July 23, 2009 07:07 PM UTC

Penry AWOL On Mesa County Mercury Storage?

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• by: Colorado Pols

They’re turning against proposed federal plans to store mercury in the desert near Grand Junction, reports the Sentinel:

The U.S. Department of Energy should look elsewhere for a place to store the nation’s mercury, said state Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction.

King’s 54th District includes one of the seven sites being considered by the agency for the storage of as much as 17,000 tons of the liquid metal.

Whether the site below Grand Mesa and atop a 700-foot-deep layer of impervious Mancos shale would make for a suitable location for mercury encased in heavy steel flasks is beside the point, King said.

The Energy Department gave its word that the Grand Junction Disposal Site would be used only for uranium mill tailings, King said.

“The Energy Department should go to other sites where they haven’t made these promises,” King said Wednesday after attending a scoping meeting conducted by the Energy Department at Two Rivers Convention Center.

“It goes back to the Code of the West,” he said.

The other “code” that might be worth mentioning here is the code of silence, as the latest word at the Sentinel yesterday from the area’s other state representative…is no word.

State Sen. Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, didn’t return calls seeking comment Tuesday.

After all, it’s still his back yard too, isn’t it? We assume he’s just really busy right now.