LETTER: Good thing it didn’t pass

Editor,

I am writing concerning your publication of In the Nov. 6 issue of The Statesman. You wrote concerning why you believe Initiative 1 should have passed.

I, on the other hand, strongly believe it is a good thing it didn’t. You mentioned in your article that Gov. Michael Leavitt “recently said that he wants to put more money into education so that the future of Utah will be properly taught” and that “this initiative provided a way for additional revenue … to be brought into education to help students all across the state.”

In actuality, the Governor also opposed this initiative, and for good reason. Initiative 1 was not only drafted with no public input, but was also aimed at Utah’s only high-level radioactive waste disposal company, Envirocare.

Envirocare already pays the state $10 million in taxes. This initiative would have raised those taxes to $200 million. With the huge taxes that Initiative 1 would have pressed on businesses dumping waste in Utah, they would have taken their business elsewhere and left Utah, putting Envirocare out of business, and would have put its 400-plus employees out of jobs in a time when jobs are already scarce.

This initiative as not only far too long for any of the public to read, but we already have laws regulating the waste anyway. The goals that Initiative 1 had were valid, but the way they went about it was wrong. If the Utah government itself got together and passed some laws against waste and taxes imposed on businesses dumping here, and also made it so that the public could read it easily, that would be a much better way to pass regulatory laws on Utah’s radioactive waste-dumping businesses.

There were also other agendas for the people who created Initiative 1. They wanted to put Envirocare out of business so that they could bring their own business in. For all these reasons and more, I believe it is a good thing that Initiative 1 didn’t pass.

Carly Smith