UTAH SENATE HOLDS UP NOMINATION OF ENERGYSOLUTIONS EXEC TO RADIATION BOARD

By ExchangeMonitor

The Utah State Senate will hold a hearing in coming weeks on the nominations of an EnergySolutions representative and a member of an environmental activist group to the reconstituted state Radiation Control Board. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert (R) included EnergySolutions Vice President of Environmental Compliance Dan Shrum and Sarah Fields with environmental group Uranium Watch on a list of appointees he sent earlier this month to the Utah State Senate Natural Resources committee. However, after activist group HEAL Utah submitted more than 1,600 signatures protesting naming Shrum to the board, Sen. Gene Davis (D) called for the nominations to be held up pending a hearing. Natural Resources Chair Sen. Ralph Okerlund (R) agreed to hold a hearing on the nominations, which will likely take place in early September.

Utah bill SB 21, signed into law March 19, will reshape every environmental board in the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, beginning with the Radiation Control Board. The law establishes new parameters of membership for the board, including the requirement that one nuclear industry professional be represented, which Shrum’s appointment would fulfill.

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