Editorial: Uranium cleanup is sorry start

Monday, April 30, 2001 | 9:45 a.m.

Anytime there is a new president there will be policy changes -- even more so if the new occupant of the White House is from a different political party than the outgoing chief executive. Still, there are some matters that really shouldn't be partisan and one of those involves public health and safety. That is why it is disappointing that President Bush's first budget contains a paltry amount to start the cleanup of radioactive uranium tailings leaking into the Colorado River near Moab, Utah.

The Department of Energy budget proposed by Bush would only allocate $2.8 million in the first year of the cleanup program, which it has been estimated will take 10 years to complete and cost a total of $300 million. This is hardly an auspicious start and raises disturbing questions about how truly committed the Bush administration will be to cleaning up the tailings. The Nevada congressional delegation, though, says it hopes to boost this proposed amount significantly when it comes time to establish the appropriations for federal agencies.

It is vital that there be a cleanup of these uranium mill tailings, which were left over from 22 years of processing uranium for weapons. The radioactivity from the tailings is mixed with an assortment of hazardous substances, such as ammonia, arsenic, lead, mercury, selenium and other heavy metals. As the Sun noted in a story last week about the Bush administration's proposal, Utah and Nevada water officials are concerned about the prospect of a flash flood that could wash the pile of tailings into the Colorado River, contaminating downstream this tributary, which is a source of drinking water in Southern Nevada and other communities in the region.

The Bush administration has gotten off to a terrible start on environmental and public health issues. It wouldn't make amends for all of its other miscues, but for the residents of Utah and Nevada it would be a refreshing change if the White House acknowledged it has underfunded the tailings cleanup -- and will honor the Clinton administration's pledge to remove this dangerous mess.