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Letter: Don’t let HB220 fool you

(Photo courtesy of EnergySolutions)  In this 2015 courtesy photo, EnergySolutions is temporarily storing barrels of depleted uranium in a controlled warehouse at their Clive facility in Utah's west desert. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is finalizing its regulation for how this waste will be processed.  It will eventually be buried in a cell at the Clive facility.

(Photo courtesy of EnergySolutions) In this 2015 courtesy photo, EnergySolutions is temporarily storing barrels of depleted uranium in a controlled warehouse at their Clive facility in Utah's west desert. The Utah Department of Environmental Quality is finalizing its regulation for how this waste will be processed. It will eventually be buried in a cell at the Clive facility.

Currently Utah receives Class A radioactive waste. Class B and C forms of waste have so far been banned in Utah.

I was riding out in Skull Valley last summer and pastures where cows are feeding have signs that warn of radioactivity. What happens to those cows? Who is eating that meat or drinking that milk?

Class A waste, no matter how many containers they store it in, still leaks into the ground.

Now, with the new dry port coming into Salt Lake City, I can only imagine if Class B and Class C waste is accepted, we will be open to a future Legislature allowing train loads, truck loads, the world’s loads of radioactive waste to Utah.

Please vote to keep the ban on Class B and C waste. HB220 would allow one person — a political appointee — to decide what waste will be accepted. Don’t be fooled about who is lining that political appointee’s pockets.

This is about the health and welfare of our families and children for generations to come. Please don’t let Utah be a dumping ground.

Valerie Colgain, Kaysville

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