Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, or HEAL Utah, formally appealed the decision by the Utah Division of Radiation Control to grant the 536-acre expansion a preliminary license before it went to the Legislature and governor for their required approvals. When the company wants to construct specific facilities, it will have to return to regulators with technical data and seek final approval.

Jason Groenewold, director of HEAL Utah, said Tuesday that state regulators should have required the company to submit technical data before approval.

Without that information, he said, "regulators are asking the Legislature to endorse a blank check, turn the other way and let state nuclear waste policy be decided at the regulatory level rather than by the Legislature and governor."

Dane Finefrock, director of the state Division of Radiation Control, said regulators followed the requirements of state laws and regulations when they allowed Envirocare to expand its boundaries but stopped short of allowing waste disposal or other facilities in the new area.

"If Envirocare wants to develop new facilities, they will be required, as they have since 1988, to submit the specific detailed info that allows us to evaluate their proposal," he said.

Finefrock also noted that Charles Judd, the former owner of the 536 acres, already had received site approval for a landfill before selling the land to Envirocare.

But Groenewold pointed out that when Judd was trying to develop the property, Envirocare raised questions about the suitability of the site.

"Now they don't have to resolve any of the questions they raised," he said.

Finefrock said the state found no evidence to support those objections when Envirocare raised them.