Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--13 Jul 2001
Utah loses appeal on spent fuel storage facility

Private Fuel Storage (PFS) does not have to give Utah an uncensored version of its lease agreement for land owned by the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians for a spent fuel storage facility, a federal appeals court ruled this week. In response to a 1997 Freedom of Information Act request to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for a copy of the lease, the state of Utah received a redacted copy because certain portions of the contract were deemed to be classified business information. After losing a challenge in federal district court, the state appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. But the appeals court agreed with the lower court that the disclosure of the lease information would put PFS and the Goshutes at a competitive disadvantage for future deals.