Defending Western Shoshone treaty rights against Yucca dump

CNN Money has quoted Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps, defending Western Shoshone Indian Nation treaty rights against the Yucca Mountain high-level radioactive waste dump proposal:

"...Yucca was originally Shoshone land, taken by the federal government in 1951 for weapons testing, said Kevin Kamps, a nuclear waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear.

And Nevada was chosen not because it was a good site, but because it had the fewest representatives in Washington of any state under consideration, critics say.

"The most common name for that legislation was the 'Screw Nevada Bill,' " said Kamps. "It never should have been targeted to begin with."..."

The U.S. government signed the "peace and friendship" Treaty of Ruby Valley with the Western Shoshone Indian Nation in 1863; it recognized Western Shoshone sovereignty at Yucca Mountain, throughout most of what is now the State of Nevada, as well as portions of California and Idaho.

The "Screw Nevada Bill," enacted into law in 1987, singled out Yucca Mountain as the only targeted site in the country to undergo further study as a potential high-level radioactive waste repository. The States of Washington and Texas, also on the target list, joined forces, and in coalition with eastern states also on the dumpsite target list, ganged up on Nevada. Texas and Washington had 32 and 12 Representatives in the U.S. House, respectively, whereas Nevada had but one. Texas and Washington also split between them the powerful positions of Speaker of the House and House Majority Leader at that time. Even Nevada's U.S. Senate delegation consisted of two low ranking first-term Senators. But one of those rookies was Harry Reid, who has since devoted his political career to stopping the Yucca dump, and now serves as Senate Majority Leader.

Court ruling against Yucca dump indirect EJ victory for Western Shoshone!

This Jan., 2004 photo by Gabriela Bulisova shows the frame of a sacred ceremonial Western Shoshone sweat lodge, with Yucca's west face in background.As reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal, U.S. Senator Harry Reid (Democrat-Nevada), Majority Leader, called today's decision by the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit regarding the Yucca Mountain, Nevada high-level radioactive waste dump "an important win in the long battle to put the ill-conceived Yucca Mountain project permanently to rest." The three-judge federal appeals panel ruled against a lawsuit filed by the States of Washington and South Carolina, Aiken County (South Carolina), and three private (nuclear industry affiliated) businessmen in Washington State seeking to block the Obama administration's cancellation of the Yucca dump.

July seems to be the month for major Yucca decisions. On July 9, 2002, the U.S. Senate voted 60 to 39 to allow the U.S. Department of Energy to proceed with a construction and operations license application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which George W. Bush signed into law two weeks later. Then, on July 9, 2004, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals (although comprised of a different three judge panel) ruled in favor of the State of Nevada and an environmental coalition, ordering the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency back to the drawing board on its Yucca regulations (EPA had wanted to cut off regulations at 10,000 years, long before Yucca's worst radiation releases downstream; under court order, EPA acknowledged in 2008 that high-level radioactive waste at Yucca would remain hazardous for a million years!).

Although a major battle victory, today's ruling does not end this 25+ year long war over the Yucca dump. Under law, the NRC has until later this year (with the possibility for a one year extension) to issue a final "yea or nay" on DOE's 2008 Yucca application. In March 2010, Obama Energy Secretary Steven Chu moved to withdraw the application, but in late June 2010 a panel of three administrative law judges at NRC (the Atomic Safety (sic) and Licensing Board, or ASLB) rejected the motion. The five NRC Commissioners have yet to sustain or overrule the ASLB ruling.

Reflecting the national significance of this court ruling is the widespread media coverage: Associated Press; The Hill (times two!); Hanford News and Tri-City Herald (Washington State); Augusta Chronicle (Georgia). The coverage is likely to expand as word spreads.

Spokane Tribe members dying of cancer, uranium mine investigated

“ 'I watch them die, young and old,' Campbell [a grave digger for the tribe] said. 'I think it’s caused by the radiation.'

"The radiation is from the Northwest’s only open-pit uranium mines – an all-but- forgotten chapter of Washington’s Cold War history. Uranium ore was blasted out of the Spokane Reservation’s arid hillsides and sold to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. The truckloads of radioactive material that rumbled daily through the reservation helped build the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal.

"With each new cancer diagnosis, people wonder: Is it from the radiation?

It’s a haunting question. Bob Brisbois, the tribe’s executive director, lost five members of his extended family to cancer in a single year." Spokane Spokesman Review

Radioactive "cargo" on the Great Lakes would violate Haudenosaunee 7th Generation Philosophy

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River contain 20% of the world's surface fresh water.An op-ed in the Toronto Star by associate professor of environment at the University of Toronto, Stephen Bede Scharper, points out that in addition to being the drinking water supply and source of fisheries, the Great Lakes are also the source of emotional and spiritual sustenance for more than 35 million people in the U.S., Canada, and numerous Native American First Nations. Thus it's easy to see how Bruce Power's shipment of 16 plutonium-contaminated steam generators on the Great Lakes, approved by the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission on Feb. 4th, would violate not only the Haudenosaunee Seventh Generation Spiritual Philosophy, but also the Preautionary Principle. Speaking of the Haudenosaunee, the Mohawk Nations have spoken out strongly against this shipment, as have a number of other First Nations coalitions in Ontario and Quebec. The fight now may now be moving into the Canadian courts, as well as to the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipelines and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. PHMSA's approval is required before the shipment can enter U.S. waters on the Great Lakes. A growing environmental coalition is calling on PHMSA to undertake a full Environmental Impact Statement, complete with public heaings and a public comment period.

Mohawk Nation communities condemn CNSC for approving radioactive waste shipment through their territories

The Mohawk Nation communities of Akwesasne, Kahnawake, and Tyendinaga have issued a strongly worded statement condemning the Canadian Nuclear Safety (sic) Commission's approval of Bruce Power's application to ship 16 radioactive steam generators through their territories via the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River to Sweden for so-called "recycling."

"We wish to make it clear that we are absolutely, 100% against this plan," said Tyendinaga Grand Chief Don Maracle. "We have an obligation to protect Mother Earth and her inhabitants. We would be derelict in our duties if we turned a blind eye to this dangerous plan."

"The St. Lawrence River provides drinking water to some 40 million people," said Kahnawa:ke Grand Chief Michael Ahrihron Delisle, Jr. "But for us, it's much more than that. If there is an accident, there is no place for us to go. This is our home. We cannot and will not tolerate the passage of nuclear waste through our Territory. There is no excuse for this to take place."

"It is disturbing that the CNSC has placed the interest of Bruce Power before the concerns shared by our Mohawk brothers and sisters," said Akwesasne Grand Chief Mike Kanentakeron Mitchell. "We were never consulted even though the shipment is planned to pass through our territorial waters. As a result, we condemn the Commission for disregarding our concerns and our desire to protect our great waterway for future generations."