Despite a congressional mandate to remove the mountain of uranium tailings and contaminated soil by 2019, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told House members Thursday that his department won't finish the project until 2025 or later.

That infuriated Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, who has repeatedly pressed the department to quickly remove the pile outside of Moab, which threatens the drinking water of 30 million downstream users.

"It just seems like this thing is going on forever," Matheson said after the House Energy and Commerce hearing. "More disturbing is that they would ignore an act of Congress."

Matheson added a provision in the latest defense bill requiring the Energy Department to remove the Moab tailings by 2019. This was only the latest deadline in a plan that has remained in flux.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, "I have no doubt that, with a little creativity, the earlier deadline can still be met. I certainly haven't given up on that."

The uranium tailings span 130 acres at the edge of the Colorado River, where studies have found that uranium and ammonia are contaminating the water.

The tainted dirt is left over from a uranium-processing mill that was operated by Charlie Steen's Atlas Mineral Corp. The company closed the mill in 1984 and filed for bankruptcy in 1998.

Two years later the Energy Department took control of the site.

Its original plan was to move the uranium tailings out on rails, finishing up by 2012. But last year Bodman told Congress that budget constraints have pushed that deadline back another 14 years to 2028.

And even when pushed by Matheson on Thursday, Bodman reiterated that his department won't rush to clean up the Moab site, saying it is less of a priority than other "higher risk" contamination projects throughout the country.

Bodman named the Savannah River site as one of those priority projects. The site in western South Carolina is loaded with chemical and nuclear waste.

But the department has awarded a contract with EnergySolutions and is moving forward with plans to ship the tailings to a safe site in Crescent Junction, according to department spokeswoman Megan Barnett.

"We are committed to moving the mill tailings pile in a safe and expeditious manner away from the Colorado River," she said.

In the end, it all comes down to funding. President Bush has budgeted $30.5 million for the next fiscal year. But the department would need more than $45 million next year to keep on pace to reach the 2019 deadline.

Matheson promised to fight for more money, but he also said Bodman has used the funding as "an excuse."

"It seems like every step of the process is taking longer," Matheson told the secretary during the hearing. "I don't understand why it is one delay after one delay after one delay, and I don't think it is simply budget."

He claimed the staffers charged with leading the removal effort are dragging their feet on a number of issues, including the debate about whether to remove the tailings by truck or by train.

Matheson also criticized the Energy Department for not releasing a year-by-year budget for the Moab cleanup, which could cost as much as $500 million in all.

"My question is: Where is the plan?" Matheson said.

Barnett said that plan is in the works. The department is teaming with EnergySolutions to develop an annual cost and work plan.

Right now, the department is only looking five years in the future, when it hopes to have removed 2.5 million tons of the 16 million tons of contaminated waste.

mcanham@sltrib.com