The Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians Reservation in Utah had been sited as the new neighbors to a large temporary nuclear waste dump. Private Fuel Storage (PFS), a corporation that represents multiple other nuclear companies wants to store 40,000 tons of commercial high-level radioactive waste at this site in Skull Valley. This amount of radioactive waste is about 80% of the total commercial nuclear fuel used by the end of 2004. |
Description:
Basic Data
| Name of conflict: | Radioactive Waste on Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, USA |
| Country: | United States of America |
| State or province: | Utah |
| Location of conflict: | Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation |
| Accuracy of location | LOW (Country level) |
Source of Conflict
| Type of conflict. 1st level: | Nuclear |
| Type of conflict. 2nd level: | Landfills, toxic waste treatment, uncontrolled dump sites Nuclear waste storage |
| Specific commodities: | Land Uranium Industrial waste |
Project Details and Actors
| Project details | The temporary storage would hold 40,000 tons of commercial waste |
| Project area: | 45 |
| Type of population | Rural |
| Affected Population: | 30-150 |
| Start of the conflict: | 1997 |
| Company names or state enterprises: | Private Fuel Storage, LLC from United States of America - Xcel Energy; Genoa Fuel Tech; American Electric Power; Southern California Edison; Southern Nuclear Company; First Energy; Entergy; and Florida Power and Light |
| Relevant government actors: | Nuclear Waste Commission, U.S Congress, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the U.S. Surface Transportation Board, Blue Ribbon Commission on America†™s Nuclear Future |
| Environmental justice organizations (and other supporters) and their websites, if available: | Nuclear Information and Resource Center |
Conflict & Mobilization
| Intensity | MEDIUM (street protests, visible mobilization) |
| Reaction stage | In REACTION to the implementation (during construction or operation) |
| Groups mobilizing: | Indigenous groups or traditional communities Ethnically/racially discriminated groups |
| Forms of mobilization: | Creation of alternative reports/knowledge Development of a network/collective action Lawsuits, court cases, judicial activism Media based activism/alternative media Public campaigns Street protest/marches |
Impacts
| Environmental Impacts | Visible: Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physico-chemical, biological) quality, Soil contamination, Other Environmental impacts Potential: Air pollution, Food insecurity (crop damage), Groundwater pollution or depletion, Loss of landscape/aesthetic degradation |
| Other Environmental impacts | Radioactive contamination |
| Health Impacts | Visible: Accidents, Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks (radiation, etc…) |
| Socio-economical Impacts | Visible: Increase in Corruption/Co-optation of different actors |
Outcome
| Project Status | Stopped |
| Conflict outcome / response: | Court decision (victory for environmental justice) |
| Do you consider this an environmental justice success? Was environmental justice served?: | Yes |
| Briefly explain: | In 2006, through litigation the project was halted and transportation of the waste stopped. There have been recent attempts to find a new temporary nuclear waste storage facility and there is potential for the new Blue Ribbon Commission under President Obama to consider re-opening the option for Skull Valley. They were able to mobilize and fight back to prevent the storage of hazardous waste in their community. The Goshute tribe is very small and were still able to collaborate to defeated the large companies trying to store waste near them. |
Sources & Materials
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| Other comments: | This is one of the top 40 influential environmental justice cases in the United States identified from a national survey of environmental activists, scholars and other leaders by graduate students at the University of Michigan. |
Meta information
| Contributor: | Sara Orvis, [email protected], University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and Environment |
| Last update | 18/08/2019 |
| Conflict ID: | 896 |
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