Shundahai Network

OHNGO GUADADEH DEVIA
Skull Valley Goshute Reservation, Utah

PRESS STATEMENT
Released on September 20, 2006

Recent new stories on the defeat of a nuclear waste dump on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation have primarily highlighted the role the state of Utah played in stopping the radioactive spent fuel storage plan. The battle over nuclear waste has been described as a battle between the state, on one side, and the tribe and Private Fuel Storage, a coalition of utilities, on the other. Yet, it is grassroots tribal members from Skull Valley who played the decisive role in defeating the plan, due to their tireless effort and their environmental justice and sovereignty platform.

The grassroots platform is based on protecting the way of life, traditions and homeland of the Goshutes from the ecological and cultural threats posed by radioactive waste storage. It is this platform that rallied a national coalition of Indigenous and environmental groups to support tribal members, and to which the Bureau of Indian Affairs referred in rejecting the waste dump.

"Fourteen years ago, Skull Valley Band Of Goshute members were told of plans to store high-level nuclear waste on our reservation land," said Margene Bullcreek, founder of the grassroots Skull Valley group Ohngo Gaudadeh Devia (Shoshone word meaning "Timber Setting Committee.") "We were told how safe it was and how it would bring prosperity to our lives. It would have been easy to lose oneself in the vulnerability of the Band members who were groping for wealth as a way out of despair and reservation poverty. For those of us who respect our Devia, our homeland, wealth at the expense of our cultural traditions was never an option for us."

"Sovereignty is the root of our lives as indigenous peoples, and it can't be bought, sold, or abused with greed and dishonesty when our traditional life is at stake. It gives me a great sense of being an Indigenous woman that Ohngo Gaudadeh Devia members not only spoke out against nuclear power and waste but also stood up for our cultural and traditional values and the protection of animal life, air, water, people and Mother Earth. And in the end, this stance was recognized by the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs," adds Bullcreek.

In two separate decisions, the Bureau of Indian Affairs disapproved a Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted lease for Private Fuel Storage to use Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation land, and the Bureau of Land Management refused to grant the rights of way needed to build transportation infrastructure to move tons of used nuclear fuel through the state to the storage site. The Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, as "trustee-delegate", issued his ultimate decision and ruling after a “complex task of weighing the long-term viability and preservation of the tribal culture of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute against the benefits and risks from such economic development activities”. In conclusion, Associate Deputy Interior Secretary James Cason wrote: "It is not consistent with the conduct expected of the prudent trustee to approve a proposed lease that promotes storing high level spent fuel on the reservation."

"While the decision is a victory for Margene, who has been fighting to protect her reservation for years now, it is somewhat disappointing that it took the BIA so long to reach this decision", said Mark EchoHawk, an attorney representing Ohngo Gaudadeh Devia. "In December, 2002, we asked the BIA to withdraw its conditional approval for the PFS lease based on many of the points the BIA now relies on in its decision. The BIA has been aware of the reasons which justify disapproval of the PFS lease for years now, but failed to act," EchoHawk added.

"This was a precedent-setting and decision the Secretary of Interior made for the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes in that it recognizes our cultural perspective and lives as well as our sovereignty and the trust relationship between the federal government and our reservation community," said Bullcreek.

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of the Indigenous Environmental Network said the decision has national implications. "This decision by the Secretary is not only highly important for Goshute people," he said, "but also for all Indigenous peoples who face the same dilemma and who need protection against environmental injustice."

For More Information:
Margene Bullcreek, Ohngo Gaudadeh Devia
mbullcreek@yahoo.com
435-831-6009
801-414-9543

Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director, Indigenous Environmental Network,
ien@igc.org
218-751-4967

Nuclear Waste Dump No Longer Threatens Our Homeland; Private Fuel Storage Dump Defeated!