Cannon pushes to have uranium tailings near the Colorado River moved

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

"Our window of opportunity is now," said Cannon. "With the Colorado River supplying water for Arizona, southern Nevada and California, we can get the support of those areas' congressional delegations to acquire federal funds to move these tailings."

He said it makes no sense to cap the 10.5 million tons of mildly radioactive dirt.

Research shows that radioactive materials and other hazardous chemicals are seeping slowly into the river from the pile. While quickly diluted by the river's much larger flow, this contamination alarms downstream water users.

Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., and 19 House colleagues from California and Arizona on Thursday sent a letter to Vice President Al Gore seeking help in moving the Atlas tailing pile.

"We are deeply concerned that the risks to drinking water supplies, human health and the environment have been grossly underestimated in the decision-making process," the letter said.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued a technical report that identified no problems with leaving the tailings next to the river, and an environmental-impact statement scheduled for release in October is expected to come to the same conclusion.

Cost of capping the tailings in place is estimated at $15 million by Richard Blubaugh, vice president of environmental and governmental affairs for Atlas Corp. His engineers say moving the material to a potential disposal site 14 miles north of Moab would cost around $150 million.

Cannon said Atlas would be required to pay 44 percent of the $15 million price of in-place disposal. If a decision is made to move the tailings to another site, he said all extra costs should be covered by the federal government.

Blubaugh was happy that Cannon recognizes that Atlas' financial resources are limited and is willing to seek federal funds, but he questioned whether Congress can be persuaded to spend $150 million for a cleanup project federal experts say can be done for $15 million. He also hates to see more delays in resolving the issue.

Atlas officials also have argued in the past that the natural outcroppings of uranium in cliffs along the river put as much or more uranium into the river as the tailings pile.

The response in Moab to Cannon's announcement was divided.

"It's good. That's exactly what we were looking for from him," said Bart Leavitt, Grand County Council chairman.

Ray Tibbetts, a former Grand County commissioner and spokesman for the local chapter of the Western Association of Land Users, said moving the tailings would be a "waste of time and a whole lot of money."

State officials were pleased by Cannon's stance.

"We've always been supportive of moving the pile," said Bill Sinclair, director of the Utah Division of Radiation Control. "If someone could come up with a formula that puts the money in place to do it, we would jump for joy."