Feds To Respond To Batt By Friday

The federal government is expected to respond by next Friday to the latest offer from Gov. Phil Batt to settle the nuclear waste debate without a long court battle.

Batt during the week gave what he termed his final offer and imposed a Tuesday deadline to accept it. But Assistant Energy Secretary Thomas Grumbly said the government needed a few more days.

The governor said that wasn’t a problem, but he took the occasion to blast President Clinton for refusing to set aside even five minutes to talk about the nuclear waste problem.

The president met with about 50 people before leaving from the Idaho Falls Airport on Thursday, ending a 17-day Wyoming vacation. Batt said he wanted to discuss proposals to dump more nuclear waste at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, but the president’s staff said there was no time.

“I have had repeated assurances, including a letter from the president himself, that this issue was of extreme importance to the nation,” Batt said. “Yet Mr. Clinton couldn’t find five minutes to consider Idaho’s plight in this matter.”