The Utah proposal, which seeks to create a wilderness area as a barrier to the rail shipments, is entering a crucial final stage as members of the House and Senate prepare to negotiate the final version of the defense package that could include the provision.

Utah lawmakers are hopeful that blocking the rail shipments will doom the nuclear waste site and keep it from impeding the Air Force's use of the sprawling Utah Test and Training Range.

Several electric utilities formed a group called Private Fuel Storage to store 44,000 tons of nuclear fuel from commercial reactors in steel casks on the Skull Valley reservation until a permanent repository can be built, presumably at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

The House approved the Cedar Mountain Wilderness designation in the version of the defense bill it passed earlier this year, but it was not in the Senate bill completed this week.

The fight now is to persuade senators to keep the wilderness area in the final version. Twice before, similar efforts crumbled in the House-Senate conference committee.

Huntsman met mostly with Utah members Thursday to discuss strategy, but he also spoke with House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., about how to keep the Cedar Mountain Wilderness language in the defense bill.

He plans to meet today with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid gave the wilderness bill a major boost last week as he agreed to drop his long-standing opposition to the plan. Reid's change came after talks with Huntsman and Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah.

Bennett also laid the groundwork for Reid's shift by his September announcement that he was abandoning his support for the Yucca Mountain waste dump.

Mike Lee, general counsel to Huntsman, said he is optimistic the state will get the Cedar Mountain Wilderness through Congress.

“The governor is an extremely effective spokesperson for the state and extremely effective in communicating the need to protect Utah's Test and Training Range, and our meetings today have gone well,” Lee said.

The leading opponents of the Cedar Mountain proposal are Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, whose former staffer is the lead lobbyist for PFS.

Also on Thursday, Huntsman met with Commerce Secretary Carlos Guiterrez and Undersecretary for International Trade Frank Lavin to discuss a cement shortage and the potential for improving imports from Mexico “while maintaining fair trading standards,” Huntsman said in a statement.

Huntsman also plans to discuss immigration during his meetings with McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.