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THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 2003

Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steve Griles offered to double the size of the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah if the tribe dropped plans to host a nuclear waste facility, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

But the tribe wrote Griles and called the proposal "disingenous." In a letter sent last week, the Goshute Executive Committee accused the Department of Interior of conspiring to derail the tribe's business plans.

The Bush administration's offer, the letter said, "makes a mockery of trust relationship and insults the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians."

Another letter The Tribune reviewed detailed Griles' offer. He said he would add 26,800 acres of state and federal land to the tribe's existing 18,000-acre reservation and expand hunting and fishing rights. He also said the state would help with economic development and grant a tuition waver for eligible tribal members.

The tribe has signed a deal, for an undisclosed sum, with Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight private utilities, to store highly radioactive nuclear waste.

The Tribune is also reporting that federal agents have seized financial papers and computer equipment from a tribal office in Salt Lake City as part of an ongoing probe into alleged corruption of officials who signed the nuclear waste agreement.

Get the Story:
Goshutes Criticize N-Site Alternatives (The Salt Lake Tribune 4/24)
Feds Seize Documents in Offices of Goshutes (The Salt Lake Tribune 4/24)

Relevant Links:
The Skull Valley Goshute Tribe - http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org
Private Fuel Storage - http://www.privatefuelstorage.com
Nuclear Regulatory Commission - http://www.nrc.gov
No High Level Waste, Utah Department of Environmental Quality - http://www.eq.state.ut.us/no_high_level_waste

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