Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, among other elected officials, will use the event to urge Utah residents to say "No Way" to proposed storage of 44,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in the state's West Desert.
Styled as a "rally," the public event is planned for noon at the State Office Building, in the Capitol Complex. The leaders will urge residents to write to the Bureau of Land Management to oppose a proposed transfer station on federal property to transport nuclear waste to the Scull Valley Goshute Reservation.
"Utah is not a dumping ground for the country and I will not allow this to happen on my watch," Huntsman said in a statement. "We must join together and say 'No Way' to nuclear waste."
"This Skull Valley project is grade-A nonsense, and we're not going to stand for it," said Hatch. "We all need to flood the BLM with our concerns about putting spent nuclear fuel so close to the people living along the Wasatch Front and in the flight path of armed F-16s."
The BLM is accepting public comment until May 8. Letters may be addressed to Pam Schuller, US BLM, 2370 S. 2300 W. SLC, Utah 84119. Emails may be sent to Pam_Schuller@BLM.gov.
