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N-waste dump plan

Amber Nolan

As the problem of what to do with nuclear waste continues to grow, a small tribe of Native Americans in Utah may soon find that their home will be the dumping ground for a group of electricity companies to abandon their radioactive waste.

    The Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation could hold over 40,000 tons of commercial highlevel nuclear waste following the signing of a lease by three members of the Goshute tribe nearly ten years ago.
    The lease was signed by the disputed tribal leader, Leon Bear, in December 1996 with Private Fuel Storage (PFS), an organisation made up of eight large utility companies. The Goshute General Council did not approve of Bear's decision to do so, and in fact many did not even know about the possible partnership with PFS. Bear himself was later indicted on several counts of tax evasion and theft from the tribal organisation.
    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is still in the process of granting PFS a license to store nuclear waste at Skull Valley (and has been for years). In February 2005 the NRC reversed an earlier ruling that accidental military aircraft crashes in Skull Valley were too probable to allow the licence. Planes often overfly the area with the Hill airbase, located nearby, about 30 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Widespread opposition

In May 2005, the Atomic Safety and licensing board rejected Utah's appeal to prevent PFS's plans to store waste at Skull Valley. Attempts by Utah's representative Rob Bishop to turn parts of the proposed site into a protected wilderness area have also failed.
Members of the Shundahai Network (Shundahai is a Western Shoshone word meaning "Peace and Harmony with all Creation") are working hard to publicise the proposed dump at Skull Valley - something that even the State of Utah, Utah's federal congressional delegation, and many Utah citizens and citizen organisations officially oppose.

Shundahai Network, PO Box 1115, Salt Lake City, UT 84110, USA (+1 801 533 0128; fax 533 0129; email shundahai@shundahai.org; http://www.Shundahai.org).

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