Date: 09 May 97 17:45:18 -0800
From: larry@salata.com (Larry Fletcher)
To: nukenet@envirolink.org
Subject: Native rights versus nuke dump
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the May 15, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
WARD VALLEY ENCAMPMENT: NATIVE RIGHTS VERSUS NUKE DUMP
By Bill Allen
Ward Valley, Calif.
It was the largest and most important gathering yet in a decade-long
fight. For three days, April 25-27, some 750 people gathered here under
the hot Mojave Desert sun to defend this valley from attempts to build a
radioactive waste dump.
The event was in defiance of Gov. Pete Wilson's demand that the site be
"secured" and an encampment of anti-dump protesters be evicted from Ward
Valley.
The three-day gathering was hosted by the Colorado River Native Nations
Alliance, a coalition of the Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Cocopah and
Colorado River Indian nations. These indigenous peoples of the area have
vowed never to allow a dump to be built on their traditional and sacred
lands at Ward Valley.
Tribal leaders and elders were joined by environmental and social justice
activists in strategy meetings, sunrise ceremonies, and traditional song
and dance.
After intense discussions, dump opponents reiterated their intention to
defend the area if authorities tried to work on the dump or evict the
18-month-old encampment. In an escalation of their determination, dump
opponents unanimously agreed they would physically block any further
damage to Ward Valley.
The Interior Department and the State Department of Health Services want
to conduct more tests at the site, allegedly to determine if radioactive
contaminants would leak from the proposed dump. But such tests would
further damage the sacred lands at Ward Valley. Tests already conducted
indicated the site would leak. Similar dumps operated elsewhere by U.S.
Ecology, the company holding the contract for work here, have leaked.
The nuclear industry and Gov. Pete Wilson want to dump long-lasting and
highly radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants into unlined dirt
trenches at Ward Valley. The site lies above an aquifer with pathways to
the Colorado River.
The state has already issued a license to U.S. Ecology to operate the
dump, but strong public opposition has forced the U.S. Interior Department
to delay the transfer of the lands from federal to state control.
The Native nations and their environmental justice allies demand that
President Bill Clinton reject the transfer of federal lands and stop the
dump now.
The Indian nations and allies vow their protests will be peaceful but also
promise massive, vigorous and all-out physical resistance if police are
sent in to remove them.
"We are drawing a line in the sand to defend our sacred homelands and the
Colorado River from nuclear wastes," said Steve Lopez of the Fort Mojave
Indian tribe.
"This nuclear dump project is a threat to our people and is a threat to
the river that is our life's blood. We will not let this project kill our
people, no matter what it takes to stop it from being built."
The Ward Valley Emergency Response Network can be contacted at (619)
326-6267.
- END -
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