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Utah Rep. Rob Bishop will try for a third time to establish a wilderness area in Utah's west desert that would block a rail line needed to deliver spent nuclear fuel rods to a site on the Skull Valley Goshute reservation.

At a news conference Thursday at the state Capitol, Bishop was joined by wilderness advocates, Hill Air Force Base supporters, Utah Reps. Chris Cannon and Jim Matheson and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. as he announced he would introduce a bill in Congress this year to set aside 100,000 acres of wilderness in the Cedar Mountains.

A similar attempt failed in December when Bishop couldn't get the support of the Senate.

This time, he said, the bill's chances are better because he is introducing it earlier in the congressional session.

"I think we've got the procedure right," said the 1st District Republican. "I know we've got the bill right."

Bishop said his bill, called the Utah Test and Training Range Protection Act, would protect the nation's largest overland military training range by stopping the Private Fuel Storage above ground nuclear waste storage facility.

The sprawling range is used by the Air Force for training missions and weapons tests. Bishop said storing the nuclear waste so near the range could severely limit its usefulness, which in turn could hurt the state's case when the Defense Department begins its upcoming round of base closures.

The bill will include language providing parcels of land the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes can use for economic development projects, Bishop said. It also would release a section of wilderness study area to multiple uses.

Despite opposition from the state and its congressional delegation, Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight nuclear power utilities, last month received preliminary licensing approval from a panel of Nuclear Regulatory Commission judges. PFS wants to store 44,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste on the reservation 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

The Goshutes have been embroiled in leadership disputes since three tribal members in 1997 signed a confidential lease agreement with PFS for the $3.1 billion facility.

Last year, Bishop's proposal received unanimous support in the House only to fail in the Senate. That could be a repeat scenario, said Utah Sen. Bob Bennett.

"I'd be supportive of the bill but I'd be misleading you if I said it has much of a chance in the Senate," Bennett said. "There are a variety of senators who opposed it for a variety of reasons."

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Reporter Robert Gehrke contributed to this story.