Utah Lawmaker Apologizes for Remark

Wednesday March 31, 2004 6:46 PM


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - A Utah lawmaker apologized for an insult that prompted nuclear waste activists to call for his resignation.

In a letter to the Healthy Environmental Alliance of Utah, state Sen. Curt Bramble said he regretted saying that the group's acronym, HEAL, stood for "Help Educate Anal Liberals."

"I apologize,'' the Republican lawmaker wrote in a letter dated Monday. "Those of you who have scrutinized the issue know the context in which my remarks were given, and that no harm was intended.''

Bramble made the remark on March 5 at a rally supporting Envirocare, which operates a landfill in Utah that is one of just three in the nation that accepts low-level radioactive waste.

Bramble co-chairs the Legislature's Hazardous Waste Regulation and Tax Policy Task Force, which is to make recommendations next year on whether Envirocare should be allowed to accept hotter radioactive wastes than its current state and federal licenses allow.

HEAL activists had called for Bramble's resignation, expressing concern he could not remain neutral on the issue.

Bramble promised the group he would act fairly, but HEAL Director Jason Groenwold said he was not sure what to make of the apology.

"It does nothing to resolve his bias toward Envirocare,'' Groenwold said.

Associated Press

I don't know...I think maybe the guy was on the right track!