Western Shoshone Nation receipt of solar panels is first step towards locally run energy systems, serves as a model of alternative energy development in a desert region, and is another step towards environmental justice for Native peoples.

Date:   10/17/2005 2:04:20 AM ( 19 y ago)

Article from: Manataka American Indian Council, Smoke Signal Newsletter, Volume VII Issue 10 OCTOBER 2005 http://www.manataka.org/page872.html#Ecology%20Front


Ecology Front

Solar Energy Moves into Western Shoshone Territory in Nevada


--Honor the Earth, in coordination with Solar Energy International, the Western Shoshone Defense Project, American Spirit Productions and the Battle Mountain Band of Te-Moak Western Shoshone will provide free training and installation of a solar photovoltaic system in the heart of Western Shoshone territory near Elko, Nevada.

Solar panels and energy efficient systems will serve to power the ranch home of Mary and Carrie Dann, two Western Shoshone grandmothers. The Dann sisters are central to the Western Shoshone quest for environmental justice, treaty rights and sovereignty, having worked on the front-line of these issues for more than forty years.

Participants of the training will be provided with certification in solar energy installation, which is the first step toward the promotion of locally run energy systems and economic development for Native communities. The installation will also act as a pro-active model of alternative energy development in a desert region whose tremendous solar potential has been largely untapped. Most importantly, the project will serve as a beacon of safe, clean energy possibilities in an area slated for housing the most deadly garbage created by humankind: high-level nuclear waste.

Yucca Mountain, Nevada, a cultural site in Western Shoshone territory, is lined up to be a federal nuclear waste repository. More than 70,000 metric tons of radioactive fuel rods would be stored in the mountain if it opens in 2012. The Western Shoshone Nation, the state of Nevada, its citizenry and its Congressional delegation all overwhelmingly oppose the dump and have fought against it for decades. (The Western Shoshone Nation filed suit against the waste proposal on March 4, 2005 asserting that the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley allows only specified uses of the land - and nuclear waste transportation and storage is not one of them. Hearing on request for injunction is April 27th.) Critics of the Yucca Mountain repository point to the seismic instability of the site and the glaring health and safety issues related to transporting 90,000 shipments of lethal nuclear waste by truck and train on major interstates and railroads to Nevada.

Honor the Earth's Executive Director Winona LaDuke announced the photovoltaic project saying, "We believe Nevada and Western Shoshone territory should have solar power, not nuclear waste."

The Western Shoshone people have suffered vast environmental injustices, ranging from the impact of atomic fall-out from over 900 nuclear detonations in the Nevada Test Site to gold mining throughout their region. "This project represents a positive alternative to what could be in Western Shoshone territory, rather than tapping our hot springs or filling our mountain with nuclear waste" said Carrie Dann. "We want our future as Western Shoshone people to be one that is in keeping with our cultural and spiritual respect for the environment, and sustainability for the future generations."

Long-time Western Shoshone activist Virginia Sanchez agrees. "We've spent our lives opposing nuclear testing and nuclear waste and want to see an alternative for our children," she says.


Native America has historically borne the brunt of environmental injustices in relation to energy policy. Uranium mines and nuclear waste dumps, huge coal-fired power plants and dams scar our land, air, water, and peoples. Native Communities are also, ironically, ten times more likely to be without electricity than most Americans.

Honor the Earth and Solar Energy International with their partners hope to make the Dann Ranch installation a model solar project to be replicated in rural and Native communities in Nevada and elsewhere. "We're at the beginning of a new energy age," explained Winona LaDuke. "As Native peoples we don't want to be at the end of the nuclear and fossil fuel energy economies. We want to be at the beginning of the renewable and hydrogen economy. The Western Shoshone Nation and the Dann Sisters represent hope for our future."

For More Information, see http://www.honorearth.org , http://www.solarenergy.org and http://www.wsdp.orgc

Nuclear Waste--Guaranteed! http://curezone.com/blogs/m.asp?f=309&i=83TRUST THE GOVERNMENT? EPA guarantees that nuclear waste storage site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada will have limited radiation releases for ONE MILLION YEARS! Who's gonna be around that long to make sure health standards are met?


 

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