They recently applied for a grant from the Department of Energy to study
the feasibility of siting a high level nuclear waste storage facility on
their reservation. This has caused some unhappiness among the environ-
mental groups who have also been fighting against the nuclear fuel dump.
This release clarifies the Tribe's reasoning.
The press release is about 4k bytes long.
Bruce Drew (612)927-5087
E-mail Addresses
BIX: [DE3MIR]bdrew
COMPUSERVE: 72310,3165
Bitnet: bdrew%igc.org@stanford
Internet: bdrew@igc.org
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[ The following text was posted to the IGC system as "response 1." --Gary ]
January 9, 1992
Contact Person: William Hardacker, (612) 893-1813
Mark Tilsen, (612) 338-2840
Jim White, (612) 385-2536
PRESS RELEASE
Immediate release
MINNESOTA INDIAN RESERVATION APPLIES FOR CONSIDERATION
AS FEDERAL HIGH-LEVEL NUCLEAR WASTE FACILITY
Citing frustration with state officials, the tribal government of the
Prairie Island Indian community has requested the United States
Department of Energy to consider making its lands a storage site for
the nation's high-level nuclear waste. The tribe has applied for a
grant from the U.S. government to complete a feasibility survey to
determine whether Prairie Island would be a suitable site for a high-
level nuclear waste facility.
"Since Northern States Power and the state of Minnesota seem committed
to forcing our people to live next to high-level nuclear waste for an
undetermined amount of time without any compensation, why shouldn't we
become the national waste site? At least then we will be getting
something for the dangers we are already being forced to live with."
- Lu Taylor-Jacobson, Tribal Council member
"The Prairie Island Indian community is committed to stopping NSP's
proposed nuclear waste storage plan, however if Governor Carlson is
going to allow nuclear waste to be forced upon our people, the tribe
has the responsibility to pursue all available options to protect the
tribal interest."
- Willie Hardacker, attorney for the Prairie Island Dakota.
The City of Redwing receives over $12,000,000 in property tax from the
NSP plant at Prairie Island every year. The tribe only received $164
from NSP over 19 years ago for the right-of-way for the road that
passes through the reservation.
The tribe passed an ordinance requiring NSP to get a tribal license
before it could haul waste through the reservation. But federal Judge
Devitt has issued a restraining order stopping the tribe from enforcing
the ordinance.
NSP has openly admitted that it has never studied the health effects
of nuclear waste on the neighboring Indian people.
NSP has also never done a study on whether or not Prairie Island is an
adequate site for high level nuclear waste.
The tribe has been trying to stop NSP from storing more waste on
Prairie Island, but they have been stalled at every turn. Even when
they tried to run paid television advertising they were silenced. The
ad called attention to NSP's plans to build new nuclear waste storage
at the site and asked the public to call the Public Utilities
Commission and express their opinions; all the major television
stations in the Twin Cities refused to run the ad.
"It's not the tribe who put this waste here. The feds, NSP, the
state, whoever thought this quiet, unspoiled place should be a nuclear
installation will finally get their wish.", Hardacker continued.
Because there has never been a high-level waste repository for U.S.
nuclear power plants, highly-radioactive spent fuel and other wastes
have been accumulating at the plants ever since they opened. If no
storage can be found for the waste, the plants must be shut down.
Consequently, the U.S. has been asking states and tribes to offer a
Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) facility site for years. An MRS
facility would hold high-level nuclear waste until a permanent
repository has been opened, not likely to happen in this century.
Since late 1990, NSP has sought to expand storage space for high-level
nuclear waste at its Prairie Island nuclear power plant.
Despite more than a year of work by Indians and environmentalists,
state officials have refused to reject NSP's plans to increase the
amount of nuclear waste next to the reservation. Recognizing that NSP
may be unstoppable, the Prairie Island tribal council has decided that
the only way to get away from NSP's nuclear plant is to accept federal
money for the reservation.
"This is not an idle threat", says Hardacker. "The Prairie Island
Dakota are sick of living next to a nuclear plant that non-Indians
would not want nearby their homes and children either. Unfortunately,
their options are very limited.
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