Goshute nuclear plan flayed

WASHINGTON — More than four dozen Democratic House members have signed a letter written by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, urging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to reject a license application by Private Fuel Storage to store spent nuclear fuel on Goshute tribal lands in Utah's Tooele County.

Kucinich, who is still seeking co-signers for the letter to be sent next week, called the proposal "unjust, extremely dangerous and unnecessary. The history of exploitation and racism carried out towards Native Americans by the U.S. government is well documented, and we must not relive it."

Among the signers is Rep. Shelley Berkley, a Nevada Democrat who is joining the PFS fight even though many in the Utah delegation have been lukewarm in supporting Nevada's opposition to a permanent spent-fuel waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

None of the three Utah members of the House had seen the letter as of Friday, but all were supportive.

"I applaud him for what he's doing," said Scott Parker, spokesman for Rep. Bishop, R-Utah. He added the Utah delegation has sent its fair share of letters to the NRC asking for the same thing.

Charles Isom, spokesman for Rep. Chris Cannon , R-Utah, said Cannon hasn't seen the letter but has signed similar letters by the delegation in the past.

The staff of Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is reviewing the letter. The congressman had not yet seen it.

Kucinich, one of the few presidential candidates to campaign in Utah during the past election, said it "is unjust for the United States to target a destitute and vulnerable Native American tribe" and that the Skull Valley band of Goshutes possesses an "inextricable spiritual attachment to the land they inhabit, and many tribal members say it is all they have left."

Despite the opposition voices of Kucinich and the others, the NRC is widely expected to ratify the recommendation of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) to grant PFS a license to store up to 40,000 tons of nuclear waste for up to 40 years at the site about 70 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.

Utah officials, who have been fighting the proposal during the licensing process, recently lost another round before the ASLB to reconsider its earlier ruling.

A consortium of nuclear power utilities that makes up PFS could begin shipments of spent fuel to Utah within another year or so, depending on the result of the state's inevitable court challenges to the license.

Kucinich echoed what others critics, including Utah officials, have said for years.