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Richard Piatt ReportingUtah lawmakers are at the state capitol today meeting in a special session. Most of the items are technical changes to laws that were passed earlier this year. And this is also 'interim day' for the legislature, where future bills are proposed and talked out.
Of the bills involved in the special session, one has been removed. It was taken out because it tapped into the hotly debated competency based education changes--a topic lawmakers decided was better suited for the general session.
The topic of hazardous and radioactive waste, while not part of today's session, does promise to consume time next year. That's in spite of Envirocare removing itself from the debate on accepting waste from Ohio. The company is still trying to get permission to accept hotter waste from other sources.
Rep. Stephen Urquhart, (R) St. George: "The 'B' and 'C' issue is still hanging out there. We assume that at some point Enviorcare will ask the legislature for approval of that. So we still need to do our homework and see what issues are involved with that."
Also today, lawmakers asked for an independent review of the Utah Department of Environmental Quality, so they can understand how state regulators decide what kinds of waste should be allowed into Utah.
All this is proof that even though radioactive waste is not part of the agenda this special session, the issue is not about to get buried in bureaucracy.
