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Nuke Notes Revisited
WARD VALLEY
NEEDS YOU NOW!
by Patrick Diehl
| Save Ward Valley 107 F Street Needles CA 92363 Phone: (760) 326-6267 Fax: (760) 326-6268 E-mail:swv1@ctaz.com |
It's happening! The Colorado River Native Nations Alliance and the Save Ward Valley Coalition are calling on activists everywhere to come defend Ward Valley. The Department of the Interior (DOI) is about to move to evict the protest camp that has stood on the site of the proposed radwaste dump since October, 1995. DOI wants to drill and trench to test for the presence of tritium underground, and the camp is in the way.
Our answer? No, we won't move! The land is sacred to the Lower Colorado River tribes-we will not permit it to be further desecrated by drilling and trenching and scraping off. The land is critical habitat for the threatened desert tortoise, which is also sacred to the tribes. We will protect the tortoise from harm. There should be no radwaste facility of any kind in Ward Valley, and especially not the sort of facility, with its unlined trenches, that the nuclear power industry wants.
The dump was a bad idea from the start. It should have been dropped long ago. We say, drop it now! There is no need for more testing. A real-time test was already done, with real nuclear waste, at the Beatty, Nevada dump. In fewer than 40 years, tritium from the dump traveled down through desert soil all the way to groundwater, over 360 feet below the surface.
Dumps leak. The testing the government wishes to carry out will provide incomplete information about how fast a leak might travel. But when one is dealing with radioisotopes like plutonium 239, deadly for at least 250,000 years, no leak is slow enough. And even a dump that never leaked would still be a desecration of sacred land and an assault on the desert tortoise.
So come to Needles, CA and help stop the Ward Valley dump for good! If you can't come to Needles, then help organize an action in your own community or near it, or help organize logistical support for the Ward Valley action. Send money. Call your elected representative (especially, if you live in California, call Senator Diane Feinstein). Spread the word to neighbors and friends.
For the latest information, to make donations, to volunteer, to request a ride to Needles, or to offer space for riders in your vehicle, call the Save Ward Valley office at (760) 326-6267. If you can come and join the action, either as a supporter or as someone willing to risk arrest, check in at the Save Ward Valley office when you arrive. We will try to keep the office staffed round the clock once the action is imminent and then during the action.
The office is at 107 F Street in Needles. Take the J Street exit; proceed east on J St to Broadway; turn right on Broadway; proceed four blocks south; turn left on F St; the office is on the right, next to "La Familia" restaurant, facing the south side of the park in front of the old, abandoned railroad station.
After the check-in, you will be sent to the staging area in town for orientation and training. Non-violence trainings will be ongoing; they are essential for those wishing to participate in the action. They will cover everything from the basics to the latest in blockading technology.
Anyone who comes to Needles should bring:
Respect and do not touch the desert tortoise.
The hour is here. Help however you can. Act now, BEFORE the land is transferred and the bulldozers are brought in to build the dump! See you in Ward Valley.
Patrick Diehl (Save Ward Valley)
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