Sounds nuts, right?
Oh, by the way, did we mention that the trash is low-level nuclear waste from decommissioned reactors?
And did we mention that the Italians really want to do this?
You would imagine that the American people in South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and all points in between along the route would get together for a collective message to the Italians, something like, "Hell, No! Take care of your own damn garbage."
Which is pretty much the way we feel about it.
The only people who might not feel that way are the folks who own the EnergySolutions nuclear dump in Tooele County, who stand to make a tidy profit from the deal. You know, Steve Creamer and his crew of nuclear grave diggers.
Utah Congressman Jim Matheson has a more formal way to say no to the Italians. He has introduced a bill that would prohibit the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission from authorizing the importing of foreign-generated low-level nuclear waste. Congressmen from Tennessee and Kentucky are co-sponsors.
Unfortunately, another Utah congressman, Rob Bishop, is not a co-sponsor. In fact, he seems to be rowing in the opposite direction, telling the Associated Press the other day that if states are willing to accept nuclear waste from foreign countries, there's no reason the federal government should prohibit them from handling it.
"I don't see it as a federal issue," Bishop told the AP.
That's dead wrong for a couple of reasons. First, Congress has pre-empted the authority of the states on nuclear safety issues and vested that power in the NRC. Utah learned that to its chagrin when its attempt to block the Private Fuel Storage project for high-level nuclear waste on the Goshute reservation in Skull Valley was shot down in federal court. The NRC later blocked that project.
Second, the transport of nuclear waste across numerous states is a matter of interstate commerce, a federal issue under the Constitution.
So, Matheson's bill is the right approach. Bishop should get onboard.
