Colorado River Native Nations Alliance
Fort Mojave • Chemehuevi • Quechan • Cocopah • Colorado River Indian Tribes


HELP STOP THE PROPOSED RADIOACTIVE WASTE DUMP!

SAVE WARD VALLEY NEWS

Straight from the tortoise's mouth

FINAL ISSUE SAVE WARD VALLEY-FORT MOJAVE INDIAN TRIBE-BAN WASTE COALITION-GREENACTION

April 2000

VICTORY IS AT HAND!!

Ward Valley No Longer Considered for Waste

 

page 1

Our united struggle, after 12 long years, to keep a radioactive waste facility out of Ward Valley has succeeded beyond our wildest dreams! However, even though Governor Gray Davis said that Ward Valley is a "dead issue", his statement was not an official declaration. Neither he nor the State of California has made the demise of the Ward Valley project "official".

The latest "nail in the coffin" of the proposed Ward Valley Radioactive Waste dump was the dismissal of the lawsuit brought by US Ecology against the Department of Interior in the Court of Federal Claims. (see pg. 2) This was a decision long awaited by all and according to Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of Physicians for Social Responsibility, "Before this, Ward Valley was 95-percent dead, and now it's 98-percent dead."

The details of the dump's demise may take years to be worked out, and of course we can't let down our guard even a minute, because dump proponents US Ecology, the Cal-Rad Forum and others will continue their attempts to revive the project. Remember that they have boasted that "Ward Valley is the best location in the world for disposal of radioactive waste." At the same time, these folks are advocates of dumping anywhere, anytime and as a result, are not necessarily attached to Ward Valley.

 

"Son of Ward Valley" Proposed

The Advisory Group established by Governor Davis to review alternatives to Ward Valley continues as imbalanced as before, dominated by waste generators (especially by members of the Cal-Rad Forum) (see pgs. 4 & 5). The Scientific Panel that is to report to the Advisory Group, even more imbalanced in terms of nuclear interests, has proposed four alternative approaches. These options are all unsatisfactory since they either call for continued dumping of long-lived nuclear waste in out-of state landfills, or promote a landfill or isolation facility in California. Two of the four options involve starting a whole new Ward Valley process, albeit at a different location, for a new dump in California. Unless successfully opposed, we are faced with another ten-year struggle over "Son of Ward Valley." We need to prevent that from happening.

A fifth option, prohibiting the use of shallow land burial within California and proposing interim storage at nuclear power plants is being promoted by Scientific Panelist Dr. Robert Gould and panel consultants Ward Young and Phil Klasky of the BAN Waste Coalition. (see pg. 3)

We Still Need To Put the Pressure On

Here is what you can do--

1) Attend the final two meetings of the Advisory Group on April 26 and May 10. (For further information and to put your name on the list to speak, call Amy Jones of the PMR Group, Inc. at 310/473-7704 or visit their website at www.llrw.org.)

2) Contact Governor Davis - State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814 PH: 916/445-2841 FAX: 916/445-4633. Ask him to:

a) Officially remove Ward Valley from any consideration as any kind of nuclear facility either now or in the future.

b) Outlaw any burial of any kind of radioactive waste in California.

c) Make it the policy of California to store long-lived nuclear waste at nuclear power plants on an interim basis and regularly review improvements in technology to isolate waste from the biosphere.

". . .Ward Valley as a site is a dead issue. . ." ---Governor Gray Davis (see pg. 6)

Save Ward Valley Office to Close

In light of recent events the Save Ward Valley office will be closing April 30,2000. Should any attempt be made to revive the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump, the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance (CRNNA) and Ward Valley Coalition are prepared to take immediate action. Keep in touch with the following organizations for all of the latest news.

BAN Waste Coaliton
POB 894, Bolinas, CA 94924
PH: 415/752-8678 FAX: 415/221-4267
Website: banwaste.envirolink.org

Greenaction
1095 Market St., Suite 608,
San Francisco, CA 94103 PH: 415/252-0822
FAX: 415/252-0823
Website: greenaction.org

We would like to give a great big "Thank You!" to everyone who contributed their money, their time and their support. It is because of the work of all of you that we have won this battle!

pages 2 & 3

Dismissed Lawsuits Aid
in Demise of Dump Project

By Ward Young --
BAN Waste Coalition

Two lawsuits by dump contractor US Ecology dealing with the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump still await final resolution pending appeals, but it is unlikely that these maneuverings could revive the comatose project.

At the end of March, 1999, Judge Emmet Sullivan of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled against plaintiffs the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) and US Ecology in their attempt to get the land for the proposed nuclear waste dump at Ward Valley from the U.S. Department of the Interior. News media reports characterized the decision as the final blow for the project, and dump opponent Joe Lyou of Committee to Bridge the Gap was ecstatic, "It definitely looks like the fat lady has sung."

Judge Sullivan ruled that upon assuming office, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt had acted within his proper authority when he reversed a last-ditch effort by his predecessor Manuel Lujan to approve the dump in the final hours of the Bush administration. The judge granted summary judgment motions by intervenors the Bay Area Nuclear (BAN) Waste Coalition and the Committee to Bridge the Gap as well as Interior and denied the motions of plaintiffs. The Fort Mojave Indian Tribe had filed a separate motion in the case against the plaintiffs, but the judge ruled the tribe's motion moot, in part because he dismissed plaintiff's case entirely. Governor Davis reacted in June 1999 to Sullivan's decision by giving up on any further attempts to gain the land through the courts. US Ecology filed an appeal of Sullivan's ruling with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Washington, D.C. Circuit, and it is expected that a panel of judges will begin hearing the appeal in the next few weeks. A decision in the case would likely take at least four to six months.

Attorney Howard Crystal of Meyer and Glitzenstein, the D.C. law firm which successfully intervened in the original case and now is opposing the appeal by US Ecology, commented in late January that the outcome of the appeal depends heavily on the particular panel of judges chosen to review it. Crystal also believes that US Ecology is unlikely to prevail in its argument that the state of California is legally entitled to the land at Ward Valley, when California itself is not seeking the land in the court. US Ecology and dump proponents including the Cal-Rad Forum, the nuclear industry trade group, have never recovered from the shock and setback dealt by the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and the grassroots group, BAN Waste Coalition, in 1993 when they joined together to obtain first a restraining order and then a permanent injunction against the dumpers' highly placed friend, Interior Secretary Manuel Lujan, when he took several actions to approve the land transfer.

In early January, 1993, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that Lujan had failed to take steps required under the Endangered Species Act to protect habitat of the threatened desert tortoise, including Ward Valley, and prohibited Interior from making any further moves toward a land transfer. Against clear orders from Judge Patel, Lujan signed a record of decision favoring the Ward Valley dump on January 19th, the same day the judge issued a permanent injunction against the land transfer.

Years later, the dump contractor and the CDHS filed two separate actions in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims alleging that when Manuel Lujan signed the record of decision favoring the project on his last day in office, he had committed Interior to a transfer of the land to California, in spite of Judge Patel's clear orders against it and even for the incoming Clinton Administration. Under this novel and highly implausible legal theory, the company alleged it was due the land at Ward Valley and $85 million in project costs plus damages.

In the latest development in a series of losses by dump proponents, on March 29, 2000, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed US Ecology's lawsuit on Ward Valley, finding that the Bush administration had violated Judge Patel's injunction when it tried to transfer the land. Having acted illegally, there was no contract to deliver the land, and thus US Ecology has no claim to recover losses.

U.S. Ecology has also appealed this decision, but it is unlikely they will prevail in either appeal. Should U.S. Ecology receive a favorable ruling, they would face a challenge in federal court by the CRNNA and the BAN Waste Coalition, using the protections and prohibitions of the Endangered Species Act.

These legal victories would not have occurred if Ward Valley Coalition Groups, BAN Waste Coalition and Committee to Bridge the Gap, had not intervened in the District Court case. The federal government could not make the arguments on which both courts based their decisions. (It would have been awkward for the government to argue that it had broken the law, albeit in a different administration.)

For more information call 415/868-2146 or 415/752-8678 http://www.banwaste.envirolink.org

Save Ward Valley News is published by Save Ward Valley The Save Ward Valley Advisory Committee consists of members of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, BAN Waste Coalition and Greenaction.

Issue #8 was edited by Molly Johnson and Tori Woodard with help from Bradley Angel, Phil Klasky, and Ward & Orie Young. Production by Molly Johnson. Sanity support supplied by Rick Beaumont.

Printed by Bullhead Printing, Bullhead City, AZ

Science Panel Recommends Four Flawed Options -- Activists Recommended Another

By Molly Johnson and Ward Young

On April 3, 2000 the Scientific Panel which is advising the governor's Advisory Group submitted four possible options (alternative scenarios) for managing California's low-level radioactive waste (LLRW). They are described below:

1. Maintaining the status quo, i.e. continue to manage LLRW produced within the state of California using current practices. Thus, most short-lived waste would continue to be decayed in storage onsite or at a broker's facility. Longer-lived waste would be disposed of at existing, licensed out-of-state facilities (such as the leaking Barnwell, South Carolina or Envirocare, Utah nuclear dumps).

2. Dividing the waste stream by half-life into short/intermediate-lived isotopes (primarily from medicine, research and biotech) and long-lived LLRW from nuclear reactors) with different dispositions for each type of waste. This option recognizes the different nature of long-lived, primarily nuclear power plant waste versus short-lived, primarily medical and biotech waste. Unfortunately, this option includes an escape clause allowing indefinite export of waste to the out-of-state nuclear dumps

. 3. Building, licensing and operating an assured isolation facility in the state of California for long-term disposition of all types of LLRW, including long-lived reactor wastes. This could be a new or existing facility e.g. at a nuclear power plant, with waste monitoring and retrievability.

4. Building, licensing and operating a new disposal facility within the state of California for all types of waste, including long-lived reactor wastes. This could be at a new site or at an already existing site such as a no-longer operating mine shaft, etc. Although the recommendation does not specify any particular site, this option leaves open the possibility of a shallow-land burial facility such as the previously considered site near Baker, CA.

In addition to the four options, the PMR Group, at the behest of the CalRad Forum, has inserted other outrageous strategies such as the use of an existing or proposed hazardous waste facility in California that would be licensed to accept nuclear waste. Examples include the Safety-Kleen (sic) toxic dump near Buttonwillow and the proposed toxic dumpsites at Newberry Springs near Barstow and Broadwell Dry Lake. PMR Group has also inserted a strategy to have California petition the Department of Energy (DOE) to accept commercial LLRW at DOE sites, including the massively contaminated Department of Energy sites at Hanford, Washington or the Nevada Test Site.

None of these options are satisfactory. They all call either for the continued dumping of California's long-lived nuclear waste in someone else's backyard or in a new off-site landfill or isolation facility that could become a permanent burial ground in California. That new landfill or isolation facility would, most probably, be as environmentally unjust as the proposed Ward Valley dump.

A fifth option, which was listed as an option in an earlier draft but was subsequently removed, included on-site storage, interim storage, waste segregation and source reduction. This option would outlaw shallow-land burial of any kind of radioactive waste within or outside California, place liability for the waste where it belongs--with the generator, keep long-lived nuclear power plant waste on-site on an interim basis in engineered facilities which are owned and operated by the state (pending improvements in containment technologies), and levy an additional charge for waste management based on the longevity of the waste hazard. This option was submitted to the Advisory Group at its April 3 meeting by Nora Helton, Advisory Group member and Chairwoman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe. It was authored by Dr. Robert Gould, member of the Scientific Panel and SF Bay Area Physician's for Social Responsibility and panel consultants Ward Young and Phil Klasky of BAN Waste Coalition. The Advisory Group has the ability to add this fifth option to its final report. Although some feel it is unlikely the Group will add this option to its recommendations, we feel that given enough public pressure they very well might do so.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Send your comments to the Advisory Group and to the Governor. Ask them to retain the "Comprehensive Option" that calls for prohibition of shallow land burial, segregation of the waste stream, and interim storage of long-lived waste at the nuclear power plant sites, and that levies an additional charge on long-lived waste to reflect the longevity of the waste hazard. Let them know that the American public has not allowed a new shallow landfill for nuclear waste to be built for the last twenty years, and is not about to allow it now. Let them know that you are opposed to continued generation of large amounts of long-lived wastes from nuclear power plants and cheap and dangerous waste disposal which only encourages a continuation of nuclear power while placing the future at great risk.

* Governor Gray Davis, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph: 916/445-2841 Fax: 916/445-4633

* Advisory Group on LLRW - Written comments will be received at the meeting or can be submitted to Amy Jones at prmgroup@gte.net or mailed to The PMR Group, Inc., ATTN: Amy Jones, 11906 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 24, Los Angeles, CA 90025. NOTE: Ms. Jones stated that electronic submissions are preferable as all comments are posted to the website and e-mails are easier to post.

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, come to the last two meetings of the Advisory Group on LLRW on April 26th and May 10th at the University of California. (see pg. 5) For more information, contact BAN Waste Coalition at 415/868-2146 or 415/752-8678.

NOTE: The meeting on April 26 was cancelled.

page 4

Governor Appoints Advisory Group
to Study Waste Issue

by Philip M. Klasky, Co-Director
Bay Area Nuclear (BAN) Waste Coalition
with Tori Woodard, Save Ward Valley

Following a victory for dump opponents in federal court last March (see pg. 2), instead of issuing a statement opposing the dump, Governor Davis decided to appoint an Advisory Group to study the issue of "low-level" radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal in California. Activists were disappointed to learn that both the Advisory Group, and the Scientific Panel tasked to advise it, are stacked with members with ties to the nuclear power industry.

Committee Members Linked To Industry

Richard Atkinson, Advisory Group chair, is president of the University of California (UC), which oversees the nations two nuclear weapons design labs at Livermore, California, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. From 1992-99 he was a director of San Diego Gas & Electric (which owns 20% of San Onofre nuclear power station). As director he received $30,000 in compensation per year until 1998, when he started receiving $25,000 a year plus $1,000 for each meeting and conference call attended. He also received 300 shares of stock per year, and is vested in the directors retirement plan, which provides a yearly payment equaling his cash compensation plus ten times the meeting fee, for the number of years he served on the board.

Another member of the Group, Albert Carnesale, was a professor of nuclear engineering at North Carolina State University from 1962-69. He was a member of the U.S. team that negotiated the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) with the Soviet Union. He was on the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management of the National Academy of Sciences. He served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Special Hearing Board regarding the use of plutonium in nuclear power reactors. He has been a consultant to the Defense Department, the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the General Accounting Office, and the Southern Interstate Nuclear Board. Group member Winston Hickox is secretary of the California EPA. He wants businesses to help craft environmental regulations that they will "have to live with" and assured Los Angeles business leaders that he is "not going to throw the book at business." Committee member Theodore Roth is president and CEO of Alliance Pharmaceutical Corporation, which uses radioactive compounds and solvents in their operations.

Group member Gary Stephany was Director of Environmental Health for San Diego County from 1980-93. He started the county's Hazardous Waste Program and Medical Waste Program. Although Pacific West Nuclear (a firm that temporarily stores LLRW in Vista, California) was cited by state officials for having leaking and rusted barrels inside their industrial building, Stephany said, "Its probably safer living near there than it would be living next to a gas station."

Dump foes also have concerns about The PMR Group, the consulting group that helped to set up the Advisory Group. Belle Cole, the PMR representative who deals with the Advisory Group, has been UC's director of research and public policy, as well as head of their conflict-of-interest program (among other positions). As director of research and public policy, she opposed a 1990 bill that would have returned thousands of excavated human remains to Native Americans. She argued that the University, rather than the Native American Heritage Commission, had the proper expertise to make decisions regarding the return of remains to their descendants.

While Cole was head of UC's conflict-of-interest review process, the university reviewed 28,000 corporate-sponsored research contracts for conflicts of interest, but found only 7 problems. When asked why UC took so few actions against researchers, she told the San Diego Union-Tribune, "I don't think it is a lessening of standards so much as an understanding of what the current types of interests are, an understanding of what the opportunities are and what you can and cannot do." As director of public policy, Cole also defended UC's use of animals in scientific experimentation and backed stiffer penalties for animal rights activists. She endorsed proposed legislation that would have made vandalism of research centers a felony.

Dump Opponents Challenge Advisory Group

There was initial confusion as to whether the Advisory Group was supposed to consider Ward Valley as an option. We soon cleared that up. A strong showing by dump opponents at the Group's first meeting on November 17 in Los Angeles embarrassed Davis into sending some signals regarding his intentions. Jonathan Parfrey of Los Angeles Physicians for Social Responsibility, chosen as one of three environmentalists on the 19 member Advisory Group, challenged the composition of the group and issued an effective challenge to Atkinson. Nora Helton, Chairwoman of the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, the only Native American representative on the Group, challenged the Group's decision-making process and delivered an eloquent statement regarding environmental justice. The audience response was powerful as well, with statements by Native American leaders and elders including Steve Lopez, spokesman for the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance, and Mamie Harper, Mohave elder, and statements by long-time activists Dan Hirsch, Joe Lyou, Ward Young, Bradley Angel, Jane Williams and many others. In essence, dump opponents took over the meeting and sent a strong message to Sacramento.

Davis' press secretary responded by issuing a statement that the governor is opposed to the dump project (this is the first time we have received such a strong statement from Davis' office) and Mary Nichols of the State Resources Agency stated definitively on a cable television show in LA that "there will be no dump at Ward Valley, period." Atkinson then responded with a statement that Ward Valley was "off the table" for consideration by the Advisory Group. These are very encouraging signs, although we would like a reconstitution of both the Advisory Group and the Scientific Panel since Ward Valley dump proponents are busy trying to revive the proposal.

On December 20, the Scientific Panel met for the first time. There are 13 members, most of whom have ties to the nuclear power industry or represent the status quo on nuclear dumping with the exception of Dr. Kevin Lemley of Physicians for Social Responsibility and Ernest Goitein, environmental activist, nuclear engineer and BAN Waste Advisory Board member. Ernie Goitein gave an effective presentation on various waste isolation technologies and criticized shallow land burial and other irresponsible means of disposal. Ward Young and I (Phil) were invited to make a presentation to the Scientific Panel and delivered a well-researched report that established that most of the waste in the so-called "low-level" waste stream comes from nuclear power plants and that shallow land burial has failed as a method of disposal. We criticized the composition of both the Advisory Group and Scientific Panel and called for more balance with the addition of experts from public interest organizations. We reiterated our opposition to the Ward Valley dump and the reasons for that opposition. We raised ethical issues that the Scientific Panel had not considered. (continued on pg. 5)

page 5

The chair of the Scientific Panel, Dr. William Kastenberg, reiterated Davis' directive that Ward Valley was off the table although some on the Panel seemed disposed to revive the proposal. Ward and I promoted a number of policy initiatives and criteria including: segregation of the waste stream separating the short-lived biotech, hospital and research waste from the long-lived and highly dangerous nuclear power waste; source reduction; generator liability and internalization of the costs of containment; zero release and isolation of wastes from the biosphere; outlaw shallow land burial; on-site storage and storage until decay at brokers for short-lived wastes; long-term storage of nuclear power wastes in highly-engineered facilities at decommissioned nuclear power plants; long-term storage of the very small amount of long-lived wastes from biotech, hospital and research wastes at decommissioned nuclear power plants; citizen oversight in siting and maintenance of containment facilities; the recognition of scientific uncertainty in the establishment of cause and effect as established by the precautionary principle; the ethical and practical necessity to keep nuclear poisons within our sphere of responsibility; make social equity and environmental justice a central role in policy development.

Many of these concepts were lost on some of the Scientific Panel members, but it was important that we asserted them anyway to change the terms of the debate.

At the second Scientific Panel meeting, representatives from biotech companies complained that they needed a site to dump their waste but were aggressively questioned by the panel members about their responsibility to take care of their own waste and store on-site until decay.

The March 11 meeting of the Advisory Group involved the same tug of war between dump opponents and industry, with continual interventions by Belle Cole.

On April 3 the Scientific Panel submitted a draft report to the Advisory Group. BAN Waste Coalition and SF Physicians for Social Responsibility have proposed a fifth option to be added to the four options the Scientific Panel has submitted. (see pg. 3) A final report is to be prepared for approval at the Advisory Group's final meeting on May 10.

Information about the future meetings of the Advisory Group and Science Panel can be found at www.llrw.org along with the presentations by the consultants. It is very important that we monitor the activities of these groups, continue to insist that Ward Valley is a failed proposal, and assert that California adopt a policy regarding nuclear waste isolation that is environmentally responsible and socially just. This is a slow process requiring much education and, therefore, it is essential that we continue to engage in the process.

The date for the next Advisory Group meeting is April 26 at UCSF - Laurel Heights. It is important that Ward Valley dump opponents attend the meeting and keep up the heat.

Advisory Group Future Meetings Schedule

To put your name on the list to speak at the Advisory Group meetings call Amy Jones of the PMR Group, Inc. at 310/473-7704. Check out their website at www.llrw.org for further information about the committee.

April 26 1pm - 5pm Auditorium at Laurel Heights Conference Center, UCSF. 3333 California Street, San Francisco.

May 10 TO BE ANNOUNCED

We encourage everyone to attend these meetings and to address the committee.

2nd Anniversary of the Occupation
February 12 & 13, 2000

On February 13, 1998 leaders and members of the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance (CRNNA) and supporters from environmental and social justice organizations occupied Ward Valley in order to stop further desecration of the sacred place. Ward Valley remained occupied for 113 days.

The success of that occupation lay in the spiritual guidance of the Elders, ceremony and the sacrifice and commitment of those who held the occupation. For 113 days the sacred fire burned and each day prayers and offerings were made to that fire. During that time many ceremonies were performed, not only by the Tribes of the CRNNA, but also by Tribes wishing to support the cause.

In order to keep the spiritual power flowing and to commemorate and celebrate the occupation of Ward Valley a gathering was held February 12 & 13, 2000. People from all walks of life once again circled together around the sacred fire in ceremony and prayer.

There were meetings to update participants on Ward Valley issues, time around the table and fire with old friends, a traditional naming ceremony to welcome baby Kah-Pet to our family (daughter of Wally Antone and Mary Howe), and a presentation by a representative from Joshua Tree National Park on desert restoration and revegetation.

"We want to send out the message that we stand together in opposition to any kind of nuclear waste site in Ward Valley and will never allow any such facility to be built--EVEN IF IT MEANS OCCUPYING THE LAND ONCE MORE!" -

-Nora Helton, Chairwoman, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe

page 6

Bill Rosendahl: An Exclusive Interview With California Governor Gray Davis

January 13, 2000
Adelphia Communications Corp.
310/315-4400

Bill Rosendahl: Governor, there has been confusion about Ward Valley and where you come out on it. And Ward Valley is the valley where the Colorado River goes through. (sic) The issue that some people have been talking about for years, including Senator [Barbara] Boxer and others, has been that they wanted to make a federal dump of toxic nuclear garbage. And people were fearful that it would go through the aquifer and end up in the Colorado River and will end up polluting the water we drink in L.A.. Tell us about what you're doing about that issue there.

Governor Gray Davis: Well, Ward Valley as a site is a dead issue because the federal government won't sell us the land. I think we have a responsibility to find a place for the waste generated by biotechnology, and our universities, and our hospitals. That waste has a very short shelf life and represents maybe 8-to-10 percent, at most, of the total low-level nuclear waste. But, because we have a high-tech economy, and because we are leaders in biotechnology, I don't think it's right that we get the benefits of all that and just ship our nuclear garbage someplace else. So this taskforce is looking to see if there is some other site besides Ward Valley, anywhere in the state, where we could dump this relatively safe low-level nuclear waste generated solely by biotechnology, university and medical research. The utility waste would still go to the two states, one in the northwest and one in the south, that are accepting the higher portion of low-level nuclear waste, and that comes from utility use.

Why Won't Davis Cancel The Dump?

By Philip M. Klasky, Co-Director,
Bay Area Nuclear (BAN) Waste Coalition
and Tori Woodard, Save Ward Valley

While Ward Valley opponents are still debating if the proposed nuclear dump at Ward Valley is dead or just dead in the water, Governor Davis is moving on to the next proposed "solution" to the problem of radioactive waste containment. As you can see in the interview with the governor on this page, Davis believes that, "Ward Valley as a site is a dead issue because the federal government won't sell us the land." Here Davis blames the federal government instead of simply and definitively stating that the dump project is unsafe and unjust.

Davis goes on to differentiate medical, research and biotech waste from the higher-level portion from nuclear power plants, and suggests they be managed separately. This is an idea that Ward Valley opponents have promoted all along, although the specifics of Davis' plan leave a great deal to be desired. Davis is still promoting the idea of opening another site and continued dumping at leaking facilities while we are promoting on-site storage, source reduction and responsible containment. Our goal is not only to stop the Ward Valley dump, but to set a precedent so that other minority communities do not have to fight the nuclear power industry's attempts to dump their waste in some hole in the ground for future generations to contend with, and so that we can finally stop nuclear power waste at its source and isolate these wastes from the biosphere for as long as they present a danger.

Why won't Davis "just say no" to nuclear waste facilities? Why did he stack the Advisory Group? The answer might be found by looking at his campaign contributors. Generators of radioactive waste gave him $456,500. The breakdown is Southern California Edison $193,500, Edison International $95,000, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) $1,000, Sempra (SDG&E's parent) $50,000, and Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) $117,000.

Members of the Advisory Group who contributed to Davis' campaign include Alan Sieroty ($600), Edward Penhoet ($2,000), and Theodore Roth ($2,000). Penhoet is co-founder and vice-chairman of Chiron (a leading biotechnology company) which gave $1,000.

Delphina Mills, Fort Mojave Elder, and Wally Antone, Quechan Indian Tribe, sing traditional songs in the plaza in Juarez, Mexico.

On January 20-24, 1999 Elders, Tribal leaders and members of the Fort Mojave, Quechan and Colorado River Indian Tribes along with environmental and social justice supporters traveled to Juarez, Mexico as part of the formation of the Binational Coalition Against Toxic and Radioactive Dumps. They were joined by dignitaries from the Mexican government, the Tarahumara (the Indigenous People of Chihuahua), activists from the victorious Sierra Blanca Campaign, and many others. The people of Juarez gave them a warm and gracious welcome.

page 7

The Fate Of The Desert Tortoise

by Philip M. Klasky, Co-director,
BAN Waste Coalition

The desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) has been a political football in the struggle to save Ward Valley. US Ecology, the dump contractor, has argued that the dump would actually help the tortoise. They hired a self-described "biostitute" to conduct studies on the tortoise and testify at various hearings that their proposed mitigation measures would not harm the tortoise and even increase its chances for survival. The desert tortoise has lost half its population in the last ten years due to habitat destruction and the introduction of a fatal upper respiratory tract disease or URTD. US Ecology's mitigation measures propose to move healthy tortoises into an area with a diseased population. According to the scientific literature, translocation results in tortoise deaths and upsets the new resident population's social structure.

US Ecology hired Alice Karl to conduct studies of the tortoise at Ward Valley. She has attached transmitters to their shells to keep track of them to conduct periodic counts. Karl had her permit revoked when Save Ward Valley campers caught her digging tortoises out of their burrows to survey them. This kind of harassment stressed the animals and can cause them to lose all of their stored liquids, a very dangerous predicament for a reptile in a harsh desert environment. Karl has also taken tortoises away from the field to X-ray them to determine if they were pregnant, but this activity was condoned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the agency that issued her permit. We have found tortoises with the transmitters glued to the sensitive flesh between the scutes (shell segments) -- a sloppy mishandling of this protected animal that can cause great harm. Despite our protests, Karl was issued a permit last year for the purpose of removing the transmitters from the tortoises. We argued that she should not be allowed to handle the tortoises since she has shown such unprofessional behavior in the past, but the Service ignored our complaints. We asked that the Service supervise her activities, but they refused. The removal of the transmitters is a very difficult procedure since the packs are glued with epoxy to the back of the tortoise's shells and have to be cut off with a hand held circular saw.

Due to legal action by the BAN Waste Coalition and the Fort Mojave and Chemehuevi Indian Tribes in 1993, Ward Valley and 6.4 million acres of the Mojave desert region in four states have been designated as critical habitat -- habitat essential to the recovery and conservation of the threatened desert tortoise. US Ecology is required by their site characterization permits (issued by the BLM) to revegetate the roads and other areas they disturbed when they installed monitoring wells, weather station and other equipment. Our goal is to keep Ward Valley safe for the tortoise and other desert flora and fauna. We need to insist that the US Fish and Wildlife Service closely supervise Karl's activities and that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) create a timeline by which US Ecology must remove all their equipment and restore and revegetate the areas they denuded. The fate of the desert tortoise depends on our vigilance in protecting this ancient and revered creature.

At the February 12-13, 2000 gathering we met with a restoration biologist from Joshua Tree National Park who consulted with us about restoration and reveget;ation of the disturbed land at Ward Valley. If you would like to volunteer to help us with restoration call or Phil Klasky at 415/752-8678.

Goodbye And God Bless You, Molly Johnson

By Philip Klasky,
Ward Young and Tori Woodard

Molly Johnson, our SAVE WARD VALLEY office manager, is leaving Needles with her husband Rick for a new life adventure. It is safe to say that Molly's contribution to our work and our success has been essential. Molly combines smarts and heart in a way that has made the desert bloom. She has operated an efficient office that has been responsible for all the great and small details of gatherings, events and the historic occupation. Her charge to spread the word and outreach Ward Valley through the Mojave desert region, among the reservations and the towns, has lead to a grass roots movement that other movements are studying for its effectiveness and success in building multi-cultural movement.

But perhaps most importantly, Molly brings a spiritual foundation to her work that shines like a golden sunrise over Ward Valley. Her profound respect for the land and the Elders who have helped defend it is present in all of her actions. On behalf of the diverse coalition that is the Ward Valley movement, thank you and god bless you, Molly.

page8

Upcoming Events

• Advisory Group on Low-Level Radioactive Waste Meetings - April 26 and May 10 (see pg. 5)

• Mother's Day Gathering at the Nevada Test Site - May 12-15, 2000. Honor our Mother Earth, support environmental justice, honor and support Youthful wisdom, occupy and pray for the land, take action to stop nuclear testing and nuclear waste dumping. For more information call Shundahai House - 702/647-3095

• Escalante Wilderness Action Gathering - May 19-21, 2000, Escalante, Utah.

  Support local activists, learn about wilderness issues & campaigns, strategize about Deep Wilderness. Issues include grazing on public lands, Glen Canyon restoration, ecosystem management and much, much more. For more information call The Escalante Wilderness Project - 435/826-4778

THANK YOU
Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Grousbeck Family Foundation, Turner Foundation, Leocha Fund of the Tide Foundation, The Funding Exchange, John Kemper Cantor Fund, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Roland Valentine, Bill White AND TO EVERYONE WHO GAVE OF THEMSELVES TO HELP WIN THIS VICTORY!!

IN MEMORIUM
In honor of those who have made such a difference and dedicated so much to help Save Ward Valley.

Geneva Evanston - Fort Mojave - (1949 -2000) - Elder, founder of the Fort Mojave Youth Dance Group, a warrior of the Ward Valley occupation.
Amy Belle Escalante - Quechan - (1958-1999) She dedicated her life to teaching the children and keeping traditional values and culture alive.
Alberta Stillman - Fort Mojave (1933-2000) - Elder, Ward Valley supporter
Bill White- (1927-2000) - "The man who had everything!" Always ready, always there, always smiling and singing--an inspiration to all.
Bill Rosse - Western Shoshone - (? - 1999) - Elder, treaty rights and environmental justice activist.
Thomas Banyaca - Hopi - (1910-1999) Messenger of the Hopi Prophecies. He visited and blessed Ward Valley and Avi Kwame
Bill Snelling - (1937-2000) - A lifetime of dedication to Mother Earth - co-founder of Greenaction

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RETURN to main WARD VALLEY page
IEN's SUBJECT Page
IEN's nuclear HOT SPOTS Page

http://www.shundahai.org/SWVAction.html
http://earthrunner.com/savewardvalley
http://www.ctaz.com/~swv1
http://banwaste.envirolink.org
http://www.ienearth.org/wardvly4.html
http://www.greenaction.org