As we, the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, move toward the final environmental impact statement and the operation of a high-level nuclear waste storage facility as part of our economic development project, I want to make things clear to the federally recognized American Indian tribes, federal governmental agencies and the people of Utah.
Many of you are interested in how the federal government can protect us and keep this world clean of any disposal of waste.
A few years ago, the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians received a General Assistance Program grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, which the tribe established as a Tribal Environmental Protection Agency. TEPA is responsible for the administration and structure of tribal statutes and regulations and requires compliance with tribal laws, regulations, permits and ordinances, including those federal laws within the reservation jurisdiction.
The executive committee discussed additional permits within the "draft" tribal environmental code. It would allow Private Fuel Storage to purchase permits under the Tribes Nuclear Waste standards. The transportation of nuclear waste on and across tribal lands would have very low levels of public exposure.
Also, the storage would consist of a lower level of employee exposure. All levels of exposure would be much less than the Department of Energy's storage facility at Yucca Mountain.
The issue of permits within the draft Tribal Environmental Code wasn't in the best interest of the chairman. The chairman also didn't want to adopt the draft Tribal Emergency Operations Plan, which would train tribal members to be first responders, who would deal with emergency-response situations within the boundaries of the Skull Valley Indian Reservation.
A tribe is treated as a sovereign government or subfederal government. Some tribes develop cooperative agreements with local counties and state agencies for emergencies. Tribal statutes, regulations and federal laws concur. Such laws, like the federal environmental laws, consist of the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
What I find most outrageously disgusting is the Skull Valley Goshutes have been in violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act for years. The water quality was contaminated with surface water containing E. coli, fecal matter and other organisms. One violation includes leaking underground storage tanks. The tribe has not inspected, repaired, maintained or removed any underground gasoline or diesel tanks on the reservation for years.
A second violation is the Open Dump Act. The tribe has had an open dump for years, not a landfill. The soil contamination will have enormous environmental impact on aquatic ecosystems in the future. Also, all of the homes on the reservation haven't had an environmental assessment.
The chairman or his delegates should take a sample of water once or twice a month to protect his people from harmful and dangerous hazards on the reservation. If a sovereign American Indian tribe can not clean up its own environmental problems within its jurisdiction, how can the tribe take care of 4,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste?
The tribe is at a disadvantage in its own government and the circumstances surrounding its self-governance. I can see how a limited liability company and a federal agency can bulldoze their way through an ambiguous relationship.
The message is clear. I believe the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians is not capable of handling the storage facility, and most tribal members don't have a four-year college degree.
Rex A. Allen is tribal executive secretary for the Skull Valley Goshute Indians.