Goshutes' fight over exclusion continues (Utah nuke storage)

December 4, 2005

The Skull Valley Goshutes have fought for more than two years to expose how Utah politicians have maneuvered in the halls of the U.S. Interior Department to scuttle the Goshutes' plan to store high-level nuclear waste on their Tooele County reservation.
At first, tribal Chairman Leon Bear tried to unearth details through the federal Freedom of Information Act to learn about "secret meetings" the Interior Department held with opponents of the waste project. Then, last year, Bear's attorney filed a federal lawsuit claiming the Interior Department was illegally withholding important documents that told who was at those meetings and what was said.
"The band was not being dealt with fairly or, more importantly, honestly," said Tim Vollmann, an attorney for Bear and the Skull Valley Band.
The lawsuit documents reveal not only how bitter Goshute leaders have felt about not being invited to the political table on their own multibillion-dollar project, but also how doggedly state leaders have tried to win over the Interior Department - which serves as a trustee to all U.S. tribes - to help kill the waste project. The venture is worth millions to the 121-member Skull Valley Band, and Utah state government has virtually no authority over it because of the band's legal status as a sovereign nation.

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http://www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_3277170