coyote@latrans.alphai.org (Scott Robert Ladd) writes:
>I'm looking for a complete list of the following:
>- Tribes who have received money from the Dept. of Energy for
> nuclear waste dump studies. For example, the Ute Mountain
> Tribe recently received a $300,000 grant to study the effects
> of locating a nuclear dump on their reservation.
This is the MRS program, which is conducted through the Office of the
Nuclear Waste Negotiator. It's an executive branch that is rather
seperate from the DoE; it was set up to deal with the problem of where
to put the spent fuel rods being produced in commercial nuclear power
generators. The ONWN offered $100,000 to any state or Indian tribe
to study, obligation-free, the possibility of hosting a Monitored
Retrievable Storage site on their land. The ONWN explicitly states
that everything in the siting is negotiable--including the contractors
building and maintaining the site, the monies and services paid from
the Federal government to the host (to be approved on a yearly basis by
Congress), and what will happen if no permanent site is made available
(but the language is clear that the host will become the permanent
site with no special compensation for this change in status).
The program in its present design takes patricular advantage of the
sovereignty that tribal governments have over regulation and of the
power that these governments have in circumventing the consensus of
the tribal members concerning economic development and land exploitation.
Four counties and sixteen tribes applied for the $100,000 grant to do
initial feasibility studies for the MRS site. All four counties quickly
withdrew due to public disapproval; six tribes withdrew for similar
reasons, and three tribes were denied funds by the ONWN.
Two tribes remain in Phase I of the program, which pays $100,000 to
do initial studies, all of which must be spent on these studies: the
Eastern Shawnee (OK) and the Lower Brule (SD).
Phase IIa offers $200,000+ to do studies on a specific site on the
lands. Tribes in this phase are the Mescalero Apache (NM), Skull
Valley Goshute Tribe (UT), Fort McDermitt Paiute-Shoshone (NV/OR),
Tonkawa Tribe (OK), and the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Dakota (MN).
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, I believe, was given both Phase I and
Phase II monies to go straight to Phase IIa.
Different tribes have different things in mind--the Prairie Island
tribe is using the MRS studies to prove that Northern States Power
should not put Dry Cask Storage of the spent fuel rods on its reactor
site that shares the island with the reservation. The Mescalero
Apache tribal government claims that the money is being spent on
education for the tribe about nuclear waste and uranium, but tribal
members disagree, saying the council is conducting misleading
propaganda to silence opposition. Many tribal members are unaware
that their elected tribal officials have even applied for the monies;
many of the tribes withdrawing did so because of outrage at the
discovery that the process had been undertaken in secrecy with the
ONWN. Other tribal members read about the process in city newspapers
(the story was omitted in tribal publications).
Much of the rhetoric in the negotiations has been established with the
help of the National Congress of the American Indians (NCAI) and the
Coalition of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT), National Indian organizations
made up of Government officials and with close BIA policy interaction.
The NCAI, for example, is receiving $365,600 this year alone from the
US Department of Energy.
>If possible, please pass along any contacts within these tribes.
It depends on who you want to talk to in the tribes--the council
members are sometimes willing to tell you why they're proceeding
with the MRS, but often aren't much more helpful than that. There
are activists working with the tribal members sometimes, and some
tribal members have become very active in the issue at expense of
jobs and community harmony. It's a hot issue where it's going on
and there are delicate problems in many cases. The best way to
get involved is to proceed by word of mouth until you find someone
who is comfortable with you. I can send you a list of tribal
governments' addresses through private email if you want them.
Much of the information for this is given on a flyer printed by
the National Environmental Council of Native Americans, 100 Watson
Drive, Apt #N2, Yale, OK 74085. NECNA is a grassroots organization
of Indian people working on environmental issues. They'd probably
send you some info; a SASE wouldn't hurt.
Hope this helps!
Arlen
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"Even now, we scarcely feel our hearts beat before they break in protest"
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