Hot Waste Shipments In Navajo's Future?
Submitted by Eleanore Fanire, Mohave County Downwinders
By Kathy Helm - Dine Bureau
khelms@frontiernet.net
WINDOW ROCK -- When the Public Safety Committee heads to Washington, one of the federal agencies it will lobby for funds will be the Department of Energy.
PSC Chairperson Hope MacDonald-LoneTree told the committee this week that there are shipments of high-level nuclear waste proposed for transport on Interstate 40. "That's what is being proposed and that is what they're working on right now," she said
Last year, PSC was given a tour of Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a site slated to be the permanent burial ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.
"That's why we have meetings with Department of Energy: to find out what their plans are, what they're doing, how it's going to affect Navajo, what our recommendations are, how we oppose it," MacDonald-LoneTree said.
The Navajo Nation has approved a ban on future uranium mining and processing in Navajo Indian Country.
In a Dec. 21 preliminary draft of Section 180(c) of the Nuclear WastePolicy Act sent to the Navajo Nation, the federal Office of Management and Budget stated that DOE will provide grants and technical assistance to states and tribes affected by the transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
DOE intends to make two grants available to states and tribes affected by the shipments: an assessment and planning grant set at $200,000, and an annual training grant with a base amount of $100,000. Funding beyond the base grants will be according to a needs assessment conducted by the tribe.
Five-Year Notice
OMB said the Department of Energy will notify each eligible state and tribal government through a letter to the governor or tribal leader approximately five years before shipments are scheduled through that jurisdiction. The letter will announce anticipated routes.
Jimson Joe of Navajo Department of Emergency Management said DOE already has given the tribe the requisite five-year notice that "hot" nuclear waste shipments will be moving on I-40.
"They don't have specific days. They just kind of gave us general information," he said.
The Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management has been working on a proposed plan of how it will deal with public notification and what type of precautionary measures it will use in regard to the shipments.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Lorenzo Curley introduced legislation last October that would have approved a cooperative agreement between the Navajo Nation and DOE's Carlsbad Field Office.
At that time, Curley said the shipments planned for I-40 are so "hot" they have to be handled by machines, rather than people.
The agreement included in the legislation would provide funding for a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Services Liaison who would provide community education in 10 Navajo chapters located in Apache and McKinley counties through which the shipments will pass.
Those include Nahata dziil, Houck, and Lupton in Apache County, and Manuelito, Tsayatoh, Red Rock, Church Rock, Iyanbito, Thoreau and Baca in McKinley County.
Through the WIPP liasion's educational efforts, "the members of the ten communities will better understand the effects of hazardous materials and be prepared to respond to incidents that may occur related to the transportation of transuranic waste materials over I-40," according to the statement of work.
Curley's legislation, which has been languishing since it was tabled by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee last year, includes a DOE financial assistance agreement totaling $50,000. However, DOE obligated only $31,250 for the budget period March 1, 2006-Feb. 28, 2007.
The project would continue through Feb. 28, 2011, during which time the Navajo Nation could receive up to $250,000. However, DOE said there is no guarantee that amount will be awarded.
Waste Corridors
On Jan. 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed one of the final roadblocks to transport of remote-handled transuranic waste by approving preparations at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the source of waste from nuclear weapons work.
Don Hancock of the Southwest Research Information Center in Albuquerque said both Hanford, Wash., and INL have remote-handled (RH) wastes. INL is supposed to be the first DOE site to ship the RH waste, he said.
"However, the transportation route for those wastes is through Utah, Wyoming on I-80, Colorado, and then into New Mexico on I-25 and down US-285.
Hancock said DOE currently does not ship remote-handled waste on I-40. "In fact, those sites are prohibited from shipping on I-40," he said. "There are no remote-handled shipments planned from the west which would come on I-40."
"Idaho says it has 183 RH shipments in the waste stream that it's starting to ship. WIPP hopes to handle about two RH shipments a week, so that's more than a year's worth," he said.
Unforeseen Events
OMB said there may be instances when unforseen events force the closure of a primary or alternate route, requiring shipments to be re-routed to a less prepared or unprepared route.
In instances where re-routing of the shipments is required, DOE will work with the tribe to reach a mutually acceptable solution and will make funds available, if necessary.
DOE also will work with states and tribes on an individual basis to determine whether fees levied on radioactive materials shipments will impact the amount of funds received
Currently, 28 states levy fees on radioactive materials shipments, ranging from $25 to $4,000 on the initial rail cask. No tribes now assess fees on radioactive materials shipments through their reservations.
OMB said that if a tribe does impose a fee, DOE would have to decide whether it was paying twice for some activities if it pays fees and funds to the tribe through Section 180(c), and if so, what it can do to meet its obligations under that section, while complying with applicable tribal laws, and avoiding paying twice for the same service.
Summer Internship Opportunity at Princeton - Deadline - Feb. 15th
If you know a high school journalism student that might be interested in a 10 day learning experience, please pass this along. This opportunity gets missed each year because the word doesn't get out. This is an awesome opportunity that should not be missed due to lack of awareness.
A 10-day all-expenses- paid summer journalism program will be held in August at Princeton University for students from under resourced financial backgrounds. All application materials are available at www.princeton.edu/~sjp. All expenses, including travel costs to and from Princeton , will be paid for.
This will be the sixth year of the program, and if this summer is anything like the last five, it will be a great experience. The last five classes of journalists were taught by writers from The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, and The New Republic; toured The New York Times and ABC News, meeting with editors and producers; attended and covered Yankees, Mets, Jets and Liberty games; and reported, wrote, edited, designed, and produced a 12-page edition of The Princeton Summer Journal on the program's final day.
The program is also designed to give students a taste of what life is like at one of the best colleges in the country - students live on campus and eat in one of the university's cafeterias. Students meet with the Princeton University 's president and the school's dean of admissions - people who are able to offer guidance on the difficult decisions about college that high school students face. The program is staffed by young alumni of Princeton, current Princeton students, and students who attended the program in past summers.
To apply for the program, you must meet the following qualifications:
1) You must be entering your junior or senior year of high school in fall 2007.
2) You must have at least a 3.0 grade point average (out of 4.0).
3) You must have demonstrated an interest in journalism.
4) The combined income of your custodial parent(s)/guardian( s) plus child support payments, if any, must not exceed $45,000.
This program is intended for students from under resourced financial backgrounds. If the combined income of your custodial parent's) / guardian's) plus child support payments, if any, exceeds $45,000 and you still wish to apply, you can attach a note explaining why you believe your family qualifies as financially under resourced
The application must be postmarked by February 15th . More information and the application materials are available on our website at www.princeton.edu/~sjp. Please feel free to direct questions to rinderle@princeton.edu. Please include a phone number and an email address where you can be reached.
TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com
Visit Vietnam Vet. LARRY MITCHELL at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.
NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.
NAJA ALERTS - Every Tuesday when available.
By Kathy Helm - Dine Bureau
khelms@frontiernet.net
WINDOW ROCK -- When the Public Safety Committee heads to Washington, one of the federal agencies it will lobby for funds will be the Department of Energy.
PSC Chairperson Hope MacDonald-LoneTree told the committee this week that there are shipments of high-level nuclear waste proposed for transport on Interstate 40. "That's what is being proposed and that is what they're working on right now," she said
Last year, PSC was given a tour of Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a site slated to be the permanent burial ground for the nation's high-level nuclear waste.
"That's why we have meetings with Department of Energy: to find out what their plans are, what they're doing, how it's going to affect Navajo, what our recommendations are, how we oppose it," MacDonald-LoneTree said.
The Navajo Nation has approved a ban on future uranium mining and processing in Navajo Indian Country.
In a Dec. 21 preliminary draft of Section 180(c) of the Nuclear WastePolicy Act sent to the Navajo Nation, the federal Office of Management and Budget stated that DOE will provide grants and technical assistance to states and tribes affected by the transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.
DOE intends to make two grants available to states and tribes affected by the shipments: an assessment and planning grant set at $200,000, and an annual training grant with a base amount of $100,000. Funding beyond the base grants will be according to a needs assessment conducted by the tribe.
Five-Year Notice
OMB said the Department of Energy will notify each eligible state and tribal government through a letter to the governor or tribal leader approximately five years before shipments are scheduled through that jurisdiction. The letter will announce anticipated routes.
Jimson Joe of Navajo Department of Emergency Management said DOE already has given the tribe the requisite five-year notice that "hot" nuclear waste shipments will be moving on I-40.
"They don't have specific days. They just kind of gave us general information," he said.
The Navajo Nation Department of Emergency Management has been working on a proposed plan of how it will deal with public notification and what type of precautionary measures it will use in regard to the shipments.
Navajo Nation Council Delegate Lorenzo Curley introduced legislation last October that would have approved a cooperative agreement between the Navajo Nation and DOE's Carlsbad Field Office.
At that time, Curley said the shipments planned for I-40 are so "hot" they have to be handled by machines, rather than people.
The agreement included in the legislation would provide funding for a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) Emergency Services Liaison who would provide community education in 10 Navajo chapters located in Apache and McKinley counties through which the shipments will pass.
Those include Nahata dziil, Houck, and Lupton in Apache County, and Manuelito, Tsayatoh, Red Rock, Church Rock, Iyanbito, Thoreau and Baca in McKinley County.
Through the WIPP liasion's educational efforts, "the members of the ten communities will better understand the effects of hazardous materials and be prepared to respond to incidents that may occur related to the transportation of transuranic waste materials over I-40," according to the statement of work.
Curley's legislation, which has been languishing since it was tabled by the Intergovernmental Relations Committee last year, includes a DOE financial assistance agreement totaling $50,000. However, DOE obligated only $31,250 for the budget period March 1, 2006-Feb. 28, 2007.
The project would continue through Feb. 28, 2011, during which time the Navajo Nation could receive up to $250,000. However, DOE said there is no guarantee that amount will be awarded.
Waste Corridors
On Jan. 16, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency removed one of the final roadblocks to transport of remote-handled transuranic waste by approving preparations at Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the source of waste from nuclear weapons work.
Don Hancock of the Southwest Research Information Center in Albuquerque said both Hanford, Wash., and INL have remote-handled (RH) wastes. INL is supposed to be the first DOE site to ship the RH waste, he said.
"However, the transportation route for those wastes is through Utah, Wyoming on I-80, Colorado, and then into New Mexico on I-25 and down US-285.
Hancock said DOE currently does not ship remote-handled waste on I-40. "In fact, those sites are prohibited from shipping on I-40," he said. "There are no remote-handled shipments planned from the west which would come on I-40."
"Idaho says it has 183 RH shipments in the waste stream that it's starting to ship. WIPP hopes to handle about two RH shipments a week, so that's more than a year's worth," he said.
Unforeseen Events
OMB said there may be instances when unforseen events force the closure of a primary or alternate route, requiring shipments to be re-routed to a less prepared or unprepared route.
In instances where re-routing of the shipments is required, DOE will work with the tribe to reach a mutually acceptable solution and will make funds available, if necessary.
DOE also will work with states and tribes on an individual basis to determine whether fees levied on radioactive materials shipments will impact the amount of funds received
Currently, 28 states levy fees on radioactive materials shipments, ranging from $25 to $4,000 on the initial rail cask. No tribes now assess fees on radioactive materials shipments through their reservations.
OMB said that if a tribe does impose a fee, DOE would have to decide whether it was paying twice for some activities if it pays fees and funds to the tribe through Section 180(c), and if so, what it can do to meet its obligations under that section, while complying with applicable tribal laws, and avoiding paying twice for the same service.
Summer Internship Opportunity at Princeton - Deadline - Feb. 15th
If you know a high school journalism student that might be interested in a 10 day learning experience, please pass this along. This opportunity gets missed each year because the word doesn't get out. This is an awesome opportunity that should not be missed due to lack of awareness.
A 10-day all-expenses- paid summer journalism program will be held in August at Princeton University for students from under resourced financial backgrounds. All application materials are available at www.princeton.edu/~sjp. All expenses, including travel costs to and from Princeton , will be paid for.
This will be the sixth year of the program, and if this summer is anything like the last five, it will be a great experience. The last five classes of journalists were taught by writers from The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Miami Herald, and The New Republic; toured The New York Times and ABC News, meeting with editors and producers; attended and covered Yankees, Mets, Jets and Liberty games; and reported, wrote, edited, designed, and produced a 12-page edition of The Princeton Summer Journal on the program's final day.
The program is also designed to give students a taste of what life is like at one of the best colleges in the country - students live on campus and eat in one of the university's cafeterias. Students meet with the Princeton University 's president and the school's dean of admissions - people who are able to offer guidance on the difficult decisions about college that high school students face. The program is staffed by young alumni of Princeton, current Princeton students, and students who attended the program in past summers.
To apply for the program, you must meet the following qualifications:
1) You must be entering your junior or senior year of high school in fall 2007.
2) You must have at least a 3.0 grade point average (out of 4.0).
3) You must have demonstrated an interest in journalism.
4) The combined income of your custodial parent(s)/guardian( s) plus child support payments, if any, must not exceed $45,000.
This program is intended for students from under resourced financial backgrounds. If the combined income of your custodial parent's) / guardian's) plus child support payments, if any, exceeds $45,000 and you still wish to apply, you can attach a note explaining why you believe your family qualifies as financially under resourced
The application must be postmarked by February 15th . More information and the application materials are available on our website at www.princeton.edu/~sjp. Please feel free to direct questions to rinderle@princeton.edu. Please include a phone number and an email address where you can be reached.
TO SUBMIT an ARTICLE or OPINION PIECE to the Native Unity Digest, e-mail bobbieo@digitaldune.net.
NATIVE UNITY - A place for Native American Peoples to solidify their tribes to make a positive impact on the cultural, social, economic and political fabric of American society and a place for non-Natives to better understand the ways of the American Indian.
FOR NATIVE CELEBRITY NEWS - go to www.nativecelebs.com
Visit Vietnam Vet. LARRY MITCHELL at http://www.potawatomivet.com and click on his blog at the site.
NATIVE BIZ LEARNING CENTER - www.learn.nativebiz.com was developed for tribal education specialists serving tribal communities. Any tribal community can register at NO COST.
NAJA ALERTS - Every Tuesday when available.
posted by Bobbie Hart O'Neill @ 4:00 PM
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