Congressional staff spent Monday poring over the 1,400-page bill, since it was passed with such haste over the weekend that few knew what was in it. The Utah projects alone ranged from combating drugs to studying bee biology and renovating a dance academy.

Taxpayer watchdog groups and fiscal conservatives blasted the bill as being loaded with nearly $15 billion in unnecessary pork-barrel spending.

"This bill in no way reflects the fiscal realities of our times," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the funds are important improvements to life in the state.

"These projects represent important economic and health and safety needs for people throughout Utah," he said. "The money supports high-priority projects under way that contribute to a better quality of life for all of us here."

The big-ticket items included $48 million for the completion of the Central Utah Project -- a project begun in 1959 to channel water from the Uinta Mountains to Salt Lake and Utah counties -- and $10.9 million for various other Bureau of Reclamation water projects throughout the state.

The state and counties will receive $19 million to offset lost property tax revenue as a result of ownership of federal land in the state. The federal government owns about 70 percent of Utah land.

Sen. Bob Bennett and Matheson secured more than $7.8 million to continue remediation and possible relocation of the Atlas Uranium Tailings pile. The tailings sit along the banks of the Colorado River. Contaminants from the pile seep into the river, threatening endangered fish and possibly the water supply of downstream users.

The bill includes nearly $59 million in Utah transportation funding, including $10 million for light rail lines in Salt Lake City, $8 million for Salt Lake-to-Ogden commuter rail work.

"Commuter rail is an important component in addressing Utah's growth, particularly along the Wasatch Front," Bennett said. "Just as light rail has helped alleviate congestion on the highways, commuter rail will also help ease this challenge."

It also allocates $11 million for improvements and planning at Salt Lake International Airport and others around the state, and $2 million for an access road in the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, a project backed by Rep. Rob Bishop.

There is more than $40 million in agricultural spending for projects like controlling Mormon Cricket populations at a cost of $1 million, a $20 million environmental conservation program, and more than $15 million for Utah State University research projects on rangeland management, drought and air quality and $1.6 million to study bee biology.

As the only member of the appropriations committee in the Utah delegation, Bennett was a key player in seeing the Utah funds into the bill.

Other Utah funds include:

* $28 million so a compensation program for Downwinders -- people sickened from their exposure to fallout from Cold War nuclear weapons tests -- so the fund would not run out of money and be forced to issue IOUs to those suffering from cancers and other illnesses.

* $5 million for the Utah Museum of Natural History site preparation.

* $1.7 million for various justice and law enforcement programs in the state.

* $1.8 million for an expansion of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.

* $3.2 million for sage grouse conservation.

* $3 million to help the Bureau of Land Management expedite oil and gas applications and nearly $5 million in other public lands projects.

* $3.45 million for various education programs, including $800,000 for teacher training through the Western Governors University.

* $3.5 million in various community revitalization projects, including $1 million for work on the Utah Shakespearean Festival Elizabethan Theatre in Cedar City and $1.1 million for the Box Elder Dance Academy in downtown Brigham City.