Feds, Fort Hall Indians Continue Nuke Waste Talks

Informal talks are continuing between the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and federal officials over conditions for future train loads of nuclear waste across eastern Idaho’s Fort Hall Reservation.

And the Energy Department has agreed to hold another public meeting to answer questions from tribal members about the waste shipments before the next train load is scheduled to reach the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory after Nov. 27.

“Our goal is to protect the land,” Tribal Vice Chairman Keith Tinno said. “We cannot go anywhere else if contamination happens.”

Federal agreement to formal negotiations last Friday and Saturday led to the lifting of last Tuesday’s six-hour blockade of the first train load of waste shipped under Gov. Phil Batt’s Oct. 16 agreement to allow 1,133 more shipments of waste into Idaho over 40 years in return for promises that nearly all waste at the INEL will be removed by the end of that period.

Because of those talks, three more train loads were allowed to cross the reservation last week.

The federal government apparently made an offer to the tribes on Friday and again Saturday, but it was not formally accepted. No more formal talks are scheduled, but Energy Department spokesman Brad Bugger said communication between the sides is continuing.