reactors - a move Reid advocates. Two of the three U.S. House members from Utah have said they oppose the project, and Republican Rep. Chris Cannon, who voted to send the waste to Nevada, has changed his stand. An increasingly vocal cadre of stale lawmakers also have recently joined the chorus. They agree that building Yucca Mountain would not kill the proposal by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of electric companies, to temporarily store spent nuclear rods on Utah's Skull Valley Goshule Indian reservation and would, in the best case scenario, mean thousands of tons of waste would be shipped through the state. The lawmakers expect U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. who also voted for Yucca Mountain in 2002. to switch sides on the issue as political sentiments shift. "On this one. Hatch is the weather vane and if the political winds are changing, he'll turn," said stale Rep. Steve' Urquharl. R-St. George. Hatch is up for re-election next year. With Yucca Mountain already well over budget and years behind schedule, opponents hope the latest episode will deal a deathblow to ihe project. A House Government Reform subcommittee will hold a hearing Tuesday on Yucca's safely and viability. Hatch and Bennett had voted for Yucca Mountain based on an assurance from the White House that it would make the PFS site unnecessary. They reiterated their support after another meeting with the White House last month. But while a Hatch spokesman said he remains committed to the project. Bennett said Thursday that he could reconsider. "My previous support of Yucca has never been based on the science because the science says to me leave it where it is, but the polities take that off the table." Bennett said. "I am perfectly willing to consider other alternatives if they are politically viable." y$Mwii:M Huntsman's smaller government has cut salaries Budget and the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. ''Basically, we came in relying on the tried and true idea of doing more with less run a tight ship," Huntsman said. The savings was achieved by closing down Utah's Washington, D.C., office and laying off two employees whose annual salaries topped SI 42.(0). It could be a only temporary budget gain, Huntsman's Chief of Staff Jason Chaffet/. said. The state is currently looking to hire a D.C. lobbyist to work on a "project by project" basis and could spend the money there. Because Huntsman has reorganized parts of his office, it's hard to . SALT LAKE CITY (AP) As a candidate for governor, Jon Huntsman told voters he could trim the office's budget and hinted he'd do it by culling the number of people on the governor's staff. And Gov. Huntsman has done it: cutting the staff from the 115 who worked lor former Gov. Olene Walker to 111. The change saves state taxpayers $141,900, reducing the payroll from $5.4 million to $5.3 million the Deseret Morning News reported in a copyright story Monday. The paper obtained the information through a Government Records Access Management Act request. The governor's office payroll include the Office of Planning and make direct comparisons between his staff and Walker's. But on average, the median wage for top Huntsman staffers is SSS.150, down from the average of $90,542 Walker's staff was paid. Two Huntsman aides - education advisers Tim Bridgewater and Hope Eecles - are currently working salary-free; savins ihe stale $70,900. A handful of staff are making considerably more than their Walker counterparts, including spokeswoman Tammy Kikuchi, whose $100,922 salary is about $30,000 more than her predecessor. Huntsman's Senior Adviser for Economic Policy Chris Roybal is the highest paid staffer, making $125,3S2. Walker's top wage-earner LOANS WITH SERVICE was Chief of Staff Gary Doxcy al $112,486. Huntsman is paying his chief of staff, Chaffetz, exactly the same as Walker paid Doxey. The governor himself makes $101,600.\vhich is less than three of his top staff. The governor's salary is authorized by the Legislature and the millionaire Huntsman has said he won't lake a pay raise, even if granted one by lawmakers. Next week during a special legislative session, lawmakers are expected take up a bill that addresses compensation for executive-level stale jobs, including salaries for the governor and lieutenant governor. The bill died during the last night of the 2005 legislative session last month. ,125% ^5/1 ADJUSTABLE RATE MORTGAGE 1V W 5.24% APR Vfe?&- SGall Pat Norman or Casey Paul : I 615-BANK (2265) J Ad campaign targets Bush's Social Security plans WASHINGTON (AP) A new organization created to defeat President Bush's plans for Social Security intends to open a television ad campaign this week depicting the proposal as the tip of an iceberg that will cut benefits and raise the national debt. Erik Smith, a spokeman for ProtectYourCheck.org, said the group will spend nearly Si milion to show the commercial on cable stations nationally over ihe next three weeks. Other ads will follow on broadcast stations, he said, aimed at individual lawmakers of both parties. The new organization is ihe latest entry into what has become something of an exlention of last year's presidential campaign. The White House. Republican Party and outside groups are working to build support for Bush's Social Security proposal. On the other side, the Democratic Party, former aides to John Kerry and others who worked in outside organizations to elect him are now trying to torpedo the lop domestic initiative of Bush's second lerm. The ad will air as Conuress returns from a two-week break and the administration moves into the second half of an intensive 60-day campaign lo raise public support for Bush's call for Social Security legislation. Recent surveys indicate thai Americans in growing numbers believe Social Security faces financial difficulties. Yet polls also indicate the public is increasingly skeptical of the president's call for voluntary persona! accounts for younger workers as part of any overhaul The commercial by ProtectYourCheck is designed to strengthen that skepticism. It opens with ihe picture of an iceberg jutiing above the water. "The plan that George Bush and his" backers in Congress have to privatize Social Security. Look below the surface and you'll find ... benefit checks cut almost in half. $5 trillion in new debl," says the announcer, "This makes the anti-privatization argument of benefit cuts and inreascd debl," said Smith. He declined to say precisely how much the group intends to spend on ihe ad, except to say that the total for the first three weeks would approach SI million. Bran Jones, a spokesman for the Republican party, called the ad part ol a "a disingenuous scare campaign. The Democrats false attacks can't mask the fact that the vast majority of Americans understand Social Security faces problems thai need lo be addressed now. and the American people also understand that President Bush is demonstrating principled leadership on the issue." he added. Other organizations already have run ads on the Social Security issue. One, Progress for America, says it spent at Icasl S3 million in March alone on commercials,,designed,.to build support for ihe president's plan. In addition to Smith, key officials in ProtcctYourCheck include Harold Ickes, a former top aide to Bill Clinton, as well as Jim Jordan, who was John Kerry's first campaign manager. Ickes. Jordan and Smith all were involved with The Media Fund, a group that poured tens of millions of dollars into television commercials in an unsuccessful attempt to put Kerrv in the White House. Under Bush's plan. Social Security would not change for current beneficiaries or workers age 55 and older. Republicans familiar with the outline of his proposal say other workers would receive a lower guaranteed benefit than they are now entitled to. The reduction would be larger for individuals who create personal accounts, on the assumption that their earnings would offset at least some of the difference. The most recent government forecast says thai in 2017, Social Securily trust funds will begin paying out more in benefits than it lakes in. In .2041, the trust funds, will.be. empty, and benefits will have lo be cut. YOUR -,>'•/••'•-• COMMUNITY L r N r> r R A DIVISION OF FRONTIER SANK f , ,Ncrpjust'A COMMUNITY DANK. THE WAY BANKING OUCHT.TO BE1"'>^:V^ '#:??:&•>• • •pity \. ,.*, -v:<nhfr\ ; '••-, '• v * i';'. "; ^P'Xd "Local underwriting. Fast decisions. 1*/^} ^'i Gooii old-fashioned service. •'%\S'i'^?i 1245 Deer Valley Dr. • Park City FDIC Insured Mortgage loan applies to residential mortgages only. ' j " \\ ^?,l Rale is subject to change without notice. Subject lo credit approval. 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