Lance Moore
RW Monitor
7/10/2015
Utah effectively merged the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste and the Division of Radiation Control into one state division last week under the state’s Department of Environmental Quality. The state legislature had passed a bill earlier this year to combine the two divisions in an effort to streamline efficiency and cut costs related to radioactive waste oversight. The divisions formed the new Division of Waste Management and Radiation Control, which began operations on July 1. “[The move] consolidates redundant positions. A total of 10 positions were eliminated in the process of consolidation,” DEQ spokesperson Donna Spangler said in an email. “The Office of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst estimated an expenditure reduction of $254,200 for DEQ as a result of eliminating a division director position and a support services coordinator position, along with a reduction in board members with possible additional savings.”
One of the newly merged division’s main issues of focus in the coming months will be the EnergySolutions depleted uranium performance assessment review. EnergySolutions plans to submit by October responses to Utah’s questions concerning their PA, which the state found met requirements for protection of the public and inadvertent intruders, but was deficient in eight areas, including areas related to the evapotranspiration cover, infiltration, erosion of cover, frost damage, effects of biological on radionuclide transport, clay liner, GoldSim quality assurance, and deep time analysis. The release of the report would have kicked off a seven week public comment period that would have included public hearings in Salt Lake City and Tooele, Utah, but those meetings turned into informational public meetings after EnergySolutions requested a suspension of the public comment to better address the problem areas of the review.
HEAL Utah Concerned Over Board Representation
The merger had drawn the concern of environmental groups within Utah for its perceived decrease in qualified oversight, especially as it related to the Radiation Control Board’s review of the EnergySolutions depleted uranium performance assessment. The merger itself was not a subject of great concern for HEAL Utah, but rather the composition of the new Waste Management and Radiation Control Board. The new legislation creates a newly comprised increase in the number of members representing regulated industry, and overlaps representation from seats held for the general public and medical professionals, as well as other non-governmental agencies.
Heal Utah Executive Director Matt Pacenza said this week that the alteration of representation within the board was significant to overall fairness. “The old board, before the merger, consisted of nine members, with only three being representatives from regulated industry,” Pacenza told RW Monitor. “Therefore leaving six seats open for the general public and medical professionals. Under the new legislation, that number increases to 11 members, five of them being from regulated industry, therefore increasing proportion in favor of regulated industry.”
In response to these concerns, the Utah DEQ submitted an amendment to the bill, which ultimately passed, making the board a 12 person body, specifically opening up an additional seat for an additional qualified medical professional, Spangler said this week. Membership of the board will include one health physicist, two non-federal government representatives, five representatives from the various industries under regulation, one member from an environmental group, two medical professionals, and one engineer.
