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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Legislature would be able to permit the creation or expansion of a radioactive waste site even if a governor vetoes it under a bill approved by the House on Wednesday.
But the governor might still be able to be the final word on hazardous and radioactive waste sites.
Senate Bill 70 passed with a substantial majority, 47-27, but it failed to receive the 51 votes needed to override the veto of the bill that Gov. Jon Huntsman has promised in the past.
The bill already received enough votes in the Senate to override a Huntsman veto after passing 21-5 there.
"We are still disappointed that it passed. This is a very important issue for the governor, and we'll do what we feel is necessary to make certain the governor's position is understood," said Mike Mower, the governor's spokesman.
Huntsman would have to veto the bill within 10 days. Mower said he doesn't know what the reaction to a veto might be from the Legislature.
"Hopefully his veto would be upheld," Mower said. "The vast majority of Utahns agree with the governor. This is a vitally important issue. We're optimistic that any action the governor may take will be supportive."
Before the bill was approved, it survived two attempts to amend it. One by Rep. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, would have taken away the Legislature's ability to override the governor's veto for radioactive waste sites but leave it in place for municipal or commercial dumps handling everyday trash.
"I think municipal solid waste is just not a big deal. You're talking about banana peels and newspapers," Urquhart said. "But hazardous and especially radioactive (waste) is something that's going be in the state longer than all the 'begats' in Genesis."
The bill was drafted by Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper. Stephenson wrote his bill after Huntsman said he would veto the expansion of the Envirocare waste site, about 80 miles west of Salt Lake City. Envirocare -- now known as EnergySolutions -- is one of three U.S. sites licensed to take commercial low-level radioactive waste. It handles much of the commercial radioactive waste that comes from nuclear power plants, as well as from medical and research facilities.
The company has said it has adequate capacity at the landfill to accept low-level radioactive and hazardous waste for up to 20 years and that it wants to double the size of its facility.
Current law requiring legislative and gubernatorial approval of such sites was put in place after the state was flooded by applications to establish new waste sites. Stephenson's bill leaves an exemption for high-level nuclear waste, which would still need the governor's approval.
Critics have said Stephenson, who is president of the business-backed Utah Taxpayers Association, is catering to EnergySolutions' needs.
But Stephenson and the House sponsor of the bill, Rep. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said it's not a matter of helping out one company but rather one of restoring the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches.
"This isn't a matter of the type of waste. This is a matter of constitutional rights and policy," Adams said.
Another amendment by Rep. David Hogue, R-Riverton, would have eliminated that exemption, but failed.
"If we were to leave that out we'd only be doing half our job," Hogue said.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
