James McConkie
Attorney/Nuclear Waste Storage Opponent

Jim McConkie was a central figure in the formation of the first organized public opposition to the proposal by Private Fuel Storage to create a temporary nuclear waste storage site on the reservation lands of the Skull Valley Band of the Goshute Indian tribe. He helped organize rallies in opposition to the proposal, and helped organize a public awareness campaign. While his organizational work is still evident, organized public opposition to the storage facility has undergone changes in leadership during 2001.

An attorney, and previously a candidate for public office, McConkie was interviewed in his Salt Lake City office by program Producer Ken Verdoia.

Ken Verdoia: So let's begin with the point where something triggers your personal involvement. What triggers your involvement in this Skull Valley radioactive waste plan?

James McConkie: It's almost accidental. I'm coming to work everyday. I'm listening to the radio and this whole issue penetrates my consciousness. Like all of us, I'm focused on law, I'm focused on cases and I'm busy. And I keep hearing about bringing in temporary storage of a very dangerous substance close to large metropolitan areas. And I start talking to my friends and I just say, "What do you think about this? Isn't anybody doing something about this? Isn't anybody concerned about this?" And the answer is, "Well doesn't seem like there is." And so it just so happened, as a matter of serendipity, I guess, that the Indians, some of the Indians on the Goshute reservation and some other Indians came to see me in my office and I agreed to see them. I happen to be getting into the political campaign as well, which made me kind of a target, in terms of if you what to see somebody that may be interested, who might be getting into politics, well you know, Jim's getting involved here.

They came to talk to me and by the time they finished I thought about what I would do if they asked me, and they said, "Jim, what would you suggest we do?" and I said, "Well, what I would do is I would try and make this a mainstream issue. I would do that by getting people who are well respected in both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. I would mold them into a board so that you have legitimacy and then I would make their point of view known through a new group and we named it Citizens Against Radioactive Waste. And then I would go out and stir things up and I would put pressure on the governor, on the Legislature, on others to become more visibly active." And that was our goal. And they said well we can't really do that very well, could you? And I searched my conscious and I said, even though I'm busy this is something that needs to be done. Nobody else is doing it. Yes, I will try.

Verdoia: What's your area of greatest concern? Well, of all the myriad of issues associated with this is there one that routinely rises to the top for you?

McConkie: Well personally, I think they've fast tracked this. That they've overlooked certain safety considerations. And I think that something that they say is temporary is going to become permanent. You know, if you compare what they're trying to do here with what they're doing at Yucca Mountain. At Yucca Mountain they're going to store it underground. There's been a tremendous amount of research, a tremendous amount of opportunity to look into various dangers and public concerns. In terms of the project here on the Goshute reservation, it was simply fast tracked and so we've reached a point where they want to place it here without an opportunity for a real airing of the issues, and we seem to just accept the proposition that even though it's not safe in Nevada to store it underground, it's okay to store it above ground in Utah in these casks, close to large metropolitan areas. And so I think that's folly. That's a real concern.

The other concern is a broad policy concern about Utah, in general, and where we're going. As a matter of public policy, we don't believe that we should become known as "the garbage dump" for people in the United States. We think it's important that each state maintain its own refuse problems but we don't want to begin, as a matter of policy, to invite all kinds of different waste to be stored in our desert. We want to be known for clean air, for skiing, as a place to come where the environment is safe. I mean, that's the image that we want for Utah because we think it's a better image and in the long run it's better for our citizens and it's better for the development of the state.

Next