Yucca Mountain

Yucca Mountain, the Nevada-based, scientifically flawed and politically unjust proposed high-level radioactive waste repository has now been canceled. However, pro-nuclear forces in Congress have not abandoned Yucca and funding is still allocated to the project.

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Wednesday
Jan272021

Energy Secretary nominee, Jennifer Granholm, cites consent-based siting and expresses opposition to Yucca dump

The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on Jan. 27, 2021 to consider President Joe Biden's nomination of former Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, for Energy Secretary.

During questioning by committee member Catherine Cortez Masto (Democrat-Nevada), Granholm expressed opposition to the high-level radioactive waste dump long targeted at Yucca Mountain, Nevada as an unworkable scheme.

Granholm cited the Final Report published by the Obama administration's Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future in Jan. 2012, which recommended consent-based siting for permanent repositories. Nevada has long expressed its non-consent re: the Yucca dump.

Cortez Masto responded to that by asking if Granholm, and the Biden administration, would thus support the Nevada U.S. congressional delegation's "Nuclear Waste Informed Consent Act" bill, which it has introduced for the past several years. The bill includes Nevada in that requirement for a state's consent, before a repository can be built and operated there. Granholm answered in the affirmative.

Although Cortez Masto did not question Granholm about the Consolidated Interim Storage Facilities targeted at Texas and New Mexico, the Energy Secretary nominee would also have to oppose them as well, since the targeted "host" states do not consent to the siting of either dump (the Texas dump is immediately upon the New Mexico border, and upstream).

Wednesday
Jan272021

Transport Secretary nominee Buttigieg expresses concern about high-level radioactive waste transport risks

On Jan. 21, 2021, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a confirmation hearing for President Joe Biden's nominee to serve as Transportation Secretary, former South Bend, IN mayor, and Democratic presidential candidate, Pete Buttigieg.

On Jan. 27, the Committee approved Buttigieg's nomination, by a vote of 21 to 3. The nomination next moves to the full Senate floor, for a final confirmation vote.

If confirmed, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. history, and also the youngest Transportation Secretary, at age 39.

During the confirmation hearing, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (Democrat-Nevada) questioned Mayor Buttigieg re: the risks of the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump proposal, including shipping irradiated nuclear fuel to Nevada.

The transcript is below and video of the Senator’s exchange on Yucca Mountain can be found here.

ROSEN: Well thank you, I appreciate that. I think I have time for one more question so I want to talk about something that we discussed a little bit, which is Yucca Mountain and nuclear waste disposal. Nevadans refuse to let our state become the nation’s dumping ground for nuclear waste. For over 30 years, we have opposed the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste disposal project, in part because it would require transporting nearly 9,500 rail casks in 2,800 trains and 2,650 trucks from across the country to Nevada.

This is a major transportation crisis waiting to happen, putting major metropolitan areas in 44 states, their freeways and their railways at risk along with millions of Americans. It would require at least 300 miles of new railroad, and take over 50 years – at three loads per week by truck or by train -- to move all this nuclear waste. It’s a huge expense, it’s a huge risk, and we have an aging rail system, and consistent shipments of these heavy casks are going to cause wear and tear. Let alone the safety [issues] and some of the bottlenecks. If you go by train, you have to go by the same four major metropolitan areas three times a week for 50 years with that nuclear waste. I just think that would be unacceptable to those poor cities and our states as well.

As Secretary of Transportation, you will have jurisdiction over the rail lines, and jurisdiction on the transportation of hazardous materials by rail via your Department’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and its Office of Hazardous Materials Safety.

So, with that in mind, given the safety concerns, the economic concerns, and the fact that the state of Nevada has never consented to the project, will you commit to opposing the dangerous shipments [of nuclear waste] to Yucca Mountain?

BUTTIGIEG: I’m committed to making sure that there are solutions that everybody believes in. I share the concerns that you’ve raised, not just from the Nevada perspective but all across the route.

ROSEN: I look forward to having more discussions with you on that. I appreciate your time here today and your willingness to serve our country. I thank you for your service in our military and look forward to working with you when you come out of committee.

[In fact, the South Bend, IN area would be hard-hit by many thousands of high-level radioactive waste shipments bound for Yucca Mountain, Nevada -- even though there are no atomic reactors in IN. The routes to be taken through IN, and the shipment numbers, are documented in 2017 reports prepared by the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Citizens Action Coalition of IN has been the lead group for decades, educating officials in IN, and beyond, about the risks of high-level radioactive waste transportation.] 

Monday
Jan042021

Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann passes on to the Spirit World

Carrie Dann on her land in 1993, as posted by the Right Livelihood FoundationA giant, a living legend, of Indigenous rights activism and leadership, has passed on. It is with sad hearts that we share the news that Western Shoshone elder Carrie Dann (1932-2021) passed on to the Spirit World on January 2, 2021.

This Is Reno reported Carrie Dann's passing.

Brenda Norrell has published a tribute, entitled "Carrie Dann in Her Own Words."

Carrie Dann, along with her sister, Mary Dann (1923-2005), helped lead the Western Shoshone Nation's fight to protect their homeland, Newe Sogobia, against many threats, including nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site (now named the Nevada National Security Site), and high-level radioactive waste dumping at Yucca Mountain, Nevada.

Ian Zabarte, Carrie Dann, and Bob Fulkerson, 2019. Photo by Holly Woodward. Used with permission.Carrie Dann also spoke out against MRS (Monitored Retrievable Storage), now called CIS (Consolidated Interim Storage), whether targeted at Yucca Mountain, or at scores of Native American reservations across the U.S., such as at the Skull Valley Goshutes Indian Reservation in Utah.

(See a 2019 photo of Carrie Dann, with Ian Zabarte and Bob Fulkerson, left. Ian Zabarte is Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians, Secretary of the Native Community Action Council (NCAC), and recipient of Beyond Nuclear's 2020 Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award; Bob Fulkerson founded Citizen Alert of Nevada, which fostered NCAC, and helped lead the grassroots "Nevada Is Not a [Nuclear] Wasteland" resistance for decades.)

The Dann Sisters' tireless defense of their land and grazing rights in Crescent Valley, Nevada -- such as against ever encroaching open pit gold mining -- under the 1863 "peace and friendship" Treaty of Ruby Valley (Consolidated Treaty Series, Vol. 127), began in 1973, went before the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Dann, and continued their entire lives.

Mary Dann in foreground, Carrie Dann in background, on their land in 1993, as posted by the Right Livelihood FoundationThe Danns' Indigenous rights struggles on behalf of the Western Shoshone Nation and their Newe Sogobia homeland garnered international renown; Carrie Dann was a highly sought after speaker, not only across the U.S., but also overseas.

Although the U.S. government has consistently violated Western Shoshone treaty rights, the Danns never gave up. (Just one example of the U.S. federal government's trampling of the Danns' land and Western Shoshone treaty rights were several violent roundups of Dann cattle and horses, beginning in 1992.) The Danns went on to help win numerous major victories in more just international forums, including at the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), the Organization of American States (OAS) Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (see numerous citations about the Danns in this report, for example), and others. The Danns' cutting edge, successful Indigenous rights work took them across the continent, and around the world.

Carrie and Mary Dann's leadership in the defense of their Indigenous land and lifeways was honored around the world as well, as by their 1993 Right Livelihood Award. The award, honoring and supporting "courageous people solving global problems," is widely regarded as the "Alternative Nobel Prize." The Dann Sisters' Right Livelihood Award was given in honor of their "exemplary courage and perseverance in asserting the rights of indigenous people to their land." See their Dec. 31, 1993 acceptance speech, and an accompanying Oxfam short documentary film, "Our Land, Our Life," about the Dann Sisters' lifelong work (click on the Videos tab).

Mary (left) and Carrie Dann, on their land in Crescent Valley, Nevada, 1993, as posted by the Right Livelihood Foundation(The same filmmakers, Beth Gage and George Gage, published a longer documentary in 2008, "American Outrage," about the Dann Sisters' story.)

See photos of Mary and Carrie Dann on their land, posted at their Right Livelihood Award Laureates website, here (as well as featured on the left hand side of this post).

The Dann Sisters were also honored in 2004 by Front Line -- The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (see Pages 31 to 43 (page 41 of 197 to 53 of 197 on the PDF counter) in this report). Carrie Dann travelled to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., to be honored at the report's unveiling.

The Dann Sisters' deep and broad impact on thought and culture, as well as the inspiration and leadership they have provided to Indigneous rights defenders, as well as their non-Indigenous allies, cannot be overstated. In addition to what's listed above, the documentary, "Newe Segobia Is Not For Sale: The Struggle for Western Shoshone Land," by Jesse Drew, was published in 1993, featuring the Dann Sisters. Carrie A 1979 photo, by Ilka Hartmann, of Mary (on horseback) and Carrie Dann, on their land in Crescent Valley, Nevada, as posted by the Right Livelihood FoundationDann is also highlighted in the documentary "To Protect Mother Earth." The Dann Sisters were also featured in Jerry Mander's 1991 book In the Absence of the Sacred: The Failure of Technology and the Survival of the Indian Nations. Also, see a 2014 AlterNet article, contrasting the Danns' Indigenous land and treaty rights struggle with that of the greedy, infamous, far right, white Nevadan rancher Cliven Bundy. Unsurprisingly, the Danns' life work has even inspired a lengthy law review article about Indigenous women-led resistance against oppression and dispossession. These are but a few of countless examples of the Danns' remarkable impact, here and abroad.

Carrie Dann deserves our heartfelt thanks for her lifelong defense of Mother Earth, on behalf of current and future generations. May she rest in peace and power.

Wednesday
Dec302020

State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Project announces new executive director, Fred C. Dilger, PhD.

The State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects has a new executive director, Fred C. Dilger, PhD. He replaces Robert Halstead, who has retired. We thank Bob for his decades of service, and we welcome, celebrate, and congratulate Fred on his new position, after his many years of very important previous work and scholarship.

The State Agency also has a new website: <https://nuc.state.nv.us/>.

The website includes many valuable sections, including numerous related to why Yucca Mountain is unsuitable as a high-level radioactive waste dump; a section on the risks of high-level radioactive waste transportation; and a What's News section, updated daily, that links to radioactive waste and nuclear power developments in the U.S. and internationally.

Tuesday
Dec292020

Ian Zabarte -- 2020 Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award Winner

Ian Zabarte speaks at a press conference held during a Native American Nuclear Issues Forum which he organized at UNLVIan Zabarte, Principal Man of the Western Bands of the Shoshone Nation of Indians ("Peace and Friendship" Treaty of Ruby Valley, Consolidated Treaty Series, Vol. 127, 1863), and Secretary of the Native Community Action Council, is the winner of Beyond Nuclear's  7th Annual (2020) Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award.*

(Ian's Award was to have been presented on April 21, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., at the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability's Annual "D.C. Days" Award Reception. That event had to be cancelled due to the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.)

Ian has been actively defending his people's treaty rights since a very young man in the 1980s. This has included defending hunting and herding rights, as well as resistance to nuclear weapons testing and high-level radioactive waste dumping on Newe Sogobia, the Western Shoshone homeland.

But one example, of a long list of Ian's remarkable acccomplishments, is his securing official party status in the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump license application proceeding. Ian, with little to no funding resources, nor legal counsel, nonetheless managed to win hearings on the merits of contentions opposed to the dump, including the fact that land title and water rights at the Yucca Mountain site belong to the Western Shoshone, as well as the fact that U.S. EPA Yucca Mountain regulations do not account for the health impacts on Western Shoshone living a "time immemorial" traditional lifestyle in the downstream vicinity of Yucca Mountain. Although the NRC licensing proceeding (by far the biggest and most complex in its history) have been suspended since 2010, Ian stands ready to defend his critical contentions, if and when the licensing proceedings resume. An indication of just how daunting and challenging it was to win official intervenor status is the fact that no environmental groups managed to do so. Ian, and the State of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, are the only two opponents to the dump, squaring off against the nuclear power industry and U.S. federal agencies such as NRC and DOE.

Ian's activism and advocacy have taken him not only all across North America, but overseas as well. He has hosted numerous, powerful Native American Nuclear Issues Forums at University of Nevada-Las Vegas (UNLV). One of Ian's key insights is the importance of not only honoring his people's elders, but also inclusion, education, and inspiration of Western Shoshone youth. His scholarship has broken new ground on the critical issue of genocide against Indigenous Peoples, including by the nuclear weapons and nuclear power industries, and the government agencies that serve them.

*Judith Johnsrud (1931-2014) was a founding board member of Beyond Nuclear. She also co-founded Nuclear Information and Resource Service, as well as the Environmental Coalition on Nuclear Power. One of her many claims to fame was helping co-lead the intervention against the building of the infamous Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in the first place, in the 1970s, years before the TMI-2 meltdown. Another was being honored, in 2012, by Sierra Club for a half-century of anti-nuclear activism. See a tribute to Judith on the bottom of the last page of our 2014 newsletter about the Three Mile Island meltdown.

The previous winners of the Dr. Judith H. Johnsrud "Unsung Hero" Award are:

2014 -- Diane D'Arrigo, Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), Takoma Park, MD;

2015 -- Michael Keegan, Don't Waste Michigan and Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes, Monroe, MI;

2016 -- Kay Cumbow, Citizens for Alternatives to Chemical Contamination (CACC) and Great Lakes Environmental Alliance (GLEA), Brown City, MI;

2017 -- David Kraft, Nuclear Energy Information Service (NEIS), Chicago, IL;

2018 -- Terry Lodge, Esquire, Toledo, Ohio;

2019 -- Rose Gardner, Alliance for Environmental Strategies (AFES), Eunice, New Mexico.