Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. declined to veto a bill Tuesday that gives up policy oversight as long as expansions stay within the current mile- square boundary in Tooele County and do not involve hotter waste. And the lack of Huntsman's signature means the bill goes into law, handing the nuclear waste company and its supporters in the Legislature a victory while leaving hundreds of Utahns who called and wrote opposing SB155 disappointed.

"It is not the legislation that concerns me," said Huntsman in a news release explaining his decision, "but the nuclear waste industry and its impact on Utah." He promised to keep close tabs on the amounts of waste going to EnergySolutions, saying in his statement: "I take very seriously my responsibility to ensure that our State will not become the dumping ground for other states' nuclear waste." Last year, Huntsman vetoed a similar - but more far-reaching - bill that would have taken away the governor's final say on waste decisions. Huntsman had announced months before that fight that he opposed expansion of the site onto neighboring acreage.

He also noted his opposition to hotter waste during his first year as governor. Huntsman cited both efforts as evidence of his determination to limit nuclear waste in Utah.

Currently, EnergySolutions is asking state regulators for permission to stack its waste higher, into 83-foot piles rather than the 45-foot high ones currently used.

The company said enactment of the bill only put into policy what has been practice since the site was established 19 years ago. Regulators have amended the company's license more than 80 times, allowed the site to take more and more kinds of waste, and has never been before the Legislature and governor for their approval, as would be required by another waste company.