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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Batt Refuses To Debate Nuclear Waste Deal

Associated Press

Gov. Phil Batt on Friday rejected out of hand the request to debate his nuclear waste deal with the leader of the campaign to recall him.

“Certainly not,” Batt said several hours after Peter Rickards renewed his request through the media for a public face-off with the governor over the Oct. 16 agreement that permits 1,133 more loads of nuclear waste to be dumped in Idaho in exchange for promises that it and most other waste be removed from the state by 2035.

The Twin Falls podiatrist, who has been an ardent opponent of storing more atomic waste at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, maintains Batt’s deal fails to protect the environment and health of Idahoans and opens the state up to being the nation’s permanent waste dump.

But Batt, who spent weeks negotiating the agreement, has maintained the deal protects Idaho from becoming the dumping ground for tens of thousands of more waste shipments because it caps the number of new shipments that can be made to the state and assures under court enforcement that waste now at the INEL will be cleaned up.

Although personally hurt by the recall drive Rickards has started, Batt has repeatedly said he believes the campaign is nothing more than a means of drawing some attention to Rickards long-shot bid to oust Republican Congressman Michael Crapo in next May’s GOP primary election.

Rickards said he was willing to challenge the provisions of the deal not only with the governor but all his experts.

Rickards has until Dec. 26 to gather 125,000 signatures to force a recall of the governor.