Nearly everyone in the 120-member Skull Valley Goshute Tribe of Utah is related. That probably explains why tensions run high whenever the issue of nuclear waste is brought up.

Chairman Leon Bear, who is under federal indictment for stealing from the tribe, signed a lease to store up to 44,000 tons of radioactive waste on the reservation. He says the tribe has no other economic development opportunities.

Margene Bullcreek is a leading critic of Bear and the proposed dump. She tried to get Bear ousted but the Bureau of Indian Affairs didn't recognize the results of a recall election.

Tribal council meetings are described in the local press a "shouting matches." "We're all family here," Blackbear tells The Minneapolis City Pages.

The state opposes the tribe's plan and has tried numerous ways to thwart it. So far, the state's legal challenges have failed.

Get the Story:
Nuke 'Em! (The Minneapolis City Pages 5/12)

Relevant Links:
Skull Valley Goshute Tribe - http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org

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