Bill aims to stop nuclear waste storage

Idea from Davis County lawmaker to discourage, 'tax them to death'

Friday, February 09, 2001

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Davis County senator plans to introduce a bill in the Legislature today that he says will "make the hair stand up on the necks" of a company trying to store high level nuclear waste in Utah.

Sen. Terry Spencer, R-Layton, said Thursday that his idea is simple: "Tax them to death."

The bill is specifically aimed at Private Fuel Storage, which is negotiating to build and run a storage facility in Utah's west desert to store high level nuclear waste.

Spencer and Sen. John Valentine, R- Orem, the senate Majority Whip, have been working to come up with some sort of legislation to stop them.

Spencer said he thinks his bill will do it.

First, it simply forbids building the facility.

However, Spencer said, federal law may take precedence over state law and the facility could get approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

In that case, he told his fellow republican Senators Thursday in a caucus, "We tax it to death."

That would include taking 75 percent of all the money taken in by the company. Called a "Gross Receipts Tax," it would come off the top, before even salaries of the workers or other costs were paid.

It would require a bond to pay for potential damages of up to $150 billion. That would have to be deposited in cash with the state before permission to operate could be granted.

The company would have to pay a fee equal to the amount of workers' compensation paid in the state multiplied by the number of casks of nuclear waste brought into the state.

The bill also forbids counties or cities from providing normal municipal facilities to any nuclear storage facility.

Finally, Spencer said the bill would make every person who works for the company personally responsible if there is an accident with the nuclear waste.

"No shield, no protection," he said. Employees could lose "their houses, their stock portfolios, everything, are all at issue, from the chairman of the board down to the mail clerk, and every one of the share holders.

"They have no shield." he said.

Spencer said he is quite aware that his bill hits the company with much higher taxes than any other company in the state. That's the point, he said. This is not a business the state is trying to attract.

"I have been working on this for the last nine months. We've been refining the language and making sure it's Constitutional," he said.

"I want the hair to stand up on the back of their necks when they see $150 billion. That's $150 billion in cash, in a Utah bank."

Sue Martin, a spokeswoman for Private Fuel Storage, said Thursday she hadn't seen the bill's language, but wasn't surprised by the provisions.

"It's clear that what they want to do is stop this project," she said. "What we are going through, with the state's full participation, is a legally established federal process for licensing such a facility."

She said she is certain that Utah can't prohibit Private Fuel Storage from getting a federal license to operate. "It's clear that federal law preempts state law," she said.

As to the taxes and other fees, she said "I think it's clear that this and other legislation that the state has already passed is going to have to be clarified in court as to wether it's Constitutional or not, and my guess at this point is that it's not."

Spencer said he is confident the bill will pass Constitutional muster.

It has "almost unanimous support in both houses" of the Legislature, he said. "The governor is standing shoulder to shoulder with me on this issue."

If Private Fuel Storage goes to court, he said, "They'll lose. We have the right to set the tax rate."

If the company complains that it is being singled out, he said it is, but not for any reason that is protected by law, such as race, religion or gender.

He said he has two partner bills to go along with the main one

One would provide $1.6 million bill to hire outside legal help to fight the company. The second is a $2 million economic development bill to help the Goshute Indians, since that is the reason they want to bring the nuclear waste facility to their land.

"We're saying "Here's another way to get some money, here's another way to develop,'" he said.

The bill was to be introduced on the senate floor today. It will be assigned to the senate Energy and Natural Resources committee, which Spencer chairs.

Martin said she thinks Spencer's bill is really jumping the gun.

The state still has no scientific evidence that the waste facility that is proposed will endanger the health and safety of Utahns, she said.

"That's what the process is still about. We are still a year away from a decision," she said.

In a related issue, House Republicans were to have been briefed Thursday on a proposal to apply up to $100 million in taxes annually on low-level nuclear waste being buried in Utah, primarily in Tooele County commercial landfills.

If implemented, the tax would have been on also so-called "A" wastes, including those generated in Utah. But House Majority Leader Kevin Garn, R-Layton, said the bulk of such low-level nuclear waste comes from U.S. Energy Department sites in other states.

However, a consultant hired by the Legislature to study the highly controversial taxation issue resigned suddenly Thursday. Garn said the consultant "asked that his information not be made public. We've decided not to make any further comment."

Garn did say the issue almost certainly would come up again Feb.13, in the next Republican lunch caucus.

The state charges a fee on low-level nuclear waste, such as radioactive tailings, waste from hospital nuclear medicine programs and waste from closed federal weapons production sites. But the fee only covers regulatory costs, and the wastes have never been taxed.

Reporter Ralph Wakley contributed to this story.

You can reach reporter Charles Trentelman by calling 625-4232 or e-mailing ctrentelman@standard.net.