ML20202F736
| ML20202F736 | |
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| Site: | 07200022 |
| Issue date: | 11/22/1997 |
| From: | Bullcreek M SKULL VALLEY BAND OF GOSHUTE INDIANS |
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| ISFSI, NUDOCS 9712090214 | |
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XIRNAL (Vol. 36 Fall 19961 THORPE ARTICLE m
ve clso held negotiations with had our false prophets"2' The government and the nuclear power er wistes temporarily housed industry attempt to flatter us about our abilities as "carth stewards." Yet le AECL continues to market as I declared to the National Congress of American Indians in 1993, "It
- as." The situation in Mexico is si perversion of our beliefs and an insult to our intelligence to say that rttal regulation. At NECONA, we are ' natural stewards' of these wastes.2* The real intent of the rn without any bones, due to government and the utilities is to rid themselves of this extremely t
i hazardous garbage on Indian lands so they are free to generate more of oth.r reservations that have it.
e b one of sovereignty. They Our traditional spiritual leaders have warned us for hundreds of ivironment, it is a very tough years about taking resources from the earth. They have warned that the tribe, " Hey, you shouldn't be earth will become unbalanced and be destroyed. In one of the stories the earth." Then they would turn Navajos have about their origins, they were warned about the dangers of i w2 please. This is Indian uranium. De People emerged from the third world into the fourth and e right. Allowing utilities to present world and were given a choice. They were told to choose
,is not truly an expression of between two yellow powders. One was yellow dust trom the rocks, and re selling cur sovereignty.The the other was corn pollen. The (People] chose corn pollen, and the gods
, ands to bypass environmental nodded in assent. They also issued a warning. Having chosen the corn The issue is Mother Earth's.
pollen, the Navajos were to leave the yellow dust in the ground. If it was xpress their sovereign national ever removed,it would bring evil?
environmental racism. The Wherever there are uranium mines, wherever there are nuclear
'f our Mother, by joining the power plants, and wherever our people have been downwind on nuclear it ce choosing to declare their tests, the cancer rate goes up. Among the Western Shoshone in Nevada Mescalero has declared, "It is as a result of nuclear testing, man 3; of t!.e people now have thyroid tr tribe lover the MRS] when cancer. They are dying a younger death. They have leukemia, which was nucle:r projects since 1945.""
unheard of in earlier times. In Minnesota, archaeologists excavating to destroy it, the United States Prairie Island thousands of years in the future could be exposed to levels
'-just so they can dump their of radiation high enough to cause cancer.2' Pollution and toxic waste oples from the Hanford nuclear weapons facility threatens all NativepA few who depend on the Columbia River salmon for their existence.
id tha't it is natural that we, as wast on ourlands.They have I
years ago, a vial of nuclear material the size of a human little finger was it cs keepers of the land they lost on the road from Los Angeles to Sacramento. An SOS went out to all d, however, "We have always the newspapers and radio and television stations about this little silver vial: "If you find it, don't pick it up. Alert us immediately. If you pick it up and put it in your pocket for two days, you'll get sick. If you keep it a week, it can kill you. If you breathe the equivalent of 100th of a grain of salt, it can cause lung cancer."
Now those who visited all these horrors upon us want us to Ps Nuclear Agmda, Z MACA7JNI, June i Congress of Amencan Induns, Sparks, tly 15 tribes have passed resolutions
- 23. Grace Thorpe, Radioactive Racism? Natwe Americans and the Nuclear Waste f.egacy, e first w:s the Sac and Fox Nation of ddition, through the efforts of Norma INDIAN CoLWrRY TooAY, Mar. 16,1995, at A5 atself a Nuclear Free Zone as well.
- 24. Thorpe, Statement, supra note 20.
- 25. EXCHSTAEDT, Jupra note 2 at 47 (quoting Anna Rondon, Nov.1992).
th American Native Workshop on
- 26. Armstrong, supre note 4, at 16.
- 27. David Rich tnis. Enarpnmental issues, in Davis, at 189.
nver, Colo. (Mar. 17, 1995).
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IVol 36 Fall 19961 Th NATURAL RESOURCES JOURNA!,
722 "may ultimately have to pick u accept their nuclear waste, too. Darelynn Uhto, the vice president of the who will be left holding the ba Prairie Island Mdewankanton, testified before the Minnesota State Senate Ihe debate over nuclea during the fight against MRS there,"It is the worst kind of environmental to harmonious relationships am racism to force our tribe to live with the dangers of nuclear waste simply this divisive agony again.
because no one else is willing to do so."2' Why do we tolerate it? How As a mother and a g long can we tolerate it? What kind of society permits the manufacture of surCv.M of our people just a:
products that cannot be safely disposed? NECONA is currently lobby;ng surviul m her children.Therei Congress for a bill that will say simply,"Nothing is to be manufactured, of nuclw power plants in t' used, or reproduced in the United States that cannot be safely disposed legislation, however, that woul of." is that too simple a thing for'a legislator to understand? Probably it made for the waste is this tl is, but it makes sense, doesn't it?
children and for our Mother E4 Spent nuclear fuel is permeated with plutonium, the principal decision one should consider t ingredient in atomic weapons. Plutonium has a half 41ife of 21,360 years.
As Thom Facset, who is Iroqi Significant amounts would therefore remain active for more than 50,000 these issues often makes es a !
years.The so-called permanent repository proposed for Yucca Mountain It keeps rolling back down on is designed to hold canisters containing nuclear wnte for only 10,000 l
for us to live up to our sacred years. The steel containers holding the material would disintegrate long j
before the radioactivity had decayed.2' Yucca Mountain, however, is nowhere near on its way to becoming the permanent repository. It was originally to have begun receiving waste in 1998, but near unanimous opposition in Nevada slowed the process, in 1992, an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale struck the aree, raising additional questions as to the site's viability,' Most recently, scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico raised the possibility that wastes buried at the Nevada location could uplode af ter the steel container canisters dissolve, setting off a nuclear chain reaction."
These factors make the targeted date of 2010 when Yucca Mountain currently is estimated to be accepting shipments of waste-look improbable, Mescalero tribal officials, in obtaining their tribe's that their proposed facility was strictly permission, emphasized temporary and that at no time would the tribe take possession of the fuel.32 What will happen, however, if Yucca Mountain does not come online as projected? What if no permanent storage site is available at the end of the MRS' 40 years of a " temporary" storage? New Mexico Attorney General Tom Udall has raised similar questions. He fears that the state 29,1994, quoted m THE
- 28. Darelynn tshto, tesnmony before Mmn. State Senate. Mar.
Cntcu, Apr.19% at 17,29. Wilham J. Broad. Scientist Fear Atomic Explosim cf Burred Wastr, N.Y. TNES, Mar. 5.
- 33. Johnson, supra note 6. at 6 1995, at 17.
M. Thorpe, Raductme Racism?
- 30. Armstrong,, supra note 4. at 16-17.
- 35. Thom White Wolf Fassett.
- 31. Broad, supra note 29, at 1, IB.
Justice, thff School of Theology, De
- 32. Mc 'osato, supra note 12, at A2.
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THORPE ARTICLE 723 telynn Lehto, the vice president of the yIt is th? worst kind of environmentaled before the Minnesota StateSenate
.*may ultimately have to pick up the pieces."" Indians suspect we know who will be left holding the bag.
The debate over nuclear waste has already done serious damage i the djngus of nuclear waste simply a so.
Why do we tolerate it? How to harmonious relationships among our people Why must we go through 3I society Permits the manufacture of this divisive agony again."
> sed? NECONA is currently lobbyin8 As a mother and a grandmother, I am concerned about the l
survival of our people just as Mother Earth is concerned about the
,P y, Nothing is to be manufactured, survival of her children. There is currently a moratorium on constmetion states that cannot be safely disposed
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of nuclear power plants in the United States. There is also current legislator to understand? Probably it legislation, however, that would allow new building if arrangements are rated with piutonium, the principe:
l made for the waste. Is this the legacy that we want to leave for our mium has a half-life of 24,360 years.
children and for our Mother Earth? The Iroquois say that in making any I
decision one should consider the impact for seven generations to come.
r remain active for more than 50,000 i
sitory proposed for Yucca Mountain As Thom Fasset, who is Iroquois, reminds us, taking such a view on mng nucl:ar waste for only 10,000 these issues often makes us a feel we are alone, rolling a stone up a hill.
mataial would disintegrate lonS It keeps rolling back down on us." That may be the only way, however, for us to live up to our sacred duty to the land and to all of creation.
is nowh:re near on its way to
' It w:s originally to have begun unanimous opposition in Neva fa quake masuring 5.6 on the Richter itional questions as to the site's s at th? Los Alamos National possibility that wastes buried at the se steel container canisters dissolve, geted date of 2010 when Yucca acepting shipments of waste-look l
ials, in obtaining their tribe's j
proposed facility was strictly
- 1 tha tribe take possession of the
' Yucca Mountain does not come nent storage site is available at the ry" storage? New Mexico Attorney questians. He it.ars that the state State Senat2, Mar. 29,1994, quefed in THE plodon of Buried Waste. N.Y. Tims, Mar. 5,
- 33. Johnson, supra note 6, at 6.
- 34. Thorpe, Radioactive Racism?, supra note 23, at A5.
- 35. Thom White Wolf Fassett North American Native Workshop on Environmental Justice, Diff School of Theology, Denver. Colo., Mar. 17,1995.
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