Western Shoshone Defense Project - Archives

June 1, 2004

Statement by Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone Grandmother

Dear Congressman:

VOTE NO ON THE WESTERN SHOSHONE DISTRIBUTION BILL

    If you care to hear why I say no to S 618/HR 884, the "Western Shoshone Distribution Bill", please read on. First, this bill represents in no uncertain terms how under American Law Indigenous peoples continue to be classified as non-humans. In American law Indigenous peoples are classified into a category that would only be fit for animals. I do not believe democracy should ever consider "taken" as a way to obtain people's land. The United States Constitution set up a procedure on how lands can be obtained by the United States. Not one of the steps was adhered to by the United States in its decision to "take" Western Shoshone lands. All the actions taken by the United States have been lawless and unconstitutional. If there is a desire to really evict the Western Shoshone people off their land, it should at least be done according to the Constitution - a law the United States claims as its foundation as a "democracy."

    I This old lady has been involved in Western Shoshone life and land struggles for the past 30 years. I do believe that there is a conflict of interest by the Government and the Department of Interior - they are attempting to destroy our spiritual connection to our land and our waters and that is what is most sacred to us. This bill will pave the way for the attack on both our land and water.

    Maybe as Americans you can sell land to others, but we as Indigenous people can not. The word Sogobee (or bia) means Earth Mother, the very essence of our life comes from the land (Earth Mother). I really do not believe anyone should take this bill as a true and democratic way to solve this problem. If you are truly Representatives of a democracy and believers in a Constitutional form of government, I would say to you that all this bill does is attempt to legitimize a theft of the largest amount of land in contemporary time.

    The Western Shoshone were denied the right to argue title by the federal court system. The Indian Claims Commission never addressed the issue of title. After the Secretary of Interior accepted the payment as our "trustee", we no longer had an opportunity to argue title in the court system. In essence, the Western Shoshone were paid without accepting the money! All of the deals were with the Secretary of the Interior, not the Shoshone people. Actions of this sort surely deny us our day in Court. Accordingly, the American Commission on Human Rights found that we were denied our right to due process (5th Amendment), our right to property, and our right to equality under the law.

    A real short history of the Western Shoshone and United States actions against the Western Shoshone peoples:

•     The Treaty of Ruby Valley never ceded lands to the United States nor did the Western Shoshone people cede land in 1872.

•     The Indian Claims Commission Act of 1946 does not have the authority of a court. If it did, it is one of the most racist courts that ever existed. The ICC without documentation found the Western Shoshone land taken by "gradual enroachment" by whites, settlers and others. (The United States Constitution only mentions that the United States Government can take lands for public use.) There is no mention of the United States Government taking this land for public use.

•     The amount of money offered is approximately $.15 per acre. This sounds more like a fraud being committed by the Department of Interior - our alleged Trustee.

This very day, there is this bill that will forever change democracy to a tyrant or dictator. A bill that will strip the birth rights of the people and leave these people homeless, beggars, and without a country. The United States through its manipulation and lies will now say they bought this land. Again, let me tell you all - MY SACRED SOGABEE IS NOT FOR SALE. It is my life and you should not bring shame and dishonor to the United States at this time. When the acts of the United States violate the human rights of its own people, those acts should not be taken.

Sincerely,

Carrie Dann

June 1, 2004
Release: For Immediate Release

Western Shoshone Payment Bill Could Be Voted On In House Today - Tens of Millions of Acres of "Public" Lands in the West Potentially Affected

June 1, 2004, Crescent Valley, NV. The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (S 618/HR 884), a legislative measure designed to distribute monies for alleged extinguishment of Western Shoshone land title, has been placed on today's House Suspension calendar in its Senate version. Voting on suspension calendar items begins at 6:30 pm this evening. If passed and signed by the President, the bill will represent the largest Indian land theft in modern history. The Senate version is sponsored by Senator Harry Reid from Nevada. The land base affected is tens of millions of acres of land throughout Nevada, Idaho, Utah and California, approximately 90% of which is classified as "public" lands. The Western Shoshone Nation has maintained its assertion that its title to the land is intact according to the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley and filed a lawsuit against the United States last fall, Western Shoshone v. U.S., Case No. 03-CV-2009, U.S. District Court, D.C. Despite the filing of the lawsuit, formal Western Shoshone tribal council resolutions opposing the bill, and ongoing protests by Western Shoshone people, Senator Reid continues to move the bill forward - now inserting his version of the bill into the House.

Concerns regarding the impacts of this alleged payment - to Native and non-Native alike - abound. Briefly, follow the money:

•     GOLD: Western Shoshone lands are the 3rd largest gold producing area in the world, behind only South Africa and Australia - One mountain alone, Mt. Tenabo, which Congressman Gibbons has slated for a privatization scheme (HR 2869) to Placer Dome (5th largest gold company in the world) has estimated revenues of $7-8 billion. In mining contributions received in the 2004 cycle, Congressman Gibbons comes in 2nd in the House with Reid as the 4th highest recipient in the Senate. Other multinationals mining in the area include Barrick, Kennecott, Newmont and Marigold.

•     WATER: Western Shoshone lands have been cited as sitting atop a subterranean sea with vast quantities of drinking quality fossil waters. Example: Dewatering processes by several of the gold mines pump drinking water quality water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at levels from 20 to 70 thousand gallons/minute. Vidler Water, a subsidiary of PECO Holding Corp., is in Nevada and initiating discussions with County and State officials regarding water privatization efforts.

•     ENERGY: Western Shoshone hot springs are cited to be the next "Saudi Arabia" of geothermal energy production by Senator Harry Reid. Congressman Gibbons' bill, HR 2772, would open up the area to massive geothermal production with preliminary subsidies for the energy industry and the option to convert energy leases into mineral claims through the "back door".

•     NUCLEAR WASTE: Western Shoshone lands contain Yucca Mountain, cited home for the nation's nuclear waste repository. The construction contract for the waste repository was awarded to Bechtel Corporation at $1.2 billion.

•     NUCLEAR WEAPONS/MILITARY: Western Shoshone lands are home to the Nevada Test Site and the Federal Counterterrorism facility, both managed through Bechtel, Wackenhut and Lockheed Martin. The management contracts amount to billions of dollars on a several year renewal basis. The Bush administration has talked of reopening nuclear testing at the site.

•     The Western Shoshone people ("Newe") have lived on this land for thousands of years - their creation stories stem from the mountains where their ancestors lay buried. The waters, the plants, the other living beings and the earth itself all hold special meaning to the Newe. The Distribution bill would pay approximately 15 cents an acre for land that was never agreed for sale, with no hearing and no public purpose.

Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308, Crescent Valley, NV. 89821
For more information please call WSDP - 775-468-0230
Fax: (775) 468-0237 www.wsdp.org

Action Alert - May 27, 2004

We Need Your Help NOW MORE THAN EVER!!!

Congressional Vote on Western Shoshone "Payment" Bill Scheduled as Federal Threats Against Western Shoshone Mount

May 27, 2004, Elko, Nevada. As the U.S. public watches the ongoing saga of a "war on terrorism," federal actions targeted at seizure of Western Shoshone livestock in Nevada have been renewed and the highly controversial Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (S 618/HR 884) has been scheduled for a vote before the House of Representatives the day Congress reconvenes after the Memorial Day holiday, June 1, 2004. The vote has been coordinated by Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Jim Gibbons despite heavy protests by Western Shoshone tribal councils and traditional people. If the bill passes the House, it will move straight to President Bush for signature or veto. After receiving word that the bill was moving forward, the largest tribe of the Western Shoshone Nation came out yesterday with a powerful message to Congress and a hand-delivered unanimous tribal council resolution strenuously objecting to the Distribution Bill. (Resolution No. 04-TM-34).

Congressional vote scheduled for Next Tuesday, June 1, on Western Shoshone Payoff Bill - Western Shoshone ranchers face imminent threat of impoundment at same time U.s. pushes forward on nuclear testing, mineral extraction and waste storage on shoshone lands

The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (S 618/HR 884) has been scheduled for a vote before the House of Representatives on June 1, 2004. The vote has been coordinated by Senator Harry Reid and Congressman Jim Gibbons despite heavy protests by Western Shoshone tribal councils and traditional people. If the bill passes the House, it will move straight to President Bush for signature or veto. HOW IS YOUR REPRESENTATIVE GOING TO VOTE ON THIS BILL? After receiving word that the bill was moving forward, the largest tribe of the Western Shoshone Nation came out yesterday with a powerful message to Congress and a hand-delivered unanimous tribal council resolution strenuously objecting to the Distribution Bill. (Resolution No. 04-TM-34).

"We view the bills as a direct violation of the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley .We Shoshone have human rights, property rights, constitutional rights, and treaty rights - we ask the United States [to] accord us the basic respect it gives everyone else." Chairman Hugh Stevens of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone wrote to members of Congress in his letter of May 26, 2004. He continues: "We understand that at a hearing held on the Western Shoshone Claims distribution Act, the U.S. Department of Interior told the Committee that the majority of the Western Shoshone favor a distribution of the so-called judgment funds. That statement by the U.S. Interior Department is categorically incorrect. Congressman Tom Udall of New Mexico requested the Interior Department substantiate its claim that the majority of the Western Shoshone supports the distribution bill. The Department still has not provided the documentation that was requested nearly a year ago." Chairman Stevens concludes by writing: "As an elected leader. and speaking for the largest Tribe of the several that make up the Western Shoshone Nation, I make this direct appeal to you to please bring a halt to the unauthorized and illegal processing of legislation to steal Indian lands.. The Shoshone are reasonable people, and we are willing to come to Washington, D.C. to meet.on a nation-to-nation basis to discuss this crucial issue and plan for resolving this long-standing dispute with the United States government. Please do not allow the Congress to run roughshod over the democratically elected governments of the Shoshone people."

The lands at issue are the third largest gold producing area in the world, cited as the next "Saudi Arabia" of geothermal energy production and home to the Nevada Test Site (where the Bush Administration has been hinting at renewed full scale nuclear testing) and the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository. Questions regarding connections between federal agencies and corporate interests have been formally raised and national and international human rights organizations such as the Organization of American States, Citizen Alert, Amnesty International, and Oxfam International have expressed solid support of Western Shoshone opposition to the legislation. It remains to be seen what the U.S. public and their Congressional representatives will do to stop one of the most historic attempts to remove native people from their homeland where they still live and pray.

The legislative push to pay off the Western Shoshone at approximately 15 cents an acre is being made at the same time that the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste repository is being moved along in violation of the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley and other legislation, HR 2869 and HR 2772 are waiting in the sidelines, measures which would open up Shoshone lands to privatization by multinational mining companies and massive geothermal energy development with no provision for Western Shoshone interests or concerns. Additionally, in the last several weeks, Notices of Intent to Impound livestock by the Department of Interior have been received by Western Shoshone grandmothers Mary and Carrie Dann and other Western Shoshone ranchers.

"As Western Shoshone, we have been fighting for many years to simply remain who we are - Western Shoshone. The earth is our mother and land provides us with life, like the water and the air. To take this land from us will be to lead us into a spiritual death. How can the United States pay us for lands we have never agreed to sell? The United States has never allowed us a hearing on our land title and has never demonstrated a public purpose or fair compensation. Please help us to stop this unconstitutional, unjust and unwanted payment." Carrie Dann, Western Shoshone grandmother.

"The elders before us stood up for life and their understanding of the Treaty and this elder and others still stand for the Treaty and life. Our Indian children are over in Iraq supposedly fighting for their country. And yet our Nevada Congressional leaders through the Western Shoshone Distribution Act are trying to take away the Western Shoshone homeland. What are our Shoshone kids going to come back - What are they fighting for? If the war on terrorism is about protecting this country then why is our own government trying to take away our homelands?" Mary McCloud, Western Shoshone elder.

A key points sheet and Facts vs. Fiction sheet is attached for your reference as well as a sample letter to members of Congress.

 

WHAT TO DO: Contact your local media and the media you listen to - they should be covering this! Send the alert and the press release to your lists of friends and supporters - this should be a national movement to stop abuses against the native peoples of the United States. Get your organization(s) involved in this issue! Contact your local Representatives (House number: 202-224-3121) and the following: Speaker of the House: J. Dennis Hastert - 202-225-0600 Majority Leader: Tom DeLay - 202-225-4000 Democratic National Committee - 202-863-8000 (Why isn't this a national campaign issue?) Republican National Committee - 202-863-8500 (Why isn't this a national campaign issue?) Congresswoman Shelley Berkley 439 Cannon HOB Washington, DC 20515 Fax: 202-225-3119 www.house.gov/berkley (Nevada Congressional Representative who has not yet supported or opposed the bill - but does oppose Yucca Mountain. Her opposition to the bill would add tremendous weight.) Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich Progressive Caucus Chair 1730 Longworth HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Fax: 202-225-5745 www.house.gov/kucinich/info/contact.htm Congresswoman Barbara Lee Progressive Caucus Co-Chair 1724 Longworth HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Fax: 202-225-9817 barbara.lee@us.house.gov (The Progressive Caucus could take a stand against the bill.) Congressman Elijah E. Cummings Black Caucus Chair 1632 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515 Fax: 202-225-3178 (The Black Caucus could take a stand against the bill.) Congressman John Lewis Black Caucus 34 Cannon HOB Washington, D.C. 20515 Fax: 202-225-0351 (The Black Caucus could take a stand against the bill.) And anyone else you may think could be persuasive in this issue. Thank you for your continued support - what affects the native/indigenous peoples affects us all.   The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill - H.R. 884/S 618 Key Points * HR 884/S 618 is an attempt to legitimize the theft of Western Shoshone lands and to initiate massive corporate giveaways of the land and its resources. This bill distributes money awarded for an alleged extinguishment of title to 24 million acres of land, the vast majority of which is currently classified as "public" lands. The issue of title to the land and accounting for resource extraction is the subject matter of current litigation, I, 03-CV-2009, U.S. District Court, D.C. This bill would open the way to large scale privatization of lands held sacred by the Western Shoshone and currently used and occupied by the native people for grazing, gathering medicinal and food plants, hunting and fishing, and ceremonial purposes. The stage is already being set for corporate giveaways and largescale privatization of the lands. For example: H.R. 2869 would work to give away Western Shoshone lands to major mining interests such as Placer Dome; HR 2772 would encourage large scale expansion of geothermal energy production with no provision for Western Shoshone cultural beliefs or compensation for use of the hot water; Senator Reid's office has drafted the Northern Nevada Public Lands Management Act which creates a process for large scale privatization of the same lands. The land produces 2/3 the gold in the U.S., making it the third largest gold producing area in the world, behind South Africa and Australia. Due to the enormous wealth of minerals, a 1999 USGS report sited the area as the number one investment opportunity for extraction companies. Energy companies are lining up for access to the vast geothermal resources with Senator Reid calling the area the next "Saudi Arabia" of geothermal energy production. In a November 2003 letter sent to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, Congressman Grijalva (AZ) raised serious concerns about the real intent of the bill and the involvement of the federal government and mining, energy and nuclear industries in presenting a misleading picture of the issues to the public and to members of Congress. ( The letter in .pdf format. - download the free . pdf Reader ). * Western Shoshone people oppose HR 884/S 618. A majority of the tribal councils and all of the traditional Western Shoshone oppose the distribution of money until the resolution of the land issues. In 1980, at the formal Hearing of Record, the claims money was rejected because the U.S. could not demonstrate how it had legally acquired title to the land. Since that time, there has never been any vote of the Western Shoshone on the bill. The straw poll ballot referenced by Congressman Gibbons and Senator Reid was never authorized or certified by any Western Shoshone government. Despite a request by Congressman Tom Udall (NM), Interior has failed to provide any documentation of its statements that a "majority" of people are in favor of the bill. * HR 884/S 618 underscores fundamental human rights violations against the Western Shoshone. The Western Shoshone have never received a hearing on the issue of title. The only issue decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in U.S. v. Dann was whether or not "payment" had been made when the money was accepted by the Department of Interior on behalf of the Western Shoshone. The Supreme Court said "yes", Interior serves as a "trustee" to the Indians and Interior's acceptance equals acceptance by the Western Shoshone, thereby triggering a statutory bar to litigation on the issue. Last year, after 10 years of briefings and hearings, an international judicial body (the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights) found that the process used by the U.S. violates Western Shoshone rights to property, to due process, and to equality under the law. Amnesty International has issued a formal report on the situation and has called upon the United States to adhere to the international ruling of the Inter-American Commission. The Department of Interior continues acts of armed surveillance and threats of impoundment against Western Shoshone. (In the past Congressional session, hundreds of cattle and horses were forcibly seized by the Department under military-type tactics.) * What the Western Shoshone Nation is asking for is reasonable. From the beginning, the Western Shoshone have asked for good faith negotiations with the United States. Their request is simple: to sit across the table and talk on an equal level. Complex negotiations occur in the corporate world everyday and if the U.S. were to commit the appropriate political will, a process could be decided upon that would satisfy all concerned. The cost to the taxpayer would be less than continuing the dispute and may in fact save monies which would otherwise be spent in ongoing enforcement actions against Western Shoshone and monies wasted or not realized in private sweet heart deals with corporations and land developers.

The Western Shoshone: Recent Ford Foundation Report Shines a Light on U.S. Indian Law and Policy

Crescent Valley, NV. March 1, 2004.     For many Americans, human rights work is something that happens beyond the borders of the United States. A new Ford Foundation publication presents thirteen case studies that tell a different story. The struggle of the Western Shoshone people is one of the highlighted cases and the Report cites the rights of indigenous peoples to land and resources as one the country's "most significant social justice issues". In January of 2003, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights made public a final decision finding in favor of Western Shoshone and against the U.S. The decision cites violations of the rights to property, to due process and to equality under the law.

Close to Home: Case Studies of Human Rights Work in the United States, examines the work of U.S. organizations that are using traditional human rights tools-such as fact-finding, litigation, organizing and advocacy-to reduce poverty, promote workers' rights and environmental justice, abolish the death penalty and end discrimination. Together the case studies shed light on the emerging human rights movement in the United States. equality under the law.

"Human rights laws and principles represent the highest aspirations that the world's nations-including the United States-have set for themselves," said Bradford Smith, vice president for Peace and Social Justice at the Ford Foundation. "This report highlights efforts to transform these aspirations into a reality for all Americans." equality under the law.

With regard to the rights of indigenous peoples in the U.S., the Report focuses on work being accomplished through the combined efforts of such organizations as the Indian Law Resource Center and the Western Shoshone Defense Project . "The relationship between the U.S. government and Indians," says Tim Coulter, executive director of the Indian Law Resource Center, "is an involuntary permanent trusteeship with no accountability. The only other parallels are childhood or mental incapacity. But the difference is [that] those relationships end with age or compliance. Indians can't end their relationship." Steven Tullberg, staff attorney at the Center, continues: "[T]rusteeship was based on the same ideas as colonization. Therefore, how can they [the international bodies] continue to allow the U.S. government to justify the same types of domination of Indian peoples in the U.S."

"We need international mechanisms to serve as an independent review of the inadequacies of the U.S. judicial system and federal Indian law." Added Julie Fishel of the Western Shoshone Defense Project, an advocacy organization based in Crescent Valley, Nevada.

Close to Home provides activists, funders and policy makers with new points of view and valuable tools for seeking positive social change in their communities. The report illustrates the value that the use of human rights brings to the struggle for social justice in the United States: a powerful affirmation of human dignity, a broad and unifying framework of rights, a set of international laws and mechanisms to demand justice, and a range of additional strategies to translate human rights into concrete improvements in people's everyday lives.

Western Shoshone grandmother Carrie Dann, who along with her sister Mary, have been at the forefront of the struggle to retain Western Shoshone lands and culture, believes that the international finding could be a "useful tool." "We are not asking anything from the U.S. All we want is to sit across the table and talk, to talk about a land base for the Western Shoshone."

"We hope this report will contribute to the on-going discussion of the role international law and multilateral institutions should play in U.S. policies and will expand support for the growing movement to bring human rights closer to home," said Larry Cox, Ford Foundation's senior program officer for human rights.

The report is edited by Larry Cox and Dorothy Q. Thomas, former director of Human Rights Watch's women's rights program. It is available online at Ford Foundation's web site. Visitors to the site may also request print copies of the report.

The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.

The Indian Law Resource Center is a non-profit legal advocacy organization established in 1978 with offices in Washington, D.C. and Helena, Montana. Since its founding, the Center has operated in domestic and international arenas to protect the rights of indigenous peoples in the Americas. Through domestic and international litigation, the Center works to safeguard Indian rights to their culture, language and forms of worship and to maintain control over their territories and governance of their own affairs. www.indianlaw.org . Contact: Deborah Schaaf, 406-449-2006.

The Western Shoshone Defense Project is an indigenous grassroots organization and affiliate of the Seventh Generation Fund, a non-profit organization. The Defense Project located in Crescent Valley, Nevada. Through environmental, legal and cultural work and organizing, the Defense Project works to affirm Western Shoshone land rights to provide for Newe (Western Shoshone) economic, cultural and spiritual needs.

Contact: Julie Ann Fishel, 775-468-0230.
Western Shoshone Defense Project
P.O. Box 211308 Crescent Valley, NV 89821
(775) 468-0230 Fax: (775) 468-0237
www.wsdp.org.

Yucca Mountain Plan Irresponsible and
In Light of Western Shoshone Title, Illegal.

Following is an excellent release from Public Citizen regarding Bush's Irresponsible Yucca Mountain Budget. One thing not mentioned is that the most legally secure argument against Yucca Mountain and any further spending is the fact that the DOE cannot show clear title to the area. The USDOE is required to show ownership of the "controlled area" by 10 CFR 63.121. It cannot do this because Yucca Mountain, sacred to Western Shoshone, is located within Western Shoshone ancestral and Treaty lands. The 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, recognizing Western Shoshone land boundaries is still in full force and effect. See Western Shoshone v. U.S., No. 03-CV-2009, U.S. District Court, D.C. (Judge Lamberth), www.hermanlaw.org. Further, ancestral title is still very much alive despite U.S. attempts to silence the issue through use of the Indian Claims Commission Act. See Complaint, Western Shoshone v. U.S.. In fact, in January of last year, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States, found the U.S. in violation of international law(right to property, to due process and to equality under the law) with regard to the U.S.' refusal to recognize Western Shoshone rights to these lands. See www.indianlaw.org (Dann decision).

The Western Shoshone have never sold NEWE SOGOBIA (Mother Earth) and they have never allowed nuclear dumping on their lands. Since the DOE cannot demonstrate legal title to the Yucca Mountain site - why even continue debate on expenditures of billions of taxpayer dollars? Prove title first! Ask Senator Harry Reid to do the same - if not, why not? Western Shoshone lands are also the third largest gold producing area in the world - Placer Dome, Kennecott, Barrick, Newmont to name a few - are they standing in the way of recognizing Western Shoshone title and stopping Yucca Mountain?

For further information search:
http://environment.unlv.edu/thesis/dec2000/zabarte.htm
http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/shoshone/pamphlet.html http://www.citizenalert.org on the internet.

Full cite to 10 CFR 63.121:
§ 63.121 Requirements for ownership and control of interests in land.

(a) Ownership of land.(1) The geologic repository operations area must be located in and on lands that are either acquired lands under the jurisdiction and control of DOE, or lands permanently withdrawn and reserved for its use.(2) These lands must be held free and clear of all encumbrances, if significant, such as:(i) Rights arising under the general mining laws;(ii) Easements for right-of-way; and(iii) All other rights arising under lease, rights of entry, deed, patent, mortgage, appropriation, prescription, or otherwise.(b) Additional controls for permanent closure. Appropriate controls must be established outside of the geologic repository operations area. DOE shall exercise any jurisdiction and control over surface and subsurface estates necessary to prevent adverse human actions that could significantly reduce the geologic repository's ability to achieve isolation. The rights of DOE may take the form of appropriate possessory interests, servitudes, or withdrawals from location or patent under the general mining laws.(c) Additional controls through permanent closure. Appropriate controls must be established outside the geologic repository operations area. DOE shall exercise any jurisdiction or control of activities necessary to ensure the requirements at § 63.111(a) and (b) are met. Control includes the authority to exclude members of the public, if necessary.(d) Water rights.(1) DOE shall also have obtained such water rights as may be needed to accomplish the purpose of the geologic repository operations area.(2) Water rights are included in the additional controls to be established under paragraph (b) of this section.

PUBLIC CITIZEN RELEASE:
February 4,2004

Bush's Proposal to Inflate Yucca Mountain Budget Is Irresponsible

Congress Should Not Boost Budget for Nuclear Waste Dump
While Legal Challenges and Key Safety Issues Remain Unresolved

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Bush's proposal to boost the budget for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump to $880 million and change how the project is funded is irresponsible given the pending legal challenges against the project and unresolved questions about the site's safety, Public Citizen said today.

In the 2005 budget released today, Bush allocated much of the additional funding - a 50 percent increase from 2004 - to develop and operate the transportation system for shipments to Yucca Mountain. The budget calls for the purchase of truck and rail casks and other equipment for waste shipments in 2010.

"The idea of buying equipment for transporting waste to Yucca Mountain before questions about the safety of the site are resolved, and before the routes and mode of transport are even determined, is ludicrous," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The Department of Energy (DOE) is obviously trying to sink so much money into this hole in the ground that the project becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy."

One of the most alarming proposals in the administration's Yucca Mountain budget is the elimination of congressional oversight of much of the project's funding. Since 1982, nuclear power utility consumers have paid fees to the Nuclear Waste Fund to pay for the establishment of a national repository for high-level nuclear waste. Bush proposes that these fees be paid directly to the DOE, thereby cutting Congress out of decisions regarding how the fees are used.

"This is just a budgeting gimmick that artificially reduces federal spending and hides the real costs to consumers and taxpayers," said Hauter.

Contained in the budget was the DOE's annual programmatic assessment of the Yucca Mountain project. The agency rated the project "adequate" despite the many fundamental questions that remain unresolved regarding the suitability of the site to safely and permanently isolate high-level radioactive waste. Not only is the site located over a drinking water aquifer, but it is in an earthquake zone.

The DOE has been working since September 2001 to answer 293 scientific questions, or key technical issues, that revolve around Yucca Mountain's ability to keep radiation from contaminating the surrounding environment. So far, answers to 83 questions have been completed and accepted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In a December 2003 letter, the NRC informed the DOE that it could not evaluate many of the answers that the DOE had submitted because the DOE had not supplied all the necessary technical documents.

"Due to the doubts and uncertainties plaguing the Yucca Mountain project, Congress should not increase its budget or change the funding practices," said Hauter. "It appears that the Bush administration is steamrolling scientific concerns to ram this project through."

Recent developments point to the need to rein in funding for the project. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia is deciding a slate of lawsuits against the project. One key case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) charges that the EPA's standards setting the amount of radiation that can be released are not consistent with recommendations of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), as Congress directed in the 1992 Energy Policy Act. The EPA rule arbitrarily limits the period for which Yucca Mountain must comply with radiation release rules at 10,000 years, even though the NAS has found that the maximum doses from the dump are likely to occur for 300,000 years.

The DOE intends to submit its license application for the high-level waste dump to the NRC at the end of 2004. The court's decisions on these cases, which are expected this spring, could force a significant reassessment of Yucca Mountain that would necessarily take years and perhaps even permanently derail the project.

Public Citizen is a national, nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.citizen.org.

Western Shoshone payments challenged

re: "The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act"
Newcomb: An open letter to Congressman Tom Delay

Posted: January 24, 2004
by: Steven Newcomb, Indigenous Research Coordinator
D-Q University at Sycuan
http://www.indiancountry.com/?1074965429

Dear House Majority Leader Delay,

Reportedly, when Congress reconvenes on Jan. 20, you will be involved in handling H.R. 884, otherwise known as "The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act." If passed, the bill would pay out over $142 million dollars to Western Shoshone Indians as supposed payment for their ancestral homelands. I am writing you this open letter in an effort to persuade you to withdraw your support for this bill, and not allow it to pass.

Whenever one writes a persuasive letter such as this one, it is, of course, imperative to know one’s audience. Thus, I am placed in the predicament of attempting to surmise what your core values are, in my effort to persuade you to support the traditional Western Shoshone Indians who do not want this bill to pass. They are opposed to passage of H.R. 884 because a distribution of the judgment funds will, in their view, create the wrongful impression that their land rights have thereby been eliminated.

But how am I to discern what will appeal to your values with regard to the Western Shoshone? Am I best advised to appeal to a sense of fairness, and to the Treaty of Ruby Valley that the Western Shoshone have with the United States, and appeal to its status under the Treaty Clause of the U.S. Constitution? This treaty of "peace and friendship" defines the territory of the Western Shoshone Nation, which the Western Shoshone people have never freely consented to surrender to the United States. Is this something that will appeal to your values of liberty, justice, democracy, basic fairness, and other American values?

Am I well advised to refer to the Nevada Territorial Act, passed by Congress in 1861, a document that specifically stated that "all Indian land" is "excepted out of and shall constitute no part of the Territory of Nevada?" Thus, the Western Shoshone lands described in the Treaty of Ruby Valley were "excepted out of" the Territory of Nevada, and have never to this day become part of the lands of the State of Nevada. Is this the kind of information that is likely to convince you to support the traditional Western Shoshone by not allowing H.R. 884 to move forward?

Should I appeal to the way in which H.R. 884, when combined with Congressman Gibbons’ "Northern Nevada Rural Economic Development and Land Consolidation Act of 2003" (H.R. 2869), would work to give away Western Shoshone lands to major mining interests such as Placer Dome Mining? Should I try to convince you that it is morally wrong for $26 billion dollars to have been taken out of Western Shoshone lands without one penny of that money having gone to the Western Shoshone people, and for Senator Harry Reid to say that the distribution bill is his effort to solve Western Shoshone poverty?

Perhaps I should appeal to your good judgement by referring you to the Northwest Ordinance, passed by the Continental Congress in 1787, and reaffirmed by the first Congress under the current Constitution as the basis for Indian relations. Would I appeal to your core values by informing you of how Congress pledged in this document that "the utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians," and "their lands and property shall never be taken from them without their consent;" and that "in their property rights and liberty, they shall never invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars declared by Congress?"

Unfortunately, Congressman, I have no way of knowing what kind of information and what kinds of arguments are most likely to appeal to you. Thus, I am, in a sense, writing in the dark, so to speak.

Perhaps you will be persuaded by the fact that former Te-Moak Chairman Felix Ike and a few supporters orchestrated a "ballot" process, in partnership with Senator Harry Reid, in order to create a false perception that a majority of Western Shoshone desire passage of H.R. 884. No one other than Ike and a few of his friends and relatives have ever been allowed to see and count those ballots; there was never any independent confirmation of the numbers that Ike reported to Congressman Gibbons, Senator Harry Reid, and the Department of the Interior; and no one, other than perhaps Ike, knows where those ballots are at present. If a "vast majority" of Western Shoshones approved of and supported Ike’s actions, why were he and his closest supporters voted out of office last fall?

When Congress formed the Indian Claims Commission in 1946, it did so in order to provide American Indians with a forum for filing claims against the United States for lands wrongfully taken from them by the United States. Upon signing the legislation that formed the ICC, President Truman declared that the Commission was an effort to deal with Indian people in a "fair and honorable" manner. Unfortunately, passage of H.R. 884 would serve the opposite purpose by taking an unfair and dishonorable action against the Western Shoshone Nation because there is no historical documentation to show that their lands were ever taken, and there is a treaty declaring their land rights to be protected and upheld.

Congressman Delay, when I look back on the reprehensible manner in which the United States has historically dealt with American Indian nations and peoples (think "Trail of Tears," the Sand Creek Massacre, and the Wounded Knee Massacre), I have to ask myself, what values do the United States truly represent? How can the United States be considered a great country in the eyes of the world community if it continually and without equivocation takes the lands and resources of Indian nations, in violation of solemn treaties which the U.S. Constitution declares to be "the supreme law of the land," and behaves toward Indian peoples in an unjust manner?

Negotiations between the Western Shoshone and the United States of America on the basis of the Treaty of Ruby Valley is the fair and just means of working out an equitable solution to the land dispute between the two nations. The question is, will you decide to support this course of action by refusing to allow H.R. 884 to move forward in the House of Representatives?

Congressman Delay, I hereby appeal to your sense of compassion, and ask you to show true leadership by refusing to go along with the powerful interests that are attempting to ride roughshod over the traditional Western Shoshone people and thereby violate and dishonor a treaty duly ratified by the Senate of the United States.

Sincerely,

Steven Newcomb

Steven Newcomb, Shawnee and Lenape, is director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and Indigenous Law research coordinator at D-Q University at Sycuan, on the Reservation of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and is a columnist for Indian Country Today.

• Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act version 1of2 [H.R.884]
• Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act version 2of2 [H.R.884]