Goshute leader calls N-waste rulings 'thin'

The leader of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians used the words "pretty thin" to describe last week's federal actions that may have been the death knell for a plan to store nuclear waste on his Tooele County reservation.

After reviewing decisions by two Interior Department agencies to deny the lease for the Private Fuel Storage consortium, Leon Bear, the disputed chairman of the Goshutes, said the explanations did nothing to justify the potential loss of millions of dollars in future earnings for his small band of about 125 people.

"The thing is, I felt that they were kind of skating on thin ice on the issues they brought up," Bear told the Deseret Morning News Monday. "We've met all the conditions of that lease for approval."

PFS had planned to move as much as 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel to the temporary storage site in Skull Valley about 50 miles from Salt Lake City. The waste would have been stored there until a permanent site becomes available.

Utah politicians, along with some members of the Goshute band, applauded last week's decision by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to disapprove Private Fuel Storage's lease for the site, and the Bureau of Land Management's refusal to grant the rights of way needed to build transportation to the site.

Opponents' objections included safety concerns such as the vulnerabilty of the above ground storage site to terrorist attacks, in addition to concerns about environmental impact and transportation.

But Bear said he saw nothing in the BIA lease denial that hadn't already been addressed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or during the environmental review, in the decade since the plan was conceived.

Bear said he wasn't sure where to go next, saying "at this point, anything is possible." He did say he'd leave to PFS and band members the decision on whether to appeal the decision.

PFS Spokeswoman Sue Martin said Chairman John Parkyn is still examining the government documents and talking with other PFS partners on what their next steps should be.

The biggest PFS investor, Xcel Energy, said it has spent $23 million on the proposed project, the Associated Press reported.

Charles Bomberger, general manager of nuclear assets for Xcel, said he was disappointed with the decision because the utility has been trying for years to move its nuclear waste out of Minnesota. However, Bomberger said, Xcel will not fund the review or any possible appeal, the AP reported.

Bear said his receiving a copy of the decision this week from a newspaper is another slight against his band which, he said, has long been ignored by state and federal lawmakers.