Only about two dozen people live on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah but tribal chairman Leon Bear predicts more will come home if he opens a nuclear waste dump there.
Bear is the driving force behind a plan to store up to 40,000 tons of radioactive waste on about 100 acres of the 18,000-acre reservation. He signed a deal, reportedly worth millions every year, to accept waste from private utilities across the nation.
The plan has survived intense opposition at the state and federal level. The state has lost several legal challenges but some members of Congress are trying to find ways to stop the dump.
Some tribal members oppose the proposal as well but they have been unable to wrest control from Bear, who recently pleaded guilty to tax fraud. They say the tribe, as a whole, never approved the deal, and that the dump will destroy the environment.
Get the Story:Utah Tribe Divided Over Nuclear Waste (AP 6/24)
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BIA Scrutiny of Waste Lease Questioned (AP 6/24) Relevant Links:
Skull Valley Goshute Tribe - http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org
Private Fuel Storage - http://www.privatefuelstorage.com Related Stories:
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