HEAL Utah has issued the statement below urging citizens to attend the hearing TODAY on S.B. 70 (Sen. Stephenson), which, if passed, would allow Envirocare to double the size of its radioactive waste dump. The hearing will be heard by the Senate Natural Resources Committee at 9am in room 015 of the West Wing (bottom floor of the new west wing addition to the capitol.
Citizens are also urged to email their representatives (Email addreses are listed towards the end of this post.).
As I posted a few days ago, it has been discovered that Sen. Stephenson is a registered lobbyist for the group Utah Taxpayers Association, which ironically includes amongst Envirocare its members.
Corporate interests continue to be the focus of some legislators, influenced heavily by the corporations themselves, at the expense of our environment and health and well-being of our citizens. Citizens need to send a strong message to our representatives that we are tired of Utah being used as a dumping ground, we are tired of our legislators not representing the desires of their consituents, we are tired of our legislators continually proposing bills that clearly represent conflicts of interest and we are tired of our lives and those of our children’s and beyond being sacrificed for greed and the interests of the elite few.
Message from HEAL:
Please attend this hearing so we can send a clear message to our legislators that making it easier for nuclear and toxic waste companies to expand or develop in Utah is unacceptable.
Clearly, our legislators are fast tracking this bill and trying to keep the public out of the process. Whatever you can do to take a little time out of your day will go a long way towards holding our legislators accountable to the public.
S.B. 70 caters to one powerful lobby–Envirocare–and changes a law put in place to protect the public from nuclear and toxic waste. Current law requires Envirocare to receive regulatory, legislative, and gubernatorial approval to expand. With Governor Huntsman saying “N-O” to Envirocare’s expansion request last fall, the nuclear waste dump is now trying to rewrite the law to remove the Governor from the approval process by allowing the Legislature to override a gubernatorial veto. In other words, Envirocare couldn’t get what they wanted from the Governor so they are changing the law so his approval is not needed.
There is also a conflict of interest here. Sen. Stephenson is a registered lobbyist for the Utah Taxpayers Association, of which Envirocare is a member. So Envirocare gives money to the Taxpayers Association, which employs Sen. Stephenson, whose bill will directly benefit Envirocare.
This bill is dangerous. Unlike a tax bill, the decision to let nuclear waste dumps develop or expand is not something that can be undone. We will live with these decisions for not just centuries, but for thousands of years. The Governor’s approval is required by law because he represents the interests of all Utahns. The public is overwhelmingly opposed to nuclear and toxic waste being dumped in Utah. But if the law is changed, it would be much easier for Envirocare and other nuclear waste dumps to expand and operate in our state.
Your presence tomorrow, Monday morning, 9:00am, in room W015 of the West Wing, will truly make a difference. Please attend if you can.
In addition to attending the hearing, please take a minute to email the committee members along with the Senate President, Sen. Valentine, to ask them to oppose this bill:
Sen. Waddoups, mwaddoups@utahsenate.org
Sen. Evans, bevevans@ubtanet.com
Sen. Fife, ffife@utahsenate.org
Sen. Hatch, thatch@utahsenate.org
Sen. McCoy, smccoy@utahsenate.org
Sen. Peterson, dpeterson@utahsenate.org
Sen. Valentine, jvalentine@utahsenate.org
Thank you.
John Urgo
Outreach Director
HEAL Utah
68 S Main St, Suite 400
SLC, UT 84101
(801) 355-5055
john@healutah.org
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 