U.S. judge is pondering touchy Goshute dispute

A federal judge said he must decide whether he will force the Bureau of Indian Affairs to put a stop to the ongoing political dispute among members of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, effectively putting an end to the friction over the nuclear waste storage controversy that has resulted in anger and animosity among its members.

But the touchy issue of whether the federal government should infringe on the sovereignty of an Indian nation has prompted U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball to pause and consider.

The issue came up during a motion hearing Friday in a suit filed by several Goshutes against the U.S. Department of Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs over BIA's decision to accept at face value that there was proper approval by tribal members when band executive director Leon Bear inked a deal with Private Fuel Storage for a conditional lease to store high-level nuclear waste.

That decision has driven a wedge between band members as well as has Bear's delay in holding tribal elections for chairman since 2001. Because the band is one of the smallest tribes in the United States, it has no tribal court to determine whether Bear has followed tribal law, said attorney Paul EchoHawk.

EchoHawk said his clients, comprised of Goshutes opposed to Bear's continued rule, are asking the court to have BIA investigate if Bear has followed tribal law. "The lease has never been shown to some tribal members," EchoHawk said, so how can Bear give legitimate tribal approval?

There is also evidence that Bear is favoring his political supporters by giving them unequal shares of PFS advances. "You go out there and Bear's supporters have new homes," while others still live in less-prosperous circumstances, EchoHawk said.

But an attorney for the Department of the Interior said it is not the government's job to resolve or interfere with tribal disputes.

"It's an unfortunate and tragic circumstance," said assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanette Swent, but the federal government's duty to Indian tribes is to oversee the "day-to-day" tribal operations while tribes must resolve their own internal differences.

Kimball questioned this philosophy, asking what options tribal members have if BIA refuses to get involved and there is no tribal court?

Swent compared the situation to the United States going into France and telling the French people whom to elect as their leader.