2003 : Alerts Archives	Western Shoshone Defence Project P.O.Box 211308, Crescent Valley, NV. 89821 Ph:(702)468-0230 Fax:(702)468-0237
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• 09/29/03 Western Shoshone Indians sue U.S. government
• 09/02/03 ACTION ALERT: The Western Shoshone Nation Requests Your Immediate Assistance!!
• 08/09/03  End the Nuclear Nightmare - Join us on August 9th!
• 07/24/03 STOP THE ENERGY BILL! , July
• 07/14/03 ACTION ALERT:  We have just been informed that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has scheduled a markup on the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill ...
• 07/02/03  Stop the Government from Creating New Nuclear Weapon
• 05/27/03  From: Black Mesa support
• 05/02/03  Encampment to Protect Sacred Places
• 03/12/03  Arctic Refuge phone calls needed IMMEDIATELY !

PRESS RELEASE

WESTERN SHOSHONE INDIANS SUE U.S. GOVERNMENT

Value of land in dispute and monies due exceeds $100 billion.

A lawsuit was filed by the WESTERN SHOSHONE INDIAN NATION against the UNITED STATES on Monday, September 29, 2003. The case was filed in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. (Case No. 03-cv-2009 RCL, Judge Royce C. Lamberth)

• The action seeks to confirm title in over 60 million acres of land and determine royalties from use of the land.

• The UNITED STATES recognizes WESTERN SHOSHONE title to the land in the Treaty of Ruby Valley, 1863. The land comprises most of the state of Nevada and parts of California, Idaho and Utah.

• Under the Treaty of Ruby Valley, the United States is permitted to mine the land and agrees to pay the WESTERN SHOSHONE INDIANS a fair royalty. Over $26 billion in gold was mined from the land and the WESTERN SHOSHONE INDIANS have never received any royalty payments.

• Congress is considering a bill to distribute approximately $150 million to the Western Shoshone people as compensation for land. The Western Shoshone plaintiffs have refused to accept the money stating that their land is not for sale.

• This year the U.S. forcibly seized over 500 horses owned by Western Shoshone grandmothers Mary and Carrie Dann. The livestock were grazing Western Shoshone land. Carrie Dann states “Our land is like our mother. My people have always lived here and we will die as a nation without our land.”

• Chief Raymond Yowell, Chief of the Western Shoshone National Council, states that “the Western Shoshone Nation has a contract with the United States. The Western Shoshone people have lived up to their end of the bargain and now the United States must live up to their end. The United States is trying to steal our land and we will not let them.”

Contact offices of Jeff Herman, attorney for the Western Shoshone plaintiffs, for further information at (800) 686-9921. For a copy of the Complaint, Treaty and map go to www.hermanlaw.com.

ACTION ALERT

The Western Shoshone Nation Requests Your Immediate Assistance!!

Dear Friends and Supporters:

The final hours appear to be upon the Western Shoshone. Western Shoshone land rights are being crushed; beautiful, Shoshone horses are dying senselessly; and the engines to gauge, pillage, and assault Newe Sogobia, Shoshone homelands, is revving up. Congress comes back to session on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2003 and Western Shoshone lands, site to the nation’s largest gold production, nuclear dump and nuclear test site will be hot on the agenda. With no hearing date scheduled for the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill (HR 884/ SB 618) we know we have to be ready. Senator Reid has made clear the priority with which he is pushing this bill. In the House, the bill is geared for quick markup before the Committee on Resources. (As soon as next week.) In the Senate, the bill is on the way to the floor after being railroaded through the Committee on Indian Affairs. Both bills represent a “forced payoff” to Western Shoshone for their homelands.

A delegation of Western Shoshone and WSDP will be in Washington, D.C. this coming week, September 2nd, to talk to members of Congress about concerns for their lands and their opposition to the forced payment for lands that have never been sold. They plan to tell their story in a press conference as well. We/they need YOUR help! Now is the time to stand in unity with the first people of this land to stop abusive government policies which violate fundamental human and environmental rights and which allow for corporate and military desecration of the earth simply for its resources. THIS IS TRUE HOMELAND SECURITY, SECURITY TIED TO JUSTICE! Please take a stand whether your concern is with indigenous rights, free and healthy Indian horses, protection of property rights, nuclear free Nevada, nuclear disarmament, or corporate empire building.

Background Facts: The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill is highly controversial and has raised concerns about human rights violations both at home and internationally. In December, 2002 the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Organization of American States (OAS), found that the U.S. is in violation of fundamental rights to property, due process and equality under the law with regard to its treatment of the Western Shoshone. Western Shoshone issues are moving to the big screen with national and international organizations. Last winter, Amnesty International (AI) chose the Shoshone case as a highlight case of their Just Earth! Task Force on Indigenous Peoples. In April, AI issued a report calling upon the U.S. to respect the OAS decision.

The political effect of the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill will be a “clearance of title” to approximately 26 million acres of land, in Nevada, Utah, Idaho and California, classified by the U.S. as “public” lands. The clearing of title will be used by the United States to open up these lands to privatization, “sale to the highest bidder” and ignore the Western Shoshone’s decades-long struggle, legitimizing the government and corporate theft of these lands. Over the past 24 months, the U.S. Interior, Energy, and Defense Departments, have been gearing up on enforcement actions against Western Shoshone and readying for the multi-national corporate “give-aways” of Western Shoshone lands and resources, demonstrated by actions to remove Western Shoshone horses and cattle from their homelands, and the push for passage of the Claim’s Distribution bill. Under the current Administration, plans have stepped up for increased gold mining; approval of Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository, renewed nuclear weapons tests, a counter-terrorism facility; and plans to open up Shoshone lands for oil and gas production and geothermal energy production. The Western Shoshone are steadfastly opposing these immense powers and struggling to live on their sacred lands in their traditional and spiritual ways. Whether you are an indigenous person or a descendant of a stranger to these lands, acknowledge that the struggle is the same: human dignity, respect for the earth and the ability to continue your spiritual beliefs.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

1.   Pass this alert on to friends, family and organizations that may help AND DO IT NOW. Contacts with civil rights/legal organizations, the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), veterans groups, native rights groups, peace activists, student organizations and environmental groups are key. This is especially needed if you have contacts in any of the states where key congressional people are located (i.e. Nevada, California, Utah, Idaho and Iowa).

2.  Express your concerns by fax, e-mail or letter to the following officials. If you belong to an organization or citizens’ group ask them to write letters in their capacity. A single letter can be written and copied to the various officials. (Please send us copies if possible, as well as any responses you receive). Sample letters, written by an individual supporter and an organization, are including at the end of this alert. Key to your request should be a call upon the United States to meet and negotiate in good faith with the Western Shoshone Nation to recognize the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley and to resolve this long standing land dispute. Let them know that you will know longer stand for the abuses against native peoples, fundamental human rights, and the rights of future generations government “officials” will be held accountable.

3.   Encourage your state legislators and the media to gather information about the Western Shoshone situation. Meetings/interviews can be arranged with the Western Shoshone delegation in D.C. by calling 775-468-0230.

KEY SENATORS THE WESTERN SHOSHONE NEED TO MEET WITH:

SAMPLE LETTER:

____________________, 2003

onorable Congressman/Senator _________.

I write this letter in opposition to the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill sponsored by Senator Reid and Congressman Gibbons of Nevada. The bill has been introduced in the House as HR 884 and in the Senate as SB 618.

The Western Shoshone Distribution Bill is a bad bill. If passed in its current form, the bill could have devastating impacts on the people of Nevada, the Western Shoshone and the United States. Such impacts include escalating disputes and litigation over native rights under the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, loss of economic benefits to tribal and local communities and loss of international respect for the United States on its policies regarding indigenous peoples. Rather than a meager distribution of controversial monies, the Treaty of Ruby Valley should be enforced. Enforcement of the Treaty of Ruby Valley would stop nuclear waste storage and transportation to Yucca Mountain, it would serve as a basis for good faith negotiations regarding land and resource rights for the Western Shoshone people and it would uphold U.S. treaty and international obligations.

This bill also raises fundamental questions about how the federal government treats indigenous peoples and represents an appalling example of current U.S. policy. The Western Shoshone need to address their hunting and fishing and gathering of food and medicinal plants. Their children need to feel connected to the lands of their ancestors. The Western Shoshone are the caretakers of these lands and the Distribution Bill threatens their existence as Western Shoshone people. The Western Shoshone people’s rights to property, to due process and to equality under the law are being violated they deserve good faith negotiations or a hearing in a fair judicial proceeding, not 15 cents an acre and spiritual genocide.

Thank you for your attention to this serious issue and your opposition to the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill.

Sincerely,

______________________

ADDITIONAL LETTERS SENT BY ORGANIZATIONS:

From Citizen Alert: Citizen Alert, one of the oldest grassroots organizations in the state of Nevada would like to go on record as stating our profound disappointment in Representative Gibbon's [Senator Reid's] dogged determination to pass the Western Shoshone "distribution" bill.

This is unfair and misdirected legislation and would be bad law. It is also, from our viewpoint, very shortsighted. Nevada is in the fight of it's life in trying to stop Yucca Mountain from becoming the nation's dump for nuclear waste and we have perhaps, the show stopper, the Treaty of Ruby Valley.

We urge Representative Gibbon [Senator Reid] to "put on the brakes" and look at the possible ramifications of his actions.

As important to us is the issue of righting a wrong. When the treaty was signed it was implicit in its language that the government take care of the land and to honor the wishes of the Shoshone peoples. Disregarding and trampling the sacred sites on the land, destroying the environment and contaminating our precious aquifer system with toxic waste is unacceptable and in violation of that treaty.

There is still time to do the right thing.

Respectfully,

Peggy Maze Johnson

Peggy Maze Johnson
Executive Director
Citizen Alert
P.O. Box 17173
Las Vegas, NV 89114
702.796.5662
702.796.4886 (fax)
pmj1@citizenalert.org
http://www.citizenalert.org

From the Oaks Institute: On behalf of the full Board of Directors and membership of The Oaks Institute, I am writing to voice our unified opposition to the pending legislation regarding payments to members of the Western Shoshone nation. We are a nonprofit organization composed of scholars, businesspersons, and concerned public leadership working to safeguard the environmental sustainability of our communities.

As you may know, there are grave conflicts between government claims of title to Western Shoshone lands, and aboriginal title as recognized by several international bodies.

It is the conclusion of The Oaks Institute, after a thorough investigation of historical documents, recent documents and testimony, that the present attempt to legislate payment is closely tied to the interests and lobbying efforts of the international mining corporations and possibly Bechtel corporation.

This payment is not a just action, is not going to hold up in light of international law, and may leave US law makers in a moral quagmire themselves, as more documents related to conflicts of interest are brought to the press and the public.

We urge a conservative, rational approach to this matter, one that does not bend the legitimacy of US legislatures and US law to serve the short term interests of international mining.

If I can be of any assistance to you as you address this matter of great importance, I would be happy to speak with you.

Sincerely,
Michele Weber, Ph.D.
Board Chair
The Oaks Institute
941 W. Pear, Suite 112
Brea CA 92821
(714)256-2006 phone/fax
oaksinstitute@earthlink.net
www.theoaksinstitute.org

STOP THE ENERGY BILL!

We are in what may be the final stretch to stop the Senate energy bill, S. 14 (Domenici, R-NM). Debate on the bill and consideration of amendments will resume on Monday, July 28. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) has renewed his threat to keep the Senate in session past the scheduled August 1 recess date if necessary to finish action on the bill. Thus, a final vote on the bill could happen as early as July 31, although we continue to believe that there is just too much work left on the bill for it to occur quite that early.

Thank you to everyone who has been sending us your letters to distribute to the Senate. A lot of you have sent them in, but a lot of you haven’t either! The energy bill isn't going to stop itself--it’s going to require the best efforts of all of us!

ACTION: Over the next few days and this weekend, please sign and send us your letters to your senators. Sample text is below and is downloadable on the NIRS website (http://www.nirs.org). Then, please ask your friends, relatives and neighbors to send us letters too. Set up a table at the local co-op or grocery this Saturday. Take some copies of the letter to church this Sunday and ask your congregation members to sign. Reach out anywhere and everywhere you can outreach is the key to winning this issue! If you need background information on the bill and its problems, there is a fact sheet on the NIRS website that will be useful. For us, the biggest issue is that the bill would spend billions of dollars of your taxpayer money on new commercial nuclear reactors for large wealthy electric utilities, and then spend more of your money buying power from those reactors at above-market rates. It’s a classic taxpayer rip-off and environmentally disastrous to boot. But there is a lot more to dislike in this bill; it singlehandedly would set our nation on the wrong energy path for a generation….

Please put your letters to us in the mail by Monday, July 28 (NIRS, 1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036). We will distribute them to your Senators before a final vote.

Even if you think your senators are "hopeless," please go ahead and send in your letters. They might, in fact, not be hopeless and even if they are, an avalanche of opposition will be noticed in the Senate. Similarly, even if you think your senators are already on board, please send in your letters. Don't take them for granted. And even if they are, your support for their stand will make it more likely they'll aggressively fight this bill.

Then, after you've sent us your letters, take just a couple minutes next week to call both of your senators (Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121) and ask a friend to call too.

The nuclear power industry is lobbying the Senate heavily in favor of this bill; if we are to win this battle, we need to be sure that all of our voices are heard.

Thanks for everything you are doing!

Michael Mariotte
Executive Director
Nuclear Information and Resource Service

Sample letter:

VOTE NO ON S. 14

Hon.
US Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator

I am writing to urge you to vote against S. 14, the energy bill, and to please take a leadership role to ensure the defeat of this anti-environmental waste of taxpayer money.

S. 14 would transfer billions of dollars from hard-working taxpayers to giant energy companies. It would reward the economically-failed nuclear power industry by providing federal assistance to build new reactors, and allowing taxpayers to pay above-market rates for electricity from those reactors. It would end Congressional oversight of the Price-Anderson Act, by mandating its permanent reauthorization. It poses new threats to the Outer Continental Shelf. As written, it does little to nothing to prevent future Enrons nor to expand clean renewable energy supplies.

S. 14 is fundamentally and irretrievably flawed. It would send our national energy policy in the wrong direction for decades. We need an energy policy based on sustainable, economic energy sources, not on multi-billion dollar giveaways to wealthy energy interests.

Please stop S. 14.

Sincerely

Name:

Address:

ACTION ALERT:

We have just been informed that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has scheduled a markup on the Western Shoshone Distribution Bill for this Wednesday (July 16, 2003) at 10 am EST. There has been no hearing before the Senate this session and there has never been an attempt by any member of the Nevada Congressional delegation to meet with Western Shoshone. Senator Reid (D. Nev.) and Chairman Campbell (R. Colo.) appear to be making the bill a top priority. In fact, Senator Reid has was quoted recently in the local press as stating: " I've told my staff I want the bill reported out of the Indian Affairs Committee...I won't let any other bills out until that one is reported out." In response to the hefty opposition to the bill, Reid is quoted: "I don't think it's fair to have dissidents hold up the bill." (emphasis added)

The fear of many is that once the U.S. has forcibly distributed these monies, they will claim the Shoshone have been "paid" and that title to the lands (over 24 million acres) is cleared, thereby paving the way for a massive land auction set up in a similar fashion to the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act. Corporations standing to gain handsomely include multinational gold giants: Newmont Mining Company (Colo.) and Placer Dome (Canada). Both companies are represented by McClure, Gerard and Neuenshwander, Inc. conveniently also the employer of Senator Reid's son-in-law, Stephen Barringer. (For more info on Senator Reid's 'family ties" see June 24, 2003 Las Vegas Review-Journal). According to an April 23, 2003 article in the Salt Lake Tribune, on an issue very close to the Western Shoshone Yucca Mountain waste storage struggle, McClure, Gerard and Neuenshwander was paid more than $1 million to lobby Congress on behalf of a group of utilities (Private Fuel Storage) seeking to license a temporary nuclear waste storage facility on the Goshute Indian Reservation. Also standing to gain heavily from the ouster of Shoshone from their lands are none other than Nevada Land and Resources Co. (PECO Holding Corp.), Bechtel Corp. and Kennecott Mining.

The battle for justice and protection of Mother Earth continues with faith and determination, despite the odds.

Following are two sample letters sent by Organizations concerned about the Bill. If you or your organization would like to express your comments/concerns to Congress and need more information, please call us or check our website at the link below. Senate members' contact info is available at www.senate.gov/~scia/ or fax: 202-228-2589.

Sample Letters
From Citizen Alert:
Citizen Alert, one of the oldest grassroots organizations in the state of Nevada would like to go on record as stating our profound disappointment in Representative Gibbon's [Senator Reid's] dogged determination to pass the Western Shoshone "distribution" bill.

This is unfair and misdirected legislation and would be bad law. It is also, from our viewpoint, very shortsighted. Nevada is in the fight of it's life in trying to stop Yucca Mountain from becoming the nation's dump for nuclear waste and we have perhaps, the show stopper, the Treaty of Ruby Valley.

We urge Representative Gibbon [Senator Reid] to "put on the brakes" and look at the possible ramifications of his actions.

As important to us is the issue of righting a wrong. When the treaty was signed it was implicit in its language that the government take care of the land and to honor the wishes of the Shoshone peoples. Disregarding and trampling the sacred sites on the land, destroying the environment and contaminating our precious aquifer system with toxic waste is unacceptable and in violation of that treaty.

There is still time to do the right thing.

Respectfully,

Peggy Maze Johnson

From the Oaks Institute:
On behalf of the full Board of Directors and membership of The Oaks Institute, I am writing to voice our unified opposition to the pending legislation regarding payments to members of the Western Shoshone nation. We are a nonprofit organization composed of scholars, businesspersons, and concerned public leadership working to safeguard the environmental sustainability of our communities.

As you may know, there are grave conflicts between government claims of title to Western Shoshone lands, and aboriginal title as recognized by several international bodies.

It is the conclusion of The Oaks Institute, after a thorough investigation of historical documents, recent documents and testimony, that the present attempt to legislate payment is closely tied to the interests and lobbying efforts of the international mining corporations and possibly Bechtel corporation.

This payment is not a just action, is not going to hold up in light of international law, and may leave US law makers in a moral quagmire themselves, as more documents related to conflicts of interest are brought to the press and the public.

We urge a conservative, rational approach to this matter, one that does not bend the legitimacy of US legislatures and US law to serve the short term interests of international mining.

If I can be of any assistance to you as you address this matter of great importance, I would be happy to speak with you.

Sincerely,

Michele Weber, Ph.D.
Board Chair
The Oaks Institute
941 W. Pear, Suite 112
Brea CA 92821
(714)256-2006 phone/fax
oaksinstitute@earthlink.net
www.theoaksinstitute.org

* For background and more information go to WSDP's Distribution Bill page *

End the Nuclear Nightmare - Join us on August 9th!
Remember Hiroshima & Nagasaki ~ End the Nuclear Nightmare

"It exploded in midair," she said.

Then quickly, in fractions of a second, she heard the blast, was knocked unconscious and was blown several yards. When she came to, she saw "a huge cloud of fire."

Of the next few hours [that morning, August 9, 1945] , Tsuchimoto said: "I cannot think of any other words than 'hell on Earth'."

58 years after the horrific nuclear bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Citizen Alert and the Reno Anti-War Coalition will sponsor a Rally to "End the Nuclear Nightmare" on Saturday, August 9, on the Manzanita Bowl on the UNR Campus. The rally will run from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

58 years ago, the United States government unleashed a horrific nuclear attack on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people. The people of the United States must now recognize that this attack on a civilian population was absolutely unacceptable, and must never be allowed to happen again.

The Bush Administration has withdrawn from international non-proliferation treaties such as the Anti-Ballistic Missle treaty, and continues to seek the development of so called "low yield" or "battlefield deployable" nuclear weapons. At the same time, the Department of Energy (DOE) intends to develop so called "Modern Pit Facilities" to manufacture the triggers for the next generation of nuclear weapons.

This at a time when the American people have been lead into a war against Iraq, with the main justification for the war being that Iraq posessed "weapons of mass destruction" and possibly nuclear capabilities. Iraqs "weapons of mass destruction" remain to be found, and we now know that some of the "evidence" the Bush Administration used to justify the invasion and occupation of Iraq was at best misleading and exaggerated, and at worst out right lies. The US military has never taken the use of nuclear weapons out of the realm of possibility and continues to irresponsibly use it's enormous nuclear arsenal as a hammer to force compliance.

At this crucial time, Americans must stand up and demand nuclear disarmament, beginning at home.

Nevadans are well aware of the consequences of nuclear weapons and nuclear testing, as they have seen the loss of health for those downwind of the Nevada Test Site, and the effective permanent poisoning of the ecosystem in and around the testing lands. We deplore any further molestation of the lands and people of the Great Basin, which will be incurred by further nuclear weapons testing driven by a misguided need for deployment.

Please join Citizen Alert and the Reno Anti-War Coalition in building public support for sweeping measures to eliminate nuclear weapons in the US as well as around the world. We welcome endorsments from any organization that wishes to join us in this important action. We also welcome your organization to join us in organizing and mobilizing for August 9th. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to add your organizations name to the list of endorsers, please contact us at:

827-4200 or Stewart Stout  stewartreno@yahoo.com
RAWC website: www.possiblebag.com/antiwar

 

STOP THE GOVERNMENT FROM CREATING NEW NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The Department of Energy will be holding a public comments hearing about a proposed MODERN PLUTONIUM PIT FACILITY to be constructed at the Nevada Test Site (NTS).

~         The Department of Energy (DOE) is still cleaning up massive contamination from the last plutonium pit facility. (Rocky Flats, Colorado) There are still millions of gallons of contaminated ground water at the NTS that the DOE will never clean up, and they want us to fund another site!!

~         The US is awash in plutonium, possessing as many as 23,000 - 25,000 plutonium pits, of which 10,700 are in warhead form, and only 1,700-2,200 will be "operationally deployed" as a result of the Moscow Treaty. A new pit facility will send a strong signal to the world community that the US intends to ignore its obligation to seek nuclear disarmament, as agreed to in the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty and reaffirmed by the United States in 2000 as an "unequivocal commitment." In addition, a modern pit facility would be hugely expensive, costing $2-4 billion to build, $200-300 million to operate each year and billions of dollars to dismantle and clean up.The administration has yet to demonstrate what its stockpile needs are following the signing of a new Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT, also referred to as the Moscow Treaty) with Russia in May this year.

~         According to the Ruby Valley Treaty of 1863, the land that the DOE calls 'the Nevada Test Site' is actually a part of the Shoshone Nation's ancestral land, Newe Sogobia. The Shoshone Nation has NEVER allowed the DOE to use their land for the testing and production of nuclear weapons, and the DOE is, therefore, trespassing in Newe Sogobia.

Come tell the DOE, No More Contamination of Nevada Land!
No More Sacrifice Zones! No More Nuclear Weapons!
And Bring A Friend

July 2nd, 2003
7:00 - 10:00 PM

Moyer Student Union (MSU) @ UNLV
RM. 201
Maryland Parkway & Harmon
Submit comments by August 5 to:
Mr. Jay Rose, MPF EIS Document Manager
U.S. Department of Energy/NNSA
1000 Independence Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20585
FAX: 1-202-586-5324
Email: James.Rose@nnsa.doe.gov

TALKING POINTS
MODERN PIT FACILITY HEARING (DOE/EIS-236-S2)
JULY 2nd, 2003

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the nuclear weapons agency of the Department of Energy (DOE), has issued a draft report for public comment about the proposed Modern Plutonium Pit Facility (MPF). The proposed MPF will be capable of producing as many as 500 plutonium pits, the triggers for the thermonuclear explosion of a nuclear weapon, per year. The DOE has selected five potential sites for the location of the MPF: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico, Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico, Pantex Plant in Texas, Savannah River Site (SRS) in South Carolina, and right here at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). The Nuclear Posture Review, the Bush Administration's report on the state of nuclear weapons in the U.S., pushes strongly for the development of new nuclear weapons. The MPF is the first step in this process, a process that will ultimately lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons through another nuclear arms race. We must stop this process, NOW!

FACTS:

• The DOE has a blatant history of environmental abuse and should not be given the funding to create more contamination anywhere in the U.S.

• There is no need for a new MPF. The Nuclear Posture Review is not law, and therefore, cannot be used as justification for the need to create a MPF.

• This project is unnecessary, immoral, and unethical. The DOE cannot expect taxpayers to foot the bill for future environmental contamination and radiation exposure EVER, much less when previous sites still need to be cleaned up.

• We do not want to pay for a MPF. We demand that our tax money go for quality education and economic infrastructure improvements that improve the quality of everyone's life. The DOE must also clean up and dismantle current nuclear weapons facilities, not create plutonium pits for new nuclear weapons!

• The transportation of plutonium pits, enriched uranium, and transuranic waste to and from the NTS place the environment and employees of the NTS at great risk.

THE DOE IS TRESPASSING ON NEWE SOGOBIA, THE ANCENSTRAL HOMELANDS OF THE WESTERN SHOSHONE, AND WILL BE VIOLATING THE 1863 TREATY OF RUBY VALLEY:
The U.S. government signed the treaty in 1863 and the Senate ratified it in 1866. Once ratified, this treaty becomes "the supreme law of the land." v Past, current, and future NTS operations and development have been and will always be violating this law. Congress, based on fraudulent agency proceedings, is attempting to distribute the Indian Claims Commission monetary award, valued at $1 per acre for over 24 million acres of Newe Sogobia, in a clear attempt to "muzzle" the Treaty of Ruby Valley. Nevada Senator Harry Reid, who happens to have substantial ties to corporate interests on Shoshone land, is leading this effort. "It is the position of the Western Shoshone government that the United States Department of the Interior's acceptance of the United States Indian Claims Commission monetary award was illegal and that it therefore has no effect on the ownership and territorial rights of the Western Shoshone Nation." vi In short, the land belongs to the Western Shoshone and the DOE does not have permission to use it.

THE DOE HAS A HISTORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL ABUSES:
The DOE-controlled Rocky Flats plutonium pit plant near Denver, CO was shut down due to massive contamination. The Rocky Flats plant was used to create plutonium pits and other components for nuclear weapons. "There are areas on-site at Rocky Flats where chemicals and nuclear materials were buried, contaminating both the soil and groundwater. Various spills and other accidents over the years also have caused contamination." i If the MPF is sited at the Nevada Test Site, 'various spills and other accidents' will occur. This will place the surrounding environment and MPF workers at great risk. For everyday operation at the Nevada Test Site (NTS), acreage "permanently modified or lost as habitat, foraging areas, or as a prey base for species of special interest would range from 44-56 hectares (110-138 acres)," ii which is almost TWICE the size of the Thomas and Mack Center at UNLV!iii

• PRODUCING NEW PLUTONIUM PITS FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS LEADS THE U.S. DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH:
  The NTS was de-activated from full-scale nuclear weapons testing in 1992. The DOE is currently conducting sub-critical testing at the NTS. The DOE conducted the most recent sub-critical test on September 26th, 2002. This testing violates the spirit of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. New full-scale testing of nuclear weapons using plutonium pits designed at an MPF will be in direct violation. The intention to create a MPF for new nuclear weapons, instead of disarming the current weapons stockpile, IS IN VIOLATION of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.iv We must not allow the DOE to use Nevada to destroy important international laws. EXPECTED CONSTRUCTION COST FOR THE MPF IS $4.1 BILLION:
  That does not include operation, potential decontamination, decommissioning, or clean up costs.vii This is equivalent to the annual salary/benefits for approximately 72,000 elementary school teachers or 82,000 startup business loans of $50,000 each. Instead of investing in a facility that promotes destruction, why not invest in opportunities that promote growth and progress?

  THE MPF WILL CAUSE CANCER DEATHS:
  Based on DOE figures, the MPF project would expose its workers to radiation sufficient to cause one fatal cancer every four and a half years. That would total about nine cancer deaths over the plutonium pit factory's 40-year anticipated life.viii The expected average individual dose is as high as 510 millirems per person, per year.ix The Shundahai Network feels that these figures are low.

  TRANSPORTATION ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN:
  The DOE is predicting as many as 50 plutonium pit shipments, 36 enriched uranium shipments, and 142 transuranic waste shipments every year.x That's potentially 2,000 plutonium pit shipments, 1,440 enriched uranium shipments, and 5,680 transuranic waste shipments over the entire 40-year anticipated life of the factory. The construction and operation of the MPF will increase the incident-free impacts (radiation dose to those on or near the highway, for instance) and accident related injuries and fatalities. We have not seen adequate plans for the transportation of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel expected to be stored in the proposed Yucca Mountain facility, and this has been over a period of 20 to 30 years in the making. This raises severe doubt regarding the DOE's ability to study and implement safe transportation routes and procedures.

  ---

  NOTES
  

  1. Citizens Advisory Board for Rocky Flats, http://www.rfcab.org/FAQ.html#7
  2. Draft Supplemental Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement on Stockpile Stewardship and Management for a Modern Pit Facility (DSPEIS MPF), Volume 1, May 2003: Page 5-98, Operation Impacts to Threatened and Endangered Species
  3. Estimated modified land for MPF: 59156-74213 square feet COMPARED TO the concourse at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV: 42000 square feet
  4. Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Article 2: "Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes ... not to manufacture or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices ..." Plutonium Pit manufacturing also violates Article 6.
  5. Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the United States Constitution
  6. According to the Outline of Western Shoshone National Government's Findings of Facts Against the United States by Western Shoshone National Council Chief Raymond Yowell, January 1998: http://www.wsdp.org/findfact.htm
  7. Nuke Watch, New Mexico MPF Talking Points:
     http://www.nukewatch.org/mpf/MPFtalkingPoints61603.pdf
  8. Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) Press Release, June 26th, 2003
  9. DSPEIS MPF, Page 5-119, Table 5.3.9.1-2. Annual Radiological Impacts on MPF Workers at NTS from Operations for All Three Pit Production Rates
  10. DSPEIS MPF, Page 5-119, Table 5.3.12.2-1. Number of Shipments per Year at NTS for the MPF Alternative

  SHUNDAHAI NETWORK--Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain

  Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning "Peace and Harmony with all Creation"

  Kalynda Tilges
  Executive Director
  Shundahai Network
  1350 E. Flamingo Box 255
  Las Vegas, NV 89119
  Office: 702.369.2730
  Fax: 702.369.5717
  kalynda@shundahai.org
  http://www.Shundahai.org

Encampment to Protect Sacred Places

My Dear Friends and Relatives:

This is a call to support the courageous Yankton Sioux Nation as they struggle to protect a sacred place containing ancestral burials and other sacred places from destruction through development by the State of South Dakota.

The lands in question were transferred to the state from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers by Congress, and contain dozens of developed recreational areas. North Point Recreational Area, where these burials are located, now belongs to the state which began last year to further develop the area for tourism and recreation. Last spring, one of their bulldozers cut in half the burial of a Yankton woman and her child, even though the Yankton tribe had, many times, informed both the Army Corps and the state of South Dakota that burials existed in the area they wanted to develop. Also, other ancestral remains were scattered throughout the park in loads of earth used for landfill, but the agencies denied this occurred and the Yanktons were prevented from being able to look through the landfill for their relatives.

Several other wrongdoings occurred on the parts of both the state and the Corps in the aftermath of discovering that the burial had been hit, including tampering with evidence and failing to comply with NAGPRA (though the lands have been transferred to the state, Congress, in the Act that transferred the lands, stipulated that the Corps would retain responsibility to comply with applicable federal laws) so the Yanktons were forced to take to the courts to protect their ancestors' burials. It should also be noted that other Missouri River Tribes, including my own, also have ancestral burials and other sacred and cultural places on these lands as well. Unfortunately, last week, the court ruled that the State could go ahead and continue their developments, and destruction of these sacred places is imminent.

To prevent further destruction of ancestral burials and other sacred places, the Yankton Sioux Nation has begun an encampment at the Northpoint Recreational area and a media blitz to call attention to what is happening there. I'm writing you today, with a humble and sincere request, to please help us and show your support for the courageous efforts underway by the Yanktons and other tribes to protect the ancestors and other sacred places. Please see www.argusleader.com for articles on the judge's decision. Then please, call, write or email the Yankton Sioux Nation with your support. Send editorial letters to the Argus Leader. If you have a website or a listserve of folks who are interested in or are working themselves on issues like this, please forward this communique to them. There is one lodge up at the site now, and more will follow, with each flying the Tribal flag of their respective Nations. Grandmas and Grandpas and children will be joining the encampment, so there will be many mouths to feed. Financial contributions as well as letters of support can be sent to:

With a heart full of thanks and praise for all your help,

Pemina

RECEIVED MARCH 12, 2003

Please Post and Distribute as Appropriate

The Arctic Refuge is facing its greatest threat ever, with many opponents stacked up against it: the White House, the Oil Industry, the Teamsters, Arctic Power, Native Corporations and the AK delegation. Even our strongest allies in the Senate and House are under enormous pressure to change their position.

We need all of our supporters to take action now in opposition to this threat. It is crucial that we create broad resistance to drilling on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge-the birthplace and nursery of the Porcupine Caribou Herd.

The Gwich'in need your help now to defend this sacred place from the desperate attempts to violate the birthplace and nursery of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

As he has for the past several years.President Bush has included revenues from leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as part of the 2004 budget he submitted to Congress. However, this year, in hopes of "tempering opposition" to drilling, the President announced that half of the revenue would go toward funding for the Energy Department's renewable energy technology research programs over a seven-year period.

The Budget process is a backdoor approach that lacks any public debate and the Arctic Refuge issue deserves and merits full public process. The Arctic Refuge belongs to all Americans, we must take a stand now and let our elected officials in the Senate and House of Representatives and let them know that we will defend the last 5% of America's Arctic Coast from oil development, 95% is already open to development.

The fate of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is the fate of the Gwich'in Nation. If the Arctic Refuge is sacrificed to meet the high energy consumption needs of the US, the Gwich'in will not be able to continue our ancestral way of life and pass it on to our future generations as we have since time immemorial. We are fighting to protect our inherent fundamental human rights to continue our ancestral way of life...Congress must uphold the human rights of all people.

The House Budget Committee is meeting RIGHT NOW to discuss the 2004 budget. Unfortunately, the budget includes language that allows the Resources committee to save money any way they want - INCLUDING DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE!

One of our champions will offer an amendment to protect the Refuge and a vote will occur sometime today or tonight.

YOUR HELP IS NEEDED NOW!
Please contact the following members of the House Budget Committee RIGHT NOW! Let them know that you oppose drilling in the Refuge . Urge them to stand up for all Alaskans and Americans by opposing any language in the budget that directly or indirectly allows drilling in the Arctic Refuge.

Members to contact:
Jim Nussle (R-IOWA) 202-225-2911
Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut) 202-225-5541
Scott Garrett (R-New Jersey) 202-225-4465
Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Florida) 202-225-2778

To contact these Representatives, you can use the toll-free Capitol Switchboard line at 1-800-839-5276.

• OAS Special Session February 24, 2003, Washington, D.C. Carrie Dann's statement to the Organization of American States Working Group in D.C. - pdf format

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