EnergySolutions defends trucking contaminated NM soil into southern Colo.

PUEBLO, Colo. -- A Utah company is defending its decision to truck contaminated soil from Los Alamos National Laboratory into southern Colorado.

Last week, EnergySolutions began shipping the soil by truck to Antonito, where it is loaded on to rail cars. The load is then shipped by rail to Walsenburg and then on to a storage facility in Clive, Utah, 74 miles west of Salt Lake City.

The soil is from an area where conventional weapons were tested and contains depleted uranium and PCBs.

Antonito is about 100 miles from Los Alamos and residents questioned why EnergySolutions didn't truck the soil to a closer railhead. The company says other transfer stations didn't work because they added more rail miles and because of a lack of daily rail service and multiple switching requirements.