Copyright © 1998 NLThomas
All Rights Reserved

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FEBRUARY 11, 1998
SHOWDOWN IN THE DESERT:
INDIAN NATIONS VOW TO DEFEND WARD VALLEY FROM
FURTHER DESECRATION AND A NUCLEAR WASTE DUMP,
U.S. DEPT. of Interior: Threatens to evict occupation

PRESS CONFERENCE AND SPIRITUAL CEREMONIAL ACTION
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1998, 12 NOON AT WARD VALLEY

Contact: Stephen Lopez, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe,
Phone:(760) 629-4591, Save Ward Valley Coalition
Or (760) 326-6267 Needles, CA.

On Thursday, February 12, 1998 at 12 noon, the five Indian Nations of the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance and many supporters will gather at Ward Valley to announce their determination to defend sacred Indian land against further desecration and the proposed nuclear waste dump. The Tribes and supporters will gather hours before the expiration of a fifteen day "closure order" issued January 29th by the US. Department of the Interior. A face-off is expected Friday, February 13th, as the Indian Nations and supporters will defend Ward Valley with peaceful, dignified and direct protest.

The Colorado River Native Nations Alliance of the Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Cocopah, and Colorado River Indian Tribes, along with environmental activists, are assembling on the site of a proposed nuclear dump at Ward Valley in anticipation of the attempt by the Department to close the area and commence drilling. Testing by state and federal governments would desecrate sacred Indian lands and destroy critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise.

The Indian Nations are furious that the Interior Department totally ignored tribal and environmental concerns and has breached its fiduciary responsibility to protect their environmental and trust resources. "The Tribes have opposed the dump since the beginning, and we can tolerate no further damage to Ward Valley," said Steve Lopez, spokesperson for the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe and the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance. "We demand that President Clinton uphold Environmental Justice Executive Orders and stop the dump now."

Governor Pete Wilson and the nuclear industry plan to bury long-lived and highly dangerous radioactive wastes, mostly from nuclear power plants, in shallow unlined dirt trenches above an aquifer, eighteen miles from the Colorado River. U. S. Ecology's similar nuclear waste dump in Beatty, Nevada, has already been found to be leaking severely. Ward Valley is 22 miles west of Needles, California, off the Water Road exit from Interstate 40.