Prairy Island Religious Task Force

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Three, Number Two
November/December 1993

PRAIRIE ISLAND RELIGIOUS TASK FORCE PROTESTS ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM

In 1991 the Mdewakanton Dakota people, whose ancestral home is Prairie Island, a sandy island in the Mississippi River flood plain, sent a call for help to the faith communities in the Twin Cities via the St. Paul Area Council of Churches Department of Indian Work.

Since the 1960's Northern States Power Co. (NSP) has operated a two reactor nuclear power plant on the site of the sacred Dakota burial ground on Prairie Island, immediately adjacent to the reservation. NSP now wants to build a new high-level radioactive waste dump 700 meters from the reservation, to store spent fuel rods outdoors in large steel casks. NSP, which supplies about 25% of Minnesota's electric power, wants the dump next to the plant because existing capacity is filling up and there is no other place to send this waste. Unless older spent fuel is removed from the pool to make room for fresh spent fuel, NSP claims the reactors must shut down in 1995. Then NSP would lose millions of dollars.

From another perspective, storing more nuclear waste above ground using untested technology could increase the health hazards in the Indian community and surrounding towns.

If the nuclear waste dump is blocked in the 1994 Legislative session, a nation-wide "domino effect" could be triggered that would cripple the nuclear power industry. This would also open the door to the conservation and renewable energy options that are socially, economically and environmentally preferable. If allowed, storage could become permanent .

The St. Paul Area Council of Churches responded to the Mdewakanton community by organizing an informational bus tour to Prairie Island. An outcome of that event was the formation of an ecumenical task force to work with the Indian community against allowing an expanded nuclear storage site on the Island. Although the denominational judicatories have refused to take a position on the PI nuclear waste issue, the task force, which includes representatives of the Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist, and United Church of Christ churches, presented an amicus curiae brief in court in 1993, arguing that approval for the waste storage is a legislative matter . The task force will continue to work for Native American justice issues, and for the defeat of any bills allowing the storage facility.

For more information contact Linda MacRunnels, Chairperson Prairie Island Religious Task Force, 887 W.Arlington Ave. St. Paul MN 55117, (612)489-9675.