In a letter to Don Metzler, the Grand Junction, Colo.-based project director over the Moab mill tailings site, Huntsman said it is clear the tailings can't be left in the river's floodplain.
"This work should be commenced immediately, and federal funding should be sought to complete the work as promptly as possible," he wrote.
Multiple studies - conducted by the state, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Utah; an assessment by the National Academy of Sciences, and the devastation wreaked by recent flooding on the normally placid Virgin and Santa Clara rivers - prove the need to move the tailings off the much larger river, the governor said.
"We cannot afford to assume the risks associated with having uranium tailings strewn along river banks and bars of the Colorado River below Moab," the governor wrote.
"Good science and good sense tell us the tailings must be moved."
The letter was submitted as part of the Energy Department's comment period on the draft environmental impact statement concerning what to do with 11.9 million tons of radioactive tailings left after Cold War-era uranium mining.
Toxins from the tailings are leaching into the river and contaminating drinking and irrigation water that serves 20 million people downstream.
Huntsman said he preferred the tailings be moved to an area known as Klondike Flats, 18 miles northwest of Moab, which has broad support from federal, state and local agencies and residents.
Four public hearings have been held on the 1,000-page draft environmental impact statement released in November.
The study outlined five possibilities, including capping the debris where it sits, moving it to one of three locations or doing nothing. In an unusual move, the DOE did not identify a preferred alternative.
The public comment period on the report ends this week. A final environmental impact statement is expected in summer and the decision on what to do with the tailings by autumn.
The cleanup, which will include groundwater remediation no matter which alternative wins out, is estimated to cost $10.75 million for design and construction plus an annual cost of $906,000.
Capping the tailings in place would cost $166 million and take seven to 10 years to complete. Moving the tailings would cost between $329 million and $464 million.
High revenue helps peace
While funds for transportation have been a point of contention between GOP lawmakers and Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., new revenue numbers may make the point moot. With the state expecting about $122 million more than previously estimated, Huntsman may agree to pump $85 million into roads and still get some of his other priorities funded.
