Unitarians oppose N-waste in West Desert

A Unitarian congregation has thrown its support behind the Nuclear-Free Great Basin campaign opposing the storage of nuclear waste in Utah's West Desert and permanent storage at Yucca Mountain, Nev.

Its 71-2 vote, tallied last Sunday, marks the first time a Utah religious group has joined the organized opposition to the proposals, one of which would allow storage of spent nuclear plant fuel 45 miles from Salt Lake City for up to 40 years.

"The congregation is deeply concerned about the environment and sees (nuclear waste) as a spiritual issue," said the Rev. Tom Goldsmith, co-minister of First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City. "It is a religious issue that could unite us all."

The church's environmental ministry, led by Michael Mielke, has worked for about a year to educate the congregation's members about the environmental, political and social concerns behind the Nuclear-Free Great Basin resolution.

The effort has included visits from members of the 73-member Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians who oppose their tribal government's agreement to lease reservation land for the $3.1 billion nuclear waste storage facility. Church members also participated in a rally on the reservation two months ago where the resolution was first presented.

"Nuclear waste jeopardizes the most basic human right, which is a clean environment," the resolution concludes. "We commit to end the cycle of abuse that has been initiated by our government and corporations."

Leon Bear, chairman of the Skull Valley band, objected to the church action.

Bear said supporters of the waste-storage proposal were not invited by First Unitarian to discuss its position, which focuses largely on the plan's economic value to tribal members and for tribal sovereignty.

"It always saddens me when people do not want to hear our side," he said.

Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson offered his support to the congregation's vote Sunday.

"If we bond together in Salt Lake City, we can ensure the health of future generations, we can avoid becoming the nation's nuclear waste dump, and we can work toward social and economic justice for everyone," he said in a message delivered at the church.

The Nuclear-Free Great Basin campaign started a month ago as a grass-roots effort in Utah and Nevada to block the shipment of nuclear waste to the Great Basin desert, said organizer Chip Ward of Tooele.

Ward said the group finds unacceptable any Utah efforts to keep nuclear waste off the Goshute reservation if that means the waste would instead go to Yucca Mountain.

The Goshute tribe on Wednesday asked a federal judge to overturn state laws designed to stop plans for a nuclear waste dump at the Skull Valley reservation.

The laws are part of Gov. Mike Leavitt's resistance to the storage of spent nuclear fuel rods in Utah.