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Waste-Site Saga Nears End A Commission Vote Later This Month May Deed the Land to the Village of Butte, Neb.

Posted on: Tuesday, 18 October 2005, 21:00 CDT

By Nancy Gaarder

The books soon may close on one of the most scrutinized pieces of property in Nebraska -- 320 acres of Boyd County land that was to be the location of a low-level radioactive waste disposal facility.

The Central Interstate LowLevel Radioactive Waste Commission is to vote later this month on a proposal to deed the property to the Village of Butte.

Butte officials say they hope the transfer doesn't close the book on their claim for a larger share of the $145.8 million that Nebraska paid the commission to settle a lawsuit over the failed disposal site.

Butte Mayor Cindy Schroetlin has asked the commission to award the village about $4 million for economic and emotional hardship that Butte experienced by supporting the facility.

Families and friends were pitted against each other in a divisive battle over the disposal site. Village businesses found themselves being shunned by some opponents of the facility. Some Butte businesses closed, although it isn't clear whether the boycott was the reason.

The land, valued at an estimated $160,000, wouldn't cover the debt the village incurred to build a water system to accommodate the disposal facility, Schroetlin said.

The commission has not said whether it intends to award Butte anything beyond the land. If the commission transfers the land to Butte, it still could consider the village's larger claim.

So far, the commission has handed out all but $15 million of the Nebraska settlement.

About $115 million went to the six utilities that funded the effort to build the facility; about $12 million went to US Ecology, the consultant that worked to build it; and $4 million went to Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, the four states that partnered with Nebraska on the project.

The remaining $15 million is being held back for whatever the future brings. The commission could reactivate efforts to find a disposal site for the states' lowlevel radioactive waste.

The six utilities that received the $115 million have laid claim to the remaining money, so Butte would have to compete with them. Commission attorney Alan Peterson said he knows of no legal prohibition preventing Butte from receiving a share.

Source: Omaha World - Herald

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