Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) on Thursday proposed but immediately withdrew a rider to the national energy policy legislation that would have blocked the Skull Valley Goshute Tribe's nuclear waste repository.

The proposal has not previously been the subject of a Senate hearing or debate. But Hatch said it was necessary to block "private" sites from hosting waste hundreds of miles away from the nuclear reactors that generated it.

"A few nuclear power companies should not hijack our nation's nuclear waste strategy by building an off-site, above-ground storage site in Skull Valley," Hatch said on the Senate floor, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. "Is our nuclear waste policy going to be established by the federal government, or should that policy-making rest with a couple of private companies driven by profit?"

Sen. Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, then released a statement supporting a federal nuclear waste repository, such as the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada.

Get the Story:
Hatch pitches toughest assault to date on PFS (The Salt Lake Tribune 6/24)
Hatch takes aim at PFS (The Provo Daily Herald 6/24)
Utah senator wants new look at nuclear waste policy (The Las Vegas Review-Journal 6/24)

Relevant Documents:
News Release: NRC Licensing Board Denies Utah's Motion (May 24, 2005) | Public Decision: In the matter of Private Fuel Storage (February 24, 2005)

Relevant Links:
Skull Valley Goshute Tribe - http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org
Private Fuel Storage - http://www.privatefuelstorage.com

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