|
Michael Leavitt
Governor of Utah
Continued...
Verdoia: Is there a sense, for all of the opposition voiced
by you and other state officials, the opposition being expressed
in the public at large, that you're shooting paper bullets at
a speeding locomotive?
Gov. Leavitt: Well, I'm shooting every bullet I can muster,
at every target I can find when it comes to this matter. We're
going to use every legislative tool, every political tool, every
environmental tool, and every litigation tool that we can find
to keep this high level nuclear waste out of our state. It remains
hot for 10,000 years. We don't want it here. We don't want it
here now. We don't want it in the future. We don't ever want it
here.
Verdoia: Time and again the issue of Native American sovereignty
is brought forward. The ability of the tribal government to enter
into a contract with a private business concern without interference.
How do you view the issue of the sovereignty of the Skull Valley
Band and the Goshute Indians?
Gov. Leavitt: That sovereignty is very much in keeping
with the constitutional right that every citizen of this country
has for private property. And yet there are times when the good
of the collective has to come into play with respect to private
property rights. An example, we do have planning and zoning laws
in our country to prevent someone from putting a pig farm in the
middle of a metropolitan area. One might argue I own this property.
This is my property, I can do with it what I will, but what happens
on one persons property clearly has an impact on others, and therefore
we recognize that there are times when those conflict. Now I have
great respect for the sovereignty of the Goshute tribal community.
I recognize it, but I don't think it is an unlimited license to
do anything you want when you're 40 miles from your neighbors
and you're talking about putting high level nuclear waste there
that will last 10,000 years. It's the same principle.
Verdoia: The state could be perceived as insensitive to
the suffering of these people as they desperately seek their way
out of the poverty that's been created by governments that went
before. How do we address that?
Gov. Leavitt: I recognize that there is an argument that
could say you're preventing them from making a living on their
land. There are lots of times and places in society where, for
the good of the larger group, we recognize that we have to find
other ways of helping a small group. Again, I recognize the sovereignty
of this group but let's put it in perspective. This is 30 or 40
people who actually live there. We're talking about that by comparison
to the public safety of two million people. It isn't as though
we're unwilling to help them. We are. But I don't think this country
has actually had a good success in being able to take Tribal governments
and simply sustain them with financial handouts. We're prepared
to help them with education, with transportation, with finding
jobs, doing what we can to help them develop other kinds of economic
stimulus.
For example, there's the potential of using that area for a test
and training range for various propellants that, it was actually
used before and we'd like to help them get that lined up again.
But again, we're talking about 30 people here and this may not
be the best way and certainly not the only way in which to do
it. And I would also point out that I don't think the way that
they've gone about conducting this has necessarily been direct
or fair with us. They're not prepared to let us know anything
about the financial arrangements that they've developed. I think
when we get to the bottom of it we're going to find things have
not all been straight up and that there have been those who have
benefited from this on a personal basis and that in fact there
are the interests of the Goshute nation, themselves, has not always
been looked after as well as it should. I think the BIA has been,
is worthy of significant criticism in the way that they have dealt
with this issue. They have not been willing to be the "honestly
broker" between the tribe and others. They've not been willing
to supply information. They've not been as forthcoming, in my
judgment, as they should have. And that's harsh criticism, but
I direct it pointedly and with deliberance.
Verdoia: What about Private Fuel Storage itself? This
consortium of power companies that employ nuclear power. Some
in your administration have said PFS has done everything it can
to avoid public scrutiny. Fair criticism?
Gov. Leavitt: Absolutely a fair criticism. In fact, I
think they've been flat misleading at times. In one of their filings
to the Minnesota Public Service Commission, they indicate that
there's broad public support in Utah for this concept. Nothing
could be further from the truth. They've been unwilling to share
their agreements. They've been unwilling to share their financial
arrangements. What they've been willing to do was to put a substantial
amount of money into buying up everybody in their way. These are
people with a serious financial incentive but they've done it
in a way as to protect themselves from financial liability. They've
created a limited liability company. It has virtually no assets.
We don't know who the management of that will be long term. Even
some of the partners in the limited liability company are currently
in financial peril themselves.
That begins to give some real expression to the worry we have
about this. Who's going to be responsible for this 10,000 years
from now? Who is it that's going to be assuring that this is cared
for and why are they bringing it here when they have the capacity
where they produce it to keep it? This just doesn't pass the sniff
test and I don't think PFS has been straight forward. It isn't
like they came to us and said we want to do this. We want to work
through a regulatory process in a cooperative way. Everything's
been litigation. We've had to seek alternative ways of being able
to get in, to really understand what they want to do.
Previous | Next
|
