And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Source: <A HREF="http://www.sltrib.com/03131999/utah/90285.htm"> http://www.sltrib.com/03131999/utah/90285.htm</A> ======================================================== March 13, 1999 More Than Half of Goshutes Sue Tribe Over Waste Plan BY JIM WOOLF THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE More than half of the Goshutes living on the Skull Valley reservation sued the federal government this week to overturn an agreement allowing nuclear waste to be stored on their land. In a hearing Friday, they asked U.S. District Court Judge Dale A. Kimball to consolidate their case with a similar suit filed by the state. Kimball scheduled a hearing for April 6 to hear arguments on the request. The 135-member Skull Valley Band of Goshutes is divided over a proposal by a consortium of electric utilities to build a storage facility for radioactive wastes on tribal land in western Utah. The consortium is known as Private Fuel Storage (PFS). Tribal leaders on May 20, 1997, signed a lease with PFS. The company has since been preparing an environmental impact statement and completing a safety analysis of the project. Several other tribal members have voiced opposition to the deal, but they took no legal action until this week. The lawsuit is against the U.S. Department of Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). It claims officials of these agencies had a responsibility to oversee tribal decisions and should not have approved the lease with PFS when there was evidence of "improprieties, including indications of conflicts of interest, lack of authority and/or unlawful acts" by tribal leaders. It also argues that BIA should have reviewed claims of environmental racism against the tribe, conducted health and safety studies, and completed its own environmental impact statement before authorizing the lease. Only about 25 members of the tribe live on the reservation, and more than half of them signed onto the lawsuit. Also joining in the lawsuit was the Confederated Tribes of the Goshute -- the name of the Goshutes living along the Utah-Nevada border in Ibapah. They asked Kimball to declare the existing lease "null and void" and order the BIA to approve no future leases unless there are guarantees the wastes will be moved off tribal land within 50 years and the company posts a large enough bond to guarantee the site will be restored afterwards. The state already had a lawsuit before Kimball relating to the lease between the Goshutes and PFS. The state wants to participate in BIA's deliberations of the project and have a voice the agency decides whether to approve the finished plan. The BIA's last step in that process would be placing a final signature to the lease. The state also wants details of financial agreement between PFS and the Goshutes be made public. Release of that information is "crucial," said Philip C. Pugsley, an attorney for the state. ======================================================= ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ideas on how we can improve ONElist? http://www.onelist.com Check out the Suggestion Box feature on our new web site ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DOEWatch List --- Subscribe online: http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/doewatch"We have discovered the most terrible bomb in the history of the world. It may be the fire destruction prophesized in the Euphrates Valley Era, after Noah and his fabulous Ark. Anyway we think we have found the way to cause the disintegration of the atom." -Quote from Truman's diary July 25, 45 after Pottsdam and the "baby was born"""The Doctor of the future will give No Medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease."."-Attributed to Thomas Alva Edisonn"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act"t"-George Orwell &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
