Tag Archives: goshutes

Nuclear Waste, continued

Today’s Deseret News has published an article entitled Nuclear waste battle: a historic turn. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is opening the issue of nuclear waste storage on the Goshute Reservation by a private consortium, Private Fuel Storage (PFS), by having public comment on how PFS would protect recognized historic places. This is another step in the process of issuing the license to PFS.
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Bills call for on site nuclear waste storage

Today’s Deseret News is reporting the proposal of a bill in the U.S. House and Senate that would keep nuclear waste stored on site where it is generated. This would mean that the PFS Project in Utah would potentially be squashed.

3rd Investor withdraws from PFS project

A few days ago I posted about two investors withdrawing from the venture to store nuclear waste on the Goshute Reservation in Utah.
The Deseret News has reported today that a third investor, Florida Power and Light Co., has withdrawn from the venture.

The article gives credit to U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch for approaching the three investors and getting them to change their minds about supporting the PFS project. Hatch apparently is approaching the other investors as well.
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Two Private Fuel Storage Investors Withdraw Support

Cautious optimism is the buzz for opposition to storing nuclear waste in Utah.

Two investors in Private Fuel Storage have withdrawn their support in the venture to store nuclear waste on the Goshute Reservation in Utah.

Xcel Energy was one of those supporters, with 34% responsibility for PFS’s budget.

Environmentalists are optimistic that this could mean the demise of PFS, while acknowledging at the same time that this is not necessarily an end to the venture.

PFS officials claim that there are other investors waiting to be part of the project.

Elected officials are optimistic that PFS will not realize its vision of a waste repository in Utah’s west desert.

Supreme Court refuses to hear Utah’s Appeal on Nuclear Waste Issue

Utah officials and activists expected the U.S. Supreme Court to reject its case of appeal of a lower court ruling that denied a set of laws from being implemented that would have blocked the storage of high level nuclear waste in Utah.

Private Fuel Storage, the coalition that wants to store the waste in Utah’s west desert in Goshute Reservation land, is of course relieved with this recent news.

The article in today’s Salt Lake Tribune has an archive of links to past articles on the issue.

At the end of the article is a series of bulleted points on “what lies ahead” in this struggle. The last point states that:
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has proposed a plan to keep waste at the nuclear reactors that produced it until it can be reprocessed. It has the support of Utah’s governor and congressional delegation, with the exception of Sen. Orrin Hatch.

No Nuclear Waste

The Deseret News Editorial today is recognizes the complexity of the nation’s nuclear waste storage and advocates not using our southwestern states as dumping grounds.

An ariticle in the business section of the same paper reports that an amendment aimed at promoting nuclear power in Utah has been dropped by Utah legislators.

If Private Fuel Storage is Built…..

….which most Utahns, including myself, do not want and will do whatever it takes to see that it doesn’t happen, according to a Deseret News Poll, most Utahns would want PFS specially taxed.

However it has already been determined by a federal court that such taxes are deemed “unconstitutional”.

PFS is a consortium of electric companies that is seeking to store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods at the site, located on the Goshute Reservation in Utah, west of Salt Lake.

Utah asks for Revocation of Nuke Storage Waste Proposal

Utah has petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals to revoke federal approval of a proposal to store high-level nuclear waste in the state.

Utah is asking the court to “declare that the NRC’s decisions relating to the PFS license application are arbitrary and capricious and inconsistent with applicable law; (and) direct the NRC to revoke any license” granted to the facility.

U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch has publicly supported this appeal. However he has also stated publicly that he has requested Private Fuel Storage owners Xcel Energy to “look elsewhere” for nuke waste storage.

I wonder if Orrin means keep the spent fuel where it’s **created**???

Private Fuel Storage Permitting Process Hits a Snag

Earlier this week a BLM official would not sign a permit to build a railroad spur leading to its nuclear waste storage facility on the land of the Goshute Indians in Tooele County, Utah.

Apparently there is a moratorium on land use and until that is lifted by Congress, or until the Air Force completes a resources study, according to the BLM official, he won’t sign the permit.

The article also refers to U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch’s “opposition” to the PFS site and he has publicly applauded the BLM’s efforts to “uphold the law”, placing an obstacle in the path of the further development of this site.

(Of note, however, is that Orrin Hatch still supports the building of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada….)

I am happy to see that obstacles such as this are occuring. It’s still a long road to getting PFS to completely go away, to getting Yucca Mountain shut down. Citizens across the nation do not want the waste transported through their communities. And these citizens are willing to put their bodies on the line in protest – me included. Keep the waste where it is.


Deseret Morning News graphic

Nuke Waste News

This letter was received from the Shundahai Network, an organization dedicated to breaking the nuclear chain through its work with and in support of indingenous people.

Dear Friends,

We are all in critical times.

We recently received bad news on a high-level nuclear waste dump that has been resisted for eight years in Indian country. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission finally approved it on Friday September 9th, 2005.

On a 4-1 vote, the NRC approved a license to site an unprecedented high-level nuclear waste dump on the small Goshute Indian reservation in Utah. This is a fight that we have been involved in for eight years now, and there are still avenues available to stop this project from moving any further.

There is still a lot that can be done to stop this project. All the latest news is attached at the end of this email.

Shundahai Network needs your help. We are still having hard times. Though we also continue to work hard to maintain our critical efforts to oppose nuclear projects and to support Indigenous environmental justice struggles in the Great Basin, times are hard for everyone.

We have been able to keep basic bills paid for the past two months due to two very generous donations from Tribal and allied sources and several smaller, though also very generous and well-appreciated, donations from friends who have responded to our email appeals.

However, there is still much support needed to get things back to full capacity, and to move with strength into a future that we all know needs to happen, though is not getting any easier for any of us.

Currently we are focusing our efforts on this rapidly-escalating struggle to stop the nuclear dump in Skull Valley. The attached links will bring you up-to-date on this issue.

Even despite our current funding shortfall, Shundahai Network is in a position to serve a very critical function in the fight that remains. Everyone knows we will not give up- even when times get hard. It simply cannot happen. And ultimately, we always need your help to do this.

We do apologize for the slight delay in getting all this info out, but with our funding crunch we have had some related technical problems, including problems maintaining our website and getting the news out quickly- but here is the latest.

Please read the following news articles and review our website. We are in a crazy time, but together we can stop this from moving forward.

Please feel free to contact our office, using the contact information listed at the bottom of this email, and know that you are always in our thoughts and prayers.

In peace, love and solidarity,
Pete Litster
Director
Shundahai Network

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Alert!! September 9th 2005- Nuclear Dump Approved!

After an eight-year fight, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the license for an unprecedented high-level nuclear dump On The Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah. Please help oppose this project!

Latest News: From http://www.shundahai.org

9-17-05 New York Times Offends Utah on Nuke Waste- Deseret News http://www.shundahai.org/091705_DesNews_NYTimes_Offends_Utah.htm

9-16-06 Goshute Nuclear Fight Similar to Navajos’- Deseret News http://www.shundahai.org/091605DesNews_Navajo_fight_Like_Goshute.htm

9-16-05 Homeland Security Investigates Skull Valley Nuke Dump- Salt Lake Tribune http://www.shundahai.org/091605_US_HomelandSec_Checks_PFS.htm

9-15-05 UT Governor Will “Stand on Tracks” To Stop Nuke Dump- Ogden Standard Examiner http://www.shundahai.org/091505_OgdenSE_Huntsman_NVDA_vs_PFS.htm

9-13-05 Editorial: On a dangerous path- Skull Valley and Yucca Mountain nuke dumps both wrong- Las Vegas Sun http://www.shundahai.org/091305LasVegasSun_PFS_Yucca_bad.htm

9-12-05 Heavy Hitter: Mormon Church Comes Out Against Skull Valley Nuke Dump- Deseret News (UT) http://www.shundahai.org/091205DesNews_LDS_Church_Opposes_PFS.htm

9-11-05 Nuclear Waste Storage Plan Approved for Utah Indian Reservation Washington Post http://www.shundahai.org/091105WashPost_PFS_approved.htm

9-10-05 Feds say ‘yes’ to waste storage Salt Lake Tribune http://www.shundahai.org/091005SLTrib_NRC_Approves_PFS_Dump.htm

9-10-05 UTAH RESERVATION TO GET NUKE WASTE Pittsburg Post-Gazette http://www.shundahai.org/091005PittsburgPostGazette_on_PFS.htm

9-9-05 Approval of Private Fuel Storage Means Dangerous and Unnecessary Storage of Highly Radioactive Waste in Utah Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Director, Public Citizen s Energy Program http://www.shundahai.org/090905PubCitizen_NO_PFS.htm