The chairman of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes said the Interior Department's rejection of a lease for a nuclear waste dump is another in a long line of broken promises.

Leon Bear said Interior should have respected the tribe's decision to store up to 44,000 tons of radioactive waste on a small portion of the reservation. "Are we back in the 1800s when they were breaking all the treaties? Is this the same thing?" he told Reuters in an interview.

The facility would have accepted waste from several sites around the country. One is located next to the Prairie Island Indian Community in Minnesota. The tribe would like to see the waste moved.

Xcel Energy, the operator of that nuclear facility, has spent $23 million on the Goshute plan, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.

Get the Story:
US tribe chief angered at nuke waste plan rejection (Reuters 9/12)
Xcel's effort to store wastes in Utah is halted (The Minneapolis Star Tribune 9/13)
pwlat

Interior Decision Documents:
Skull Valley Band Nuclear Waste Repository

Relevant Links:
Skull Valley Goshute Tribe - http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org
Private Fuel Storage - http://www.privatefuelstorage.com

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