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[source: NativeNews; Sat, 12 Feb 2000 12:09:23]

Huge Indian land giveback deal headed to Congress
By Leon Drouin Keith
Associated Press
2/12/2000 04:14

LA VERNE, Calif. (AP) A deal poised to become one of the
biggest federal returns of Indian land in U.S. history now
awaits Congressional approval.

Utah, federal and tribal officials signed an agreement on
Friday that would return 84,000 acres to the Northern Ute
tribe as part of a deal to clean up millions of tons of
uranium waste leaking into the Colorado River. Federal
officials announced the pact in January.

No immediate health risk has been identified for 25 million
water users in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah. But
Southern California water officials say there is enough
long-term potential risk to remove the 40-foot-high,
150-acre pile.

"It makes a whole lot more sense to just keep it out," said
Phillip Pace, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District's
board of directors.

The agreement was signed on Friday at a water plant 25 miles
east of Los Angeles because water district officials had
lobbied heavily to remove the pile after the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission issued a plan to drain and cap the
tailings on site.

The land, believed to contain oil-rich shale deposits, was
given to the Utes in 1882. But in 1916, on the eve of the
nation's entry into World War I, the federal government took
it back to create a reserve supply of oil for the Navy
fleet. The reserve was never tapped.

The tailings are the byproduct of a mine that operated from
1956 to 1984. More than 57,600 gallons of water leach every
year from the tailings, releasing high levels of uranium and
other pollutants, according to federal studies.

Under the agreement, half of the estimated $300 million
cleanup costs will be absorbed by the federal government
because more than 50 percent of the uranium mined there was
used in weapons programs.

The Utes will pay an estimated $80 million to $100 million
toward the cleanup and provide added protection to the 75
miles of the Green River that form the reservation's western
boundary.

© Copyright 2000 Boston Globe Electronic Publishing, Inc.

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