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House advances bill to give state more oversight of uranium mill tailings
Summary
The House advanced a first substitute to give the state Department of Environmental Quality authority to regulate uranium mills and mill tailings, create fees to fund oversight and add two board seats; sponsors said fees would fund four new DEQ FTEs to perform inspections and regulatory oversight for several Utah sites.
House members debated and advanced a first substitute of Senate Bill 96 to expand state authority over uranium milling operations and mill tailings oversight.
Representative Gowans, presenting the measure, said the bill modifies the Radiation Control Act to authorize the Department of Environmental Quality to regulate certain uranium recovery operations and related activities and to seek agreement‑state primacy from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "This is what this bill is doing... making it possible for the state to take primacy in the uranium mill tailings area," the sponsor said.
Lawmakers asked how the program would be staffed and funded. A member noted the fiscal note showed fees supporting expenditures and asked whether the fee would cover four new positions; the sponsor confirmed, "There would be 4 FTEs added to the Department of Environmental Quality for this oversight, and those fees would also fund that." He said those positions would perform engineering inspection and regulatory oversight.
The sponsor listed sites affected if the state obtained primacy: Rio Algom (a mill undergoing closure in Lisbon Valley), Plateau Resources (a mill and standby at Tikaboo), International Uranium/White Mesa Mill in Blanding, and Envirocare in Tooele County. Supporters described the measure as bringing the state into a delegated federal role that other states take when they accept agreement‑state status.
The House opened and took the vote on the bill and the proceedings show the measure will be returned to the Senate for further processing.
Next steps: The bill advanced on the House floor and was to be returned to the Senate for signature/processing if final procedures were met.
