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Monday
Apr292019

Manuel Luján Jr., N.M. congressman and secretary of the interior, dies at 90

As reported by a Washingtn Post obiturary:

Mr. Luján remained in the [George H.W. Bush] Cabinet until the end of Bush’s term in January 1993. Five minutes before the Republican president left office, he tried to transfer federally owned desert land in Southern California that he and then-California Gov. Pete Wilson (R) wanted for a nuclear waste dump.

Mr. Luján’s successor, Bruce Babbitt, rescinded the order, and courts determined Mr. Luján acted improperly.

Re: that last line, Babbitt only took that action, after years' worth of anti-nuclear activism forced him to do so. This included an occupation at the Ward Valley, CA site, sacred land to the five Colorado River Indian tribes.