But Utah's delegation says the chances for passage of the Cedar Mountain Wilderness provision, which would block rail access to the reservation, are the best they have ever been.

The Cedar Mountain language would create a new wilderness area near the reservation, preventing the Bureau of Land Management from approving a rail line to deliver waste to the dump proposed by Private Fuel Storage, a group of electric utilities that wants to store 44,000 tons of waste at the site.

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, got the wilderness designation included in the House version of a Defense Department policy bill passed earlier this year.

Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said efforts to get similar language included in the Senate, which is considering the bill this week, while once promising, hit obstacles. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said there was opposition from some in both parties who thought it was a bad way to create wilderness.

An effort to try to add Cedar Mountain on the floor could have backfired, so the decision was made to try to persuade senators to accept the House language when House and Senate members meet later to work out differences in the legislation.

As it stands, Bishop said, "we are in the strongest position we've ever been in with this language since [former Rep.] Jim Hansen came up with this idea."

Bennett said Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner has been open to the Utah delegation's efforts, but the ranking Democrat on the committee, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., opposes the wilderness designation. Two of the utilities that are partners in PFS operate in Michigan.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who had opposed Cedar Mountain in the past, is not a factor. "I would not use the word helpful, but he has not been a hindrance," Bishop said. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., also has had concerns addressed.

Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, whose former staffer is now a lobbyist for PFS, remains one of the staunchest opponents of the Utah effort.

One other possible stumbling block: The White House has threatened to veto the Pentagon bill if the final version includes language proposed by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., prohibiting torture of enemy combatants.

The bid to create a wilderness area surrounding the Skull Valley reservation is part of a multipronged attack on the waste dump.

The state has also asked the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to reconsider a license it approved for the PFS facility in September. Utah attorneys argue the nuclear waste containers that would be used at the PFS site would not be allowed at a proposed permanent dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

The state raised a similar point last fall, but was rejected by the NRC. However, last month, the Energy Department announced a new strategy for Yucca Mountain that Utah's attorneys say changes the equation.

Revisiting the container compatibility issue could yield a different result, the state argued. Both PFS and the NRC staff are expected to argue against the state's request.

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Tribune reporter Thomas Burr contributed to this story.