Utah appears to have won its fight against nuclear waste storage on the Goshute reservation in Skull Valley.

The U.S. Department of the Interior rejected Private Fuel Storage's plans to operate there. The consortium had sought the department's approval for a land lease and rights of way, either for a rail spur to the proposed dump or for a transfer facility that would switch casks from trains to trucks for the last 26 miles of the trip.

The department found plenty of reasons to reject the concept:

The newly designated Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area blocks a railroad spur to the site.

Oversized, lumbering waste trucks would cause traffic problems on Skull Valley Road, a narrow, two-lane highway that already services a busy landfill on the Goshute reservation.

PFS spent too much time talking about how it would move waste into Skull Valley while putting little thought into the plan for removing the 40,000 metric tons of spent fuel when the facility eventually closes.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs official who granted conditional approval of the lease was not authorized to do that, nullifying the tribe's agreement.

Neither the Tooele County Sheriff's Office nor the BIA has the resources needed to provide police protection for the site.

On the strength of those and other problems, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne pulled the plug.

The sheer number of objections cited in the 46-page report suggests that this time the war is really over. Even though PFS says it is reviewing the matter and examining its options, it is unlikely that the plan will suddenly revive like a horror movie monster.

After eight years of defeats in the courts and at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, we can start breathing a little easier. We don't have to worry that nuclear waste shipments will put Utahns at risk of radiation exposure in an accident or terrorist attack. Nor do we have to worry that the "temporary" waste site will become permanent if Yucca Mountain fails to open.

As we celebrate victory, however, let's not forget the Goshutes. The impoverished tribe saw nuclear waste as a ticket to prosperity, so this is a setback in the view of some.

With waste off the table, the tribe's desire to work with the state on economic development may improve -- which would be a good thing. But the well of possibilities is admittedly not deep. Government needs to make a genuine effort to help the Goshutes develop new sources of income.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.

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