Indians Protest Nev. Nuclear Dump

Members of the Western Shoshone tribe gathered at the entrance to the Nevada Test Site Saturday to protest the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

Nevada’s Paiute and Western Shoshone tribes have staunchly opposed the government’s plans to dispose of nuclear waste on their native lands.

About 30 Western Shoshone members, nine of whom ran a 250-mile relay from their reservation in central Nevada to the Nevada Test Site, were joined by about 100 Yucca Mountain protesters.

“My legs were feeling it, but it was spiritual and uplifting,” Santiago Lozada of Davis, Calif., said of the relay. “I felt the sorrow of our ancestors.”

The tribe prayed, sang and danced at a “peace camp” outside the Nevada Test Site entrance.

The group planned to camp overnight and then Yucca protesters will cross the boundary line of the Nevada Test Site today.

“There are medicine rocks and artifacts on the top of the mountain and in caves,” said Johnnie Bobb, tribe spiritual leader from Austin, Nev. “Now we can’t even go in there. They keep us out.”

The U.S. House on Wednesday overwhelmingly embraced President Bush’s decision to bury tens of thousands of tons of nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas.

The next showdown will come in the Senate, which must decide by July whether to override a Nevada veto of the project.