A day after the state lost a key battle to keep the Goshute Indian Reservation from obtaining a license to store 44,000 tons of waste on its land 45 miles west of Salt Lake City, Huntsman says he will exhaust every chance Utah has to keep the waste out.

And if he can't bend the president's ear?

"If not, we will be back in the next two to three weeks to meet with the secretary of the Interior and others and fight this battle with every ounce of energy we can muster," Huntsman told The Salt Lake Tribune on Friday.

He cited the last options the state has, including appealing Thursday's decision of the licensing board to the five-member Nuclear Regulatory Commission, fighting to keep the Bureau of Land Management from approving the deal and possibly seeking intervention from the U.S. Supreme Court. The latter option, he said, is "becoming increasingly viable."

Thursday's decision cleared the way for a utility consortium called Private Fuel Storage to get a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build and operate a storage site on Goshutes land. State officials have balked at the plan, but the latest ruling is a significant setback.

The governor also says he will talk to Bush about his No Child Left Behind initiative, which has faced strong opposition on Utah's Capitol Hill, where lawmakers call it an underfunded mandate and an overreaching of federal authority. The House of Representatives last week passed a bill and resolution hammering the law's intrusion into state affairs.

Huntsman leaves today for the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, and is scheduled to meet Sunday with the president. He returns Tuesday in time for the end of the state legislative session the following day.

Huntsman says he is content with actions of the Legislature so far.

"Having not seen the entire product, I am pleased with the overall direction," he said. "It's premature to render judgment right now."

And, he says, right now he has no plans to veto any legislation. But, he added, "Check [back] in a few days."

Huntsman has gotten some of what he wanted in the session, but lost others.

A proposal to phase out the corporate income tax was gutted in the House, but then came back in the Senate and could still pass. But Huntsman lost a battle to grant unmarried adults some marriage-like rights.

And the governor had to compromise with lawmakers on his budget priorities.

Legislators put much more money into transportation than Huntsman had recommended.

"I think what we're seeing is a reasonably good balance between the enormous needs for transportation and that of investing in our future brain power, which is education. We're finding a reasonably good balance as we sit here today," he said.

"We'll have to wait for the final numbers before I render judgment."

tburr@sltrib.com