Non-governmental indigenous and environmental groups from the United States and Mexico have broadened their fight to protect the border environment shared by both nations. The immediate target: a proposed low-level nuclear waste dump in California's Ward Valley. At a late January meeting in Ciudad Jurez-El Paso, representatives of about a dozen organizations resolved to support the struggle of the Colorado River Indian Tribes to prevent the construction of a nuclear repository slated for a site on sacred Mojave Desert land in Ward Valley, situated 22 miles west of Needles, California, and 19 miles from the Colorado River.

Dave Harper, spokesman for the Colorado River Indian Tribes, extended an invitation to all tribes and environmental groups to come "celebrate and renew the vow to halt the dump" during the next step in the environmental battle, a gathering hosted by Native American activists on Ward Valley on February 12, the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the 113-day blockade last year of the site. Among others at the Jurez meeting endorsing the Ward Valley movement were activists from the Sierra Blanca Legal Defense Fund, Citizens for Alternatives to Radioactive Dumping, Stop Ward Valley, Green Action, the Binational Coalition to Stop Toxic and Radioactive Dumps, Culturas Indigenas, and the Campesino Organization of the Southern Sierra Madres.

Virginia Chavez Camacho, a representative of Mexican Congressman Carlos Camacho, told participants at the meeting that the Chihuahua politician also supported their efforts to ensure a clean border environment. "It's an incredible experience to meet all the different tribes, and together we'll achieve things for all our children," said Chavez. Opponents of the Ward Valley project fear that in addition to threatening the habitat of the desert tortoise, radioactive waste could eventually leak into the nearby Colorado River and jeopardize future water supplies in the border region. Over 22 million people currently rely on water drawn from the from the Colorado River, and growth rates in all three lower Colorado River basin states (Arizona, California, and Nevada) are among the highest in the nation. By the year 2020, it is expected that in the U.S. the number of people dependent on Colorado River water will have climbed to an estimated 38+ million, and consumption of Colorado River water in Mexico is expected to increase some 91 percent during the same period.

"As traditional people, it's our responsibility to keep the air, land and water clean," added Harper. "This issue just isn't an issue for the Colorado River people, but also for the people of Mexico...our fight isn't just for the Indian people but for all of mankind." SIERRA BLANCA VICTORY INSPIRES SOLIDARITY Pressure Builds as Mexican Legislators Come Out in Opposition to the Dump Organizers of the Ward Valley movement traveled to Ciudad Jurez-El Paso earlier last year to show their backing for local opposition to another proposed low-level nuclear dump near Sierra Blanca, Texas, a community located about 80 miles southeast of El Paso. Citing flaws in the project plan, the Texas Natural Resources Commission ruled against permitting the facility last October. While the state agency based its ruling on technical grounds, a groundswell of cross-border opposition created the political environment that allowed dump opponents to press their case with the authorities. Now, organizers in California and other parts of the Southwest are applying the lessons of the Sierra Blanca victory to their own causes.

"We realized that Sierra Blanca was a threat to the people of Jurez," remarked Harper. "In this way, Tijuana is threatened (by Ward Valley). Sierra Blanca made history, and now Ward Valley is in the process of making history."

With several Jurez city council members currently preparing a resolution against the Ward Valley dump, Harper argues that a grassroots show of opposition to the project in Mexico could built the necessary political base for the federal government of Mexico to take up the issue with the United States. Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo is expected to meet with new California Governor Gray Davis, currently in Mexico City on a three day visit.

A January 30 vote by legislators from Mexican border states meeting at the "Primer Encuentro De Legislaturas De La Frontera Norte" (First Meeting of Legislators of the Northern Frontier) in Tijuana to approve a strongly worded resolution against the Ward Valley site would seem to back up Harper's assessment. The document, introduced by State Deputy Alma Gomez of Chihuahua, directly calls on Davis to stop the controversial dump project.

For seven years, first as state controller and then as lieutenant governor, the recently elected Democratic governor consistently opposed the Ward Valley project but has been silent on the issue since taking office, activists complain. The governor's press secretary recently told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that "legal and environmental matters related to Ward Valley are being looked at," a cautious stance that anti-dump environmentalists worry marks a change from Davis's earlier position.

Saying he was "truly amazed" by the support of people who traveled long distances under great sacrifice, Mojave Dave Harper said: "People who have been raped, pillaged and abused have joined our fight. It's overwhelming to hear their stories, and they still have the tenacity and resiliency to support our cause."

* Kent Paterson is a freelance writer and frequent borderlines contributor. He is based in Albuquerque, NM.