Self-described watchdog group folds after lawsuit

 

 

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A group that wanted to prevent a Boise-based hazardous-waste services company from bringing low-level nuclear waste into Owyhee County in southwest Idaho has folded.

Citizens for a Clean Idaho, based in Rexburg in southeastern Idaho, formed to protest a plan by American Ecology Corp. to store the waste at its state-regulated Owyhee County burial facility.

American Ecology officials contended Citizens for a Clean Idaho was a front for one of American Ecology's competitors, Utah-based EnergySolutions.

American Ecology filed a defamation lawsuit against Clean Idaho last week in 4th District Court, and the group closed, the Idaho Statesman reported on Saturday.

The group has taken down its Web site and failed to respond to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff report that discounted its claims about 50,000 tons of low-level radioactive material another company wants to take to American Ecology's facility.

Information from: Idaho Statesman, http://www.idahostatesman.com

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