Tucson Weekly: Valley Woe (March 12

Native Americans And Environmentalists Try To Stop A Nuclear Waste Dump Just 18 Miles From The Colorado River -- Upstream From The Source Of Tucson's CAP Water.
By Belinda Griswold
NEEDLES, CALIF.--After rain, hail, and tornadoes swept the eastern Mojave Desert on Valentine's Day weekend, the federal government backed down from plans to evict Native American and environmentalist protesters from Ward Valley, the site of a proposed nuclear waste dump.
Currents Some 200 activists blockaded roads into the pristine valley beginning February 13, saying they would remain until the Clinton administration abandoned plans to allow waste-management corporation U.S. Ecology to build the dump. The federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which had stationed rangers in the valley for the first 10 days of the blockade, pulled out on February 23, saying they would negotiate with protesters. Five Colorado River native tribes have vowed to remain in Ward Valley until the government completely gives up the dump plan.
Negotiations are now ongoing between the tribes and BLM officials while the occupation of the valley continues. The tribes are demanding that Interior Secretary Bruce Babbit meet face to face with tribal leaders.
"I don't want to see my land desecrated for nuclear waste," said 17-year-old Charles Escalanti of the Quechan tribe. "This is our land, and that stuff is going to eventually kill my cousins, my little sister, and I don't want to see the world come to that, and I don't want to see my people dying."
The federal government is considering transferring Ward Valley to the state of California at the request of Gov. Pete Wilson. The Governor, who says the dump is necessary to store the waste products of California's nuclear industry, wants to issue permits allowing U.S. Ecology (a corporation with a Superfund site to its name) to store radioactive waste in shallow, unlined trenches in the valley, 18 miles from the Colorado River. The Colorado provides drinking water to more than 20 million people throughout the West, including 148,000 acre-feet of Central Arizona Project water allotted to Tucson.
In early February, the BLM announced it would close the valley to perform soil testing the night of February 13. The tribes vowed not to allow any further desecration of the valley, which they consider to be sacred homeland and which provides critical habitat for the endangered desert tortoise.
In response to the tribes' call to action, hundreds of activists from throughout the West--including Angelenos wearing floor-length mohair coats, American Indian Movement old-timers, and Earth First! direct-action specialists in fatigues--gathered in the valley on February 12, preparing to put their bodies on the line to stop the BLM.
A contingent of 25 elders from the Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Cocopah, and Colorado River Indian tribes, which make up the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance, have set up camp at "ground zero," the site of the proposed dump, one mile south of the first roadblock. They came prepared for an eviction that has not yet materialized.
On Valentine's Day surveillance planes buzzed over the camp, and rangers patrolled the edge of the valley in jeeps. Long-distance phone service from the area was mysteriously interrupted. But midnight came and went without incident. So did the next day, and the next, and the next. Activists concluded that the government had decided to wait them out, and decided to gently escalate the confrontation by occupying the valley and refusing to allow the BLM in.
Native American religious ceremonies were held at the entrance to the valley while non-native activists lay chained to each other, blocking the road in case law enforcement officers arrived. On the morning of February 15, the BLM's area field manager, Molly Brady, was permitted into the valley on foot, without her weapon, escorted by an American Indian Movement security detail.
Steve Lopez, Ward Valley coordinator for the Fort Mojave tribe, said the elders and their supporters are not going anywhere anytime soon.
"We're here for the duration one way or the other," Lopez told us. "The final stand will be at ground zero, but we're not going to just roll over and allow them to get in there easily."
The tribes plan to start ceremonies at the entrance to the valley if the eviction begins. If BLM or state law enforcement agents arrest and remove protesters, they will be interrupting sacred singing and dancing, in violation of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Wally Antone, a Quechan elder and ceremonial singer, led many of the weekend's rituals and plans to keep singing as long as the valley is threatened.
"The ceremonies will continue until we get this thing straight," he told Brady as she entered the valley. Antone and other tribal leaders have demanded a meeting with Clinton administration officials to discuss the dump. On Tuesday, Feb. 17, they met with regional officials from the BLM and the Department of the Interior. Those meetings--at which the tribes reaffirmed their commitment to stay in Ward Valley no matter what--may have spurred the BLM to reconsider its determination to evict the encampment.
BLM officials said their first priority is to avoid violent conflict.
"We don't want anyone to get hurt," Brady said. "That's our main concern. There's nothing worth going to that extent. [The protesters] are in violation of the closure. It is in effect, but we don't intend to do anything at this moment. We're not sure when we will."
Protesters and either federal or state authorities are likely to come into direct conflict at some point, however. The tribes and their supporters are unwilling to hold a legal and ineffective demonstration elsewhere in the valley while drilling equipment is moved onto ground zero.
"This is a serious direct action, and firm commitments have been made by Indian nations and the Save Ward Valley coalition that we will not be moved," said Lopez. "I will do this for my people and my children, even if it means giving up my life."
Organizers stress that the blockade is not symbolic and will continue indefinitely while tribal leaders pursue negotiations. Some organizers--like Tori Woodard, of Needles-based Save Ward Valley, the group that's coordinating the non-native side of the coalition--are hopeful.
"The purpose of their waiting game is to outlast us," she said. "But I don't think it's going to work. More people are already planning to come, and I think our commitment is stronger than [the government's]. They're not attached to this land the way we are."
Tribal leaders say they will continue to press for higher-level negotiations with the federal government, and will be ready to defend the valley again if the land is transferred and Wilson moves to begin dump construction. Ironically, Wilson also opposed the BLM's soil testing--but on the grounds that dump plans are safe and do not require further data collection.
"We have not heard any official word from the Department of the Interior on the demands that the tribes have issued," Lopez said. "We hope they stop dragging their feet and start responding to us through proper nation-to-nation policy. We remain firm in our defense of Ward Valley."

Belinda Griswold is a correspondent for the San Francisco Bay Guardian, where a version of this article originally appeared.

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