Sen. Orrin Hatch urges Utah legislature to oppose Skull Valley nuclear‑waste proposal

U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch addressed the Utah Senate in a committee of the whole, urging state lawmakers and local leaders to oppose the Skull Valley consolidated interim storage proposal and to submit public comments before the Bureau of Land Management’s May 8 deadline. Hatch told senators he believes the project is “not in the public interest” and described potential risks to national security and to local communities.

Hatch said the proposal threatens military operations and nearby facilities, including the Utah Test and Training Range and Hill Air Force Base. “It’s a threat to our Utah test and training range, a threat to Hill Air Force Base,” Hatch said, adding that the projected scale discussed by proponents — thousands of waste casks in close proximity to military training airspace and a municipal airport — raises security and safety concerns.

The senator appealed for coordinated action from the state’s delegation, governor and local officials. He said more than half of private-sector companies initially associated with the storage plan were withdrawing and called on the legislature to submit a formal statement to the BLM: “We need to overwhelm the BLM with, with how deeply we feel that this is not in the public interest.”

Lawmakers pressed Hatch on related energy issues. Sen. McCoy asked whether state interest in developing nuclear generation or another energy strategy would affect efforts to stop Skull Valley; Hatch replied that he believed the Skull Valley plan could be stopped and said nuclear energy should be part of long‑term policy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. Hatch also pointed to other state energy options — tar sands, oil shale incentives and geothermal development — as pieces of a broader strategy.

Hatch framed several technical and factual points as his assessment or as industry claims. For example, he described industry estimates and company statements about recoverable tar‑sands deposits and about waste‑storage proposals; those figures are presented as Hatch’s statements rather than verified findings. He also encouraged senators to coordinate submissions and work with the federal delegation on a unified response.

The Senate dissolved the committee of the whole after Hatch’s remarks and returned to the regular calendar. The BLM comment deadline Hatch cited is May 8; Hatch asked the legislature, local governments and residents to submit comments and said delegation offices would provide guidance on how to do so.

The Legislature recessed until 2:00 p.m.