Tribe Occupies California Site of Planned Radioactive Waste Dump Story-Date: 02:43 p.m. PST Monday , March 9, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ Tribe Occupies California Site of Planned Radioactive Waste Dump By Karen L. Testerman, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News NEEDLES, Calif.--Mar. 9--Tribal elders, children, men and women occupy a desert site to protest against radioactive materials being dumped in the area they say is holy land while non-Indian supporters are pulling in to enforce the protest. The Fort Mojave Tribe received a permit from the Bureau of Land Management to use the federal-public land known as Ward Valley for camping and parking cars. A proposal from California Gov. Pete Wilson and the nuclear and medical industry requesting the BLM to transfer the land to the state of California for the purpose of building a 1,000-acre low-level radioactive waste dump site prompted the take over. The occupants say they don't want BLM to transfer the land, because the state intends on storing hazardous radioactive waste by constructing a dumping ground with unlined trenches above an aquifer connected to the Colorado River via five potential pathways. The proposed dump site is located along a dirt road approximately one mile from I-40, in a remote desert valley, approximately 22 miles west of Needles, Calif., and 18 miles from the Colorado River. The entrance to the encampment is a small one-lane dirt road bordered by a small wire fence that protects the desert tortoise. The Ward Valley site is the only habitat where the threatened desert tortoise is increasing in numbers and is recovering from upper respiratory tract disease. The desert tortoise is sacred to the Fort Mojave people. The encampment site called "Ground Zero" consists of local tribal elders and tribal members, many of whom have lived at the camp since 1995. Tribal members of the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance have maintained the sacred fire, sacred staff, and continue to offer songs and prayers. Ward Valley is a holy place according to the local tribal members and elders. They feel the area shouldn't be desecrated nor used as a nuclear dump. The people of the Colorado River Native Nation Alliance -- Fort Mojave, Quechan, Chemehuevi, Cocopah, and Colorado River Indian tribes -- are opposed to the land transfer, test well drilling, and any final construction of a radioactive waste dump. Anti-nuclear activists, environmental groups, migrant farm worker groups, citizen groups, Native organizations, and environmental justice groups are standing in alliance with the tribes. American Indian and non-Indian supporters from throughout the country joined the encampment, making it 300-plus strong. The BLM issued a closure order for the 1,000-acre site, which took effect on February 13, hoping the protesters would clear out of the area. BLM served the five-day eviction notice to the Fort Mojave Tribe on February 14, reneging on the original permit. At dawn, on February 19, protester's sat around their campfires sipping coffee, waiting for federal authorities to make the next move in the week-long eviction stand-off. Youngsters wearing red bandannas assisted the older men in patrolling the encampment overnight expecting authorities from the BLM to move in and move them out. At daybreak, only a handful of federal rangers could be seen a mile north on I-40, watching the camp. "We will remain until we find out what's going to happen," said Wally Antone of the Quechan Tribe. He said tribal leaders are in contact with federal authorities. Protesters said the goal of BLM is to secure Ground Zero, remove all encampment participants and make room for test well equipment to come in and begin constructing additional test wells. BLM and the state of California are planning to do scientific drilling. The purpose of the testing is to determine the movement of tritium and related materials at depth at the site, as recommended by a report prepared by a panel of the National Academy of Sciences in 1995. Findings of tritium were reported at a considerable depth below the surface at the Ward Valley site. The NAS was unable to determine the cause of the findings, and recommended further sampling and analysis for tritium and chlorine-36 at the site. The testing is expected to investigate the extent to which tritium released into the atmosphere during the 1950s and 1960s has migrated into the soil. The results of the federal tests will be included in a supplemental environmental impact statement. There is fear in the encampment that BLM, under intense pressure from the nuclear industry and Gov. Wilson, will be rigging the test study to support the dump proposal. There's a feeling that the federal government and the state have no credibility, and the tests will not be performed honestly. The contractor to conduct the testing is one of the worlds biggest nuclear reactor builders. Gov. Wilson's administration is also opposed to the testing, but for different reasons. It was reported that Gov. Wilson said the project is safe and the tests amount to unnecessary foot-dragging by the federal government. In the beginning, the federal government hesitated to sign Ward Valley over to the state of California because of safety concerns. Now, federal experts plan to use the radioactive tritium to test the soil and say the encampment must be moved. The elders of the Fort Mojave and other area tribes said the project desecrates their homeland, because they recognize the Ward Valley site and surrounding area as sacred to all the tribes within the Colorado River Native Nation Alliance. They said the land is sacred because of its proximity to Spirit Mountain, the birthplace of their ancestors, and is recognized as the spirit path that must be protected. The occupants' concerns also focus on environmental and health issues that will arise from the dump. They say radioactivity could seep into the Colorado River 20 miles east of the site. It was reported that Llewellyn Barrackman, a 40-year veteran of Fort Mojave Tribal Affairs, leaned on his cane as he spoke to the people in camp, many huddled in blankets around campfires. "You know there's a lot of wind here, a lot of rain," he said. "We, the five tribes along this river, are going to have to breathe that air and drink that water." A delegation from the BLM, which oversees the site, moved in closer and listened as speaker after speaker protested that the project was sacrilegious. Colorado River Indian Tribal Spokesman Dave Harper said their spirituality and their culture will see them through, and they will win. Both the eviction notice and the closure notice provided the BLM "legal" authority to enforce the closure notices and evict or arrest all encampment participants that resist. Removal of the encampment has not been implemented so far. BLM SAYS IT WANTS TO NEGOTIATE: The Bureau of Land Management says it wants to negotiate with the protesters. California BLM Director Ed Hastley said they will listen and will continue to listen to the protesters, but neither he nor other BLM officials would reveal plans for negotiations or plans to move the campers. Since issuing the eviction notice, BLM has established a command post at the I-40 off-ramp area, which consists of three small mobile trailers with generators and satellite dishes. Wooden barricades were erected to seal off the area prohibiting entrance into the encampment. A trailer was designated as the "press-media trailer" and only reporters and photographers with photo-identification media credentials will be allowed access into the area. Aerial surveillance of the encampment and occupation is being done by the California State Patrol through an agreement between BLM and the State Patrol. According to BLM rangers this was done to maintain a count of the number of vehicles parked in "permitted" areas of the site. There have been reports from Department of Interior sources and some "casual" remarks from local BLM officials that no arrest action will be taken against the encampment and occupation participants, however, nothing in writing has been forwarded by BLM or the Department of Interior. Reports indicate that BLM officials met with representatives of Fort Mojave and Colorado River Native Nations Alliance representatives in Needles, on Feb. 18, to discuss a memorandum of agreement. The BLM is trying to negotiate acceptance by the tribes to allow testing or different levels of the testing to continue. According to the Fort Mojave Tribal Chairwoman, the tribe and the Alliance refused the offer and remain steadfast in opposing all BLM activities that would plan for the testing to take place. The elected tribal leaders are following the direction of their elders and tribal grass-roots members to do everything possible to protect the sacred area from any further desecration. The tribes, elders, Native and non-Native supporters have vowed that they will not be moved. The tribes along the Colorado River are saying to the U.S. government there is no compromise in defense of their sacred lands and the protection of the Colorado River. Participants and the tribes say they are being very cautious of the BLM, and will continue to maintain the line of resistance to protect the sacred site. The Indigenous Environmental Network is working with the Alliance and the "Save Ward Valley" coalition to fight the state's proposal. The tribal leaders had actively sought U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, BIA, Department of Interior and direct requests to President Clinton's office to intervene in this issue, but with no action from these federal agencies or the U.S. administration. The tribal leaders once again do not see the U.S. government respecting its own policy of respecting government-to-government responsibilities that were assured by President Clinton. Tribal leaders had previously asked the Clinton administration and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to refuse to transfer the land from federal ownership over to the state of California. The leaders have cited the administration's policies on federal trust responsibilities including breach of responsibility under Presidential Executive Orders 13007 and 12898, Indian Sacred Sites and Environmental Justice. The tribes feel they have exhausted all remedies to stop this dump proposal, which is why they formed the line of resistance. IEN officials say they support this direct action. The tribal representatives have prepared public testimony to the U.S. EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council requesting that the Ward Valley issue be declared an environmental justice issue and that an environmental justice analysis be conducted as part of the environmental assessment. An environmental justice analysis has now been mandated as part of the activities under the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that is currently underway. ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ ----- (c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------