The state's lawyers insist that's way too much, but a federal magistrate isn't taking sides yet.

Last week U.S. Magistrate Brooke C. Wells directed the parties to work out an agreement on lawyer fees over the next month. She also ordered the attorneys to present their resolution to her by month's end.

Both lawyers for Private Fuel Storage, a group of electric companies with nuclear reactors, and the Skull Valley Goshutes, a tiny Indian tribe leasing reservation land for the storage, have said they submitted a cut-rate bill for their work.

Together, they sued the state in 2001 over five laws openly intended to block the waste site, which would hold up to 44,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste for up to 40 years under a license approved in February by federal nuclear regulators. A federal judge dismissed the case before it went to trial, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to weigh in.

Lawyers for the state have called the fees “excessive.”

“We don't know where [the discussions] will lead,” said Bill Hanson, an assistant attorney general. “But we will negotiate in good faith.”

When presented last winter, the bill raised questions about the Legislature's process for vetting proposed bills. Lawmakers in years past had their counsel perform in-depth reviews of so-called "message bills" that were likely to attract lawsuits, but that practice changed a couple of years ago. Now, most bills go through a cursory screening.

If the lawyers are unable to strike a deal before Sept. 26, the federal magistrate will go forward with a hearing on Oct. 5.

fahys@sltrib.com