by Simone Anter, Staff Attorney and Hanford Program Director
The Hanford Nuclear Site poses one of the longest lived threats to the Columbia River and all of the people, plants, and animals who depend on it. Within Columbia Riverkeeper’s Hanford work, we often talk about preparing the next generation for the nuclear legacy they are inheriting. To this end, we closely partner with the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation’s (Yakama Nation) Environmental Restoration/Waste Management (ERWM) program to conduct education and outreach at local schools and community and Tribal events on and near the Yakama Nation reservation in Toppenish, WA.
Why partner with Yakama Nation?
The Yakama Nation reservation is located about 50 miles from Hanford and on their ancestral homelands. Tribal members are uniquely impacted by the presence of the nuclear site, as it impacts Treaty rights and the health and welfare of the Tribe.
What’s ERWM’s Role in the Cleanup?
Yakama Nation’s ERWM program, the program tasked with all things Hanford, plays an active role in ensuring that the federal government is doing its job when it comes to clean up. ERWM technical staff reviews and drafts comments and plans for clean up, cultural staff documents and tracks impacts to those important resources, outreach staff goes above and beyond in engaging Tribal members and the community in clean up, and staff preps Tribal leadership who engages in consultation on the site, to name a few things tasked to the program.
So when we say we are working to prepare the next generation, what does that mean?
In one context, it means supporting youth to understand how to navigate the confusing world of Hanford, Tribal-government relations, and the complexities of Superfund cleanup. In pursuit of this, Columbia Riverkeeper and ERWM sponsored four young people to attend the spring 2024 State & Tribal Government Working Group (STWG) meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico with ERWM staff for a crash course.
“STGWG is composed of policy-level representatives of states and tribes that host Department of Energy (Energy) facilities or are otherwise impacted by activities at Energy facilities.
Its composition offers a unique perspective on issues such as long-term stewardship, Tribal issues, transportation planning, nuclear waste and materials disposition, and deactivation and decommissioning activities.”
From left to right: Bella, Tamisa, Jeff Avery the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Environmental Management, Leilani, Noah, and Laurene Contreras at STGWG
Leilani, Tamisa, Noah, and Bella, were chosen by ERWM to be student representatives of Yakama Nation. They were chosen as part of our work to first get young people interested in Hanford and second, prepare them with political knowledge and skills to become national and Tribal leaders. The STGWG meeting offered the students an opportunity to engage on a National scale along-side Tribal, state, and local leaders to help address contamination issues facing Indian Country.
At STGWG, the students participated in a sacred site workshop, heard from local Tribal students about the issues impacting their community, and toured the Los Alamos site and Puye Cliff Dwellings.
Upon their return, the students were invited by Yakama Nation’s Tribal Council to present on their experience. They also presented at a community forum event. Tamisa and Noah presented their experiences in real-time, while Leilani and Bella exercised their digital skills in pre-recorded remarks, check those out below!
