All of these facilities surround the Goshute reservation. The Federal Government s activities have been particularly harmful. In the 1960 s, a nerve gas accident led to the death of 6,000 downwind sheep on the reservation. The Goshutes, not surprisingly, have not been terribly successful in attracting new businesses to the reservation. Few companies seek to build their offices within striking range of an errant Air Force missile.
Nobody wants to golf in a toxic zone.
With limited economic options, the Goshute tribe, led by Leon D. Bear, enthusiastically seek to bring the PFS facility to Utah. The nuclear companies need a temporary storage site because of delays in obtaining permission to build a permanent facility underneath Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The temporary facility would need to hold spent nuclear fuel rods for about 20 years. However, Utah state officials, accompanied by anti-nuclear and environmental activists, are vehemently fighting the project. Yet the Goshutes are an independent native American nation.