Letter: Shoshone lawsuit good way to keep nuclear waste out

Monday, March 14, 2005 | 8:57 a.m.

I read the March 7 Las Vegas Sun story by Jace Radke concerning the lawsuit filed against the federal government on behalf of the Western Shoshone Nation.

The suit references the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, signed by the Western Shoshone leaders and the United States government.

The treaty does two things -- it identifies the boundaries of the Shoshone lands and gives the United States rights to specific activities within the lands. Yucca Mountain is within the boundaries, and nothing within the treaty would give the government the right to bury nuclear waste there. The suit seeks to stop the Energy Department's work on Yucca Mountain.

This lawsuit, filed by the Shoshone Nation's lawyer, Robert Hager, may actually be the miraculous opportunity that we have all been waiting for to keep nuclear waste out of Yucca Mountain and away from Nevada. The issue is the validity of the Ruby Valley treaty, the credibility of agreements between the indigenous people and the federal government.

The issue is important to us in so many ways. Let's get behind the treaty and the Shoshone Nation!

MICKI JAY