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(California's Modern Indian War)
Saturday, June 06, 1998
Indians, environmentalists
claim victory at Ward Valley
Associated Press
NEEDLES, Calif. -- Indian tribes and environmentalists
claimed victory Friday after federal authorities withdrew an eviction
notice for their 113-day camp-in to block a nuclear waste dump project
at Ward Valley.
A federal court was expected to make the final decision on the
project, however. Ward Valley is 117 miles south of Las Vegas.
The Fort Mojave Indians and other Colorado River tribes
occupied the desert site to bar work on a repository for "low-level"
radioactive waste from power plants, hospitals and laboratories.
The Wilson administration has been trying for years to acquire
the 1,000 acres of desert. The state Department of Health Services has
licensed a contractor to accept radioactive garbage from facilities in
California, Arizona and the Dakotas.
The material would be stored in unlined trenches. Indians, along
with conservation groups and local governments, worry that
radioactivity could leak to the Colorado River, less than 20 miles away.
Link to: California's Modern Indian War