http://www.shundahai.org/Corbin_Harney.

htm
I was praying to the water and the spirit of the water told me, Pretty soon, Im going to loo!
li!e "lean water, but no one is going to use me. It was a "rypti" message until he went to
#a$a!hstan and saw water that loo!ed "lean but was undrin!able be"ause it was "ontaminated
with radiation. %o him, water itself has life: &ll the water that "omes from the 'other (arth,
thats her blood.).
%he 'other (arth pro*ides us with food, pro*ides us with air, pro*ides us with water. +e, the
people, are going to ha*e to put our thoughts together, to sa*e our planet here. +e*e only got
one water, one air, one 'other (arth.)
In*o!ing the ,pirits of -ur &n"estors:
the federal .ureau of /and 'anagement is holding hearings on the proposal for a nu"lear waste
dump at a pla"e referred to on maps as +ard 0alley and "alled ,ilyaye &hease 1/and of
'es2uite and ,and3 by the 'oha*e4 Indians. Plans were to bury long5li*ed radioa"ti*e wastes
from nu"lear power plants in shallow, unlined tren"hes, abo*e an a2uifer, 46 miles from the
Colorado 7i*er, in "riti"al habitat for the endangered desert tortoise and on land "onsidered
sa"red by the fi*e Colorado 7i*er Indian tribes.,pea!ers are allow three minutes to e8press their
*iews on a proposal that would impa"t the ne8t 49,::: generations;<ue"han .ird ,ong singer
+ally &ntone has assembled a group of singers and dan"ers. %he women elders are dressed in
traditional regalia of bla"! and red shawls and dresses, diamonds dan"e on the hems of
their s!irts.) 4
%he group begins to sing, their *oi"es a""ompanied by gourd rattles in a musi"
that has endured the "enturies. %he songs tell of the an"ient =ourneys of their
spirit mentors through a lands"ape that is at the same time earthly and symboli".
Can you understand what we are doing here> %his is our land, our sa"red
lands, our an"estral lands. +e ha*e been pla"ed here by our Creator to prote"t
the ri*er. If you poison the land, you poison us. +e ha*e been here sin"e time
immemorial.)) 9
,torys"ape Pro=e"t has assisted other indigenous "ommunities by re"ording "ulture bearers who
are the storehouses of language, story and song with the goal of tea"hing the songs to a new
generation and using them to prote"t their traditional lands;+e as!ed 'o=a*e elder /lewellyn
.arra"!man, *i"e5"hairman of the %ribe, about the importan"e of the songs. %he songs help to
prote"t our lands. %hey are a map of our sa"red territory. +e sung the songs at our gatherings to
edu"ate people and to prote"t oursel*es. (a"h song tells a story. -ur Creation ,ongs "ome from
,pirit 'ountain and tells about the &lmighty. +e will always be under atta"! by the federal
go*ernment, we will always need to pro*e that this is our land. ?ust li!e the older days when they
displa"ed us.) ,ongs are the maps, libraries and spiritual hub for indigenous "ultures around the
world. %he geographi" aspe"t of the songs are multi5dimensional in purpose, meaning and le*els
of reality. 'o=a*e .ird ,ongs and Creation ,ongs are both real and metaphori"al maps of
an"estral territory that lead the an"ient tra*eler to pla"es of food, water, medi"ines and
sa"redness where tea"hings reside in the ro"!s. %he Creation ,ongs tra*el from &*i #wa 'e
1,pirit 'ountain3 lo"ated at 't. @ewberry, @e*ada to &*i #wahath 1Areasy 'ountain3 at ,outh
'ountain, &ri$ona and follow the story of the spirit mentors of the 'o=a*e people. %ra*els along
song routes were pilgrimages to pla"es of power and ad*entures into different realms. Cahuilla
.ird ,ongs tell of a legendary =ourney that happens in mythi" time and in abstra"t spa"e.
-pinions about the true meaning of the songs differ among Cahuilla singers and range from a
three time re*olution around the earth to *oyages that ta!e pla"e around aboriginal territory. B
%he intimate dan"e between land and "ulture is still pra"ti"ed in the @orth &meri"an ,outhwest,
where pat"hes of wildlands and po"!ets of nati*e peoples sur*i*e. Cederal land use poli"ies and
de"isions ha*e often failed to "omprehend this "onne"tion, or ha*e sought to sub*ert it. %he loss
of language is an intimate destroyer, *anishing story, meaning, per"eption and spiritual
!nowledge. Cor people with oral traditions, the loss of language is li!e a fire in the library
lea*ing pie"es of an intri"ate pu$$le. .ut somehow, language, stories and songs endure. Culture
bearers, tea"hers, artists and ethnographi" re"ordings pro*ide a map that new generations "an
sing gi*ing new meanings to old traditions, new life to an"estral guides. %he songs des"ribe the
personal, the natural and supernatural lands"ape in a multi5dimensional reality that ,alt ,ong
singers say enable them to fly from pla"e to pla"e. /i!e the hot spings at Poo Ha .ah flowing
through desert ro"!, the songs nourish healing and transformation. %he last four ,alt ,ongs aid
the spirit into the ne8t world 55 a sa"red ritual performed for one and as a ser*i"e to the whole.
%oday the songs are pro*iding the gift of unity, "onne"ting the past with the present, uniting
peoples, people with the land, and the land with our future. 6
In 4D6: the E.,. Congress ena"ted legislation that transferred responsibility to indi*idual states
for the storage of low5le*el radioa"ti*e waste 1//7+3. In 4D69 and 4D6B, the state of California
ena"ted emergen"y legislation empowering the Fepartment of Health ,er*i"es 1FH,3 to set up
regulations go*erning //7+ disposal) +ard 4
In 4D6G E,( began its site sele"tion pro"ess, based on the preliminary sele"tions prepared by
FH,. E,( enlisted the assistan"e of the /eague of +omen 0oters to "oordinate Citi$en &"tion
Committees in the three "ounties 1,an .ernardino, 7i*erside and Inyo3 where the 46 preliminary
possibilities were lo"ated. +ard 0alley in ,an .ernardino County was sele"ted as the primary
"andidate for the dump in 'ar"h 4D66) +ard 4
.e"ause the +ard 0alley site is lo"ated on federal land under the "ontrol of the .ureau of /and
'anagement 1./'3 and be"ause the @ational /ow /e*el 7adioa"ti*e +aste Poli"y &"t of 4D6:
and amendments of 4D6H re2uired radioa"ti*e waste dumps to be sited on state land,
arrangements had to be made to transfer ownership of the +ard 0alley site to the state of
California. In late 4D6D and early 4DD:, FH,, the ,tate /ands Commission 1,/C3 and ./'
"ondu"ted appraisals of the land and rea"hed a preliminary agreement to "omplete the transfer
*ia ,/C.) +ard 4
most &meri"ans a""ept the "ausal lin!
between a physi"al en*ironmental "ondition5e8treme aridity5and "ommonsense)
images of barrenness and waste; .ut it is a mista!e to "on"lude that these relati*ely
unpopulated
and unde*eloped lands"apes ne"essitate an imagery of a barren wasteland.) H4D
Furing the first third of the "old war 14DH:54DGB3, the E.,. go*ernment a"ti*ely
promoted the western Areat .asin as a lo"ation for weapons training and nu"lear
testing 1Aarreau 4D64I 0ale and 0ale 4D6DI Cran"a*iglia 9::B3. %he region met many
of the pra"ti"al re2uirements: isolation from ma=or population "entersI "lean, dry
airI and ample natural features for target pra"ti"e. &s ?effrey Fa*is 19::H3 points out
in his a""ount of nu"lear testing during roughly the same period at .i!ini &toll,
howe*er, the lo"ations sele"ted for su"h dangerous a"ti*ities re2uired that publi"
"onsent be se"ured by "onstru"ting them as distant, deserted, and marginal
nonpla"es.) %his pro"ess of othering entailed the symboli" separation of these
areas from the nations "ore in order to legitimi$e a"ti*ities the publi" might other5
wise re=e"t. Ao*ernment offi"ials emphasi$ed time and again how the Areat .asin
pro*ided the isolation and se"urity needed for nu"lear testing.) H94
-*er the se"ond
half of the twentieth "entury, Areat .asin lands"apes began to embody and there5
fore naturali$e this pronu"lear perspe"ti*e in an array of high5se"urity bombing
ranges, testing sites, air for"e bases, mountain pea!s destroyed during weapons5
training e8er"ises, and "raters resulting from underground nu"lear detonations 10ale
and 0ale 1989). %he apo"alypti" image of a nu"lear e8plosion5the mushroom "loud
rising from an illuminated desert floor5led Cran"a*iglia to "on"lude that su"h test5
ing helped perpetuate the image of nu"lear desolation JthatK "ame to be "onflated
with the desolate lands"ape of the Areat .asin) (2003,197). Frawing from the lit5
erature, images, and lands"apes asso"iated with the Plowshare Program, a general
label that "o*ers the E.,. go*ernments plan to use nu"lear e8plosions for the pur5
pose of resear"h and de*elopment, Cran"a*iglia shows that the otherworldly *isual
footage and do"umentation of nu"lear testing gal*ani$ed the publi" per"eption of
the Areat .asin as deta"hed from the rest of the Enited ,tates, an internal -rient
wherein nu"lear a"ti*ities "ould a"hie*e some measure of popular a""eptan"e.) H99
&llian"e for ,ound
@u"lear Poli"y and the @u"lear (nergy Institute ran a series of print and tele*ision
ad*ertisements in the states of swing senators on the ,enate (nergy and @atural
7esour"es Committee. Cull5page ad*ertisements in -regon, +ashington, and Fela5
ware showed a pristine mountain or seashore s"ene and as!ed readers whether they
would rather dispose of the waste lo"ally or in the remote @e*ada desert.) Lode
Island readers were shown an aerial photograph of an unpopulated desert with the
"aption, @u"lear waste is stored at a do$en lo"ations in @ew (ngland. It belongs
deep beneath Mu""a 'ountain, @e*ada.) &n ad*ertisement in the Washington Post
featured a similarly desolate image of Mu""a 'ountain itself, with the statement
that it only ma!es sense) to dispose of spent nu"lear fuel at one remote, spe"ially
designed fa"ility.) &t a summer 2002 "losed5door lun"heon in +ashington, F.C.
attended by 7epubli"an senators, ,enator /arry Craig 175Idaho3, an ad*o"ate of
the Mu""a 'ountain fa"ility who also sits on the (nergy Committee, ga*e ea"h sena5
tor a pro5Mu""a flash"ard.) Printed by the nu"lear industry, the "ard des"ribed the
site as one safe, "entral, remote repository in the @e*ada desert.) &t roughly the
same time, pro5Mu""a 7epresentati*e ?oe #nollenberg 175'i"higan3 wrote se*eral
opinion pie"es for the "ongressional newspaper Roll Call des"ribing the site as re5
mote,) barren,) and desolate.)) H9B
the Areat .asin possesses great
spiritual signifi"an"e for many people. %he most ob*ious e8ample would be the
regions indigenous inhabitants5among them the Paiute and +estern ,hoshone5
whose so"ieties are predi"ated on the ability to find and "onser*e s"ar"e water and
other resour"es. Cor many indigenous people the basin lands"ape is ali*e, and not
only in the animisti" sense that e*ery natural ob=e"t possesses a soul. %he a"ti*ities
of an"estors and mythi"al "reatures are "ontinually reli*ed as spiritual leaders inter5
pret !ey lands"ape features in those stories5"a*es, mountain pea!s, geologi"al for5
mations, springs. @owhere is this per"eptual differen"e more e*ident than at Mu""a
'ountain, whi"h is "onsidered sa"red by the +estern ,hoshone but desolate and
barren by ad*o"ates of the repository.) H9N
Mu""a 'ountain is only the latest episode in a long struggle o*er the meaning of
the Areat .asin in &meri"an "ulture. +hat ma!es this "ase uni2ue, howe*er, is
that the printed news medium has played an espe"ially powerful role in shaping
and disseminating the imagery that a""ompanies arguments about the regions
*alue.) H9H
/i!e other forms of representation, the news media appeal to ta"it "ultural un5
derstandings in order to "onstru"t a reality in whi"h news e*ents o""ur 1G %uathail
4DD93. %his pro"ess is !nown as framing.) & frame is an underlying perspe"ti*e or
guide that ma!es the news storys "ontent understandable and rele*ant to a "ulturally
targeted readership 1Aamson 4D6DI #la! 4DDN3. Crames are subte8ts about *alues and
ideologi"al prin"iples that underpin spe"ifi" =ournalisti" des"riptions. %hey are inter5
te8tual be"ause their intelligibility depends on ta"it referen"es to other ideas, "on5
"epts, and sour"es of !nowledge e8ternal to the te8t itself 1.arnes and Fun"an 4DD93.
Crames are "ompelling pre"isely be"ause they "onne"t news e*ents to a broader so"ial
understanding in whi"h "ertain *alues and interpretations are pri*ileged o*er others.
Crames are "ommonly used to "onstru"t meanings for pla"es.) H9G
%he re*iew of the Areat .asin literature, "ongres5
sional debates, and publi"ity "ampaigns presented abo*e suggested that pronu"lear
imagery relies primarily on four interrelated des"riptors: remote,) desolate,) bar5
ren,) and isolated.) ,piritual imagery, by "ontrast, "on"eptuali$es the region as
sa"red.)) H9O
three distin"t frames used
by =ournalists to situate Mu""a 'ountain: a spatially abstra"t frame that lo"ates the
site as a geologi"al ridge northwest of /as 0egasI a frame that draws from pronu"lear,
"old war dis"ourse about the site as arid, remote, desolate, and barrenI and an al5
most imper"eptible frame that depi"ts the site as sa"red; %he spatially abstra"t frame
was used most often in California newspapers; Con*ersely,
the "old war frame and its asso"iated des"riptors5desert,) remote,) desolate,)
isolated,) and barren)Nominated the non5@e*ada newspapers) H96
=ournalisti" framing of Mu""a 'ountain through "old war dis"ourse had distin"t rhe5
tori"al effe"ts. Cirst, editorials in fa*or of the site "onsistently appealed to pronu"lear
imagery as an indispensable element of rhetori"al strategy. A Boston Herald pie"e
asserted that the mountain is isolated on the *ast go*ernment reser*ation where
hundreds of nu"lear bombs were e8ploded during half a "entury of weapons test5
ing) 1.oston Herald 2002). %he Areat .asin, by e8tension, was a lands"ape destined
to host nu"lear material, thereby posing little ris! to @e*ada.) &n editorial from
the Omaha World-Herald used similar imagery to transform @e*adas protests into
an easily denigrated "ase of @I'.Mism. -f all the regions in the Enion, its editors
asserted, the Areat .asin and its Mu""a ridge were simply the most appropriate for
waste disposalI @e*ada should therefore a""ept the radioa"ti*e material. @e*ada
has already done a lot,) the editors "on"luded, being the site of open5air and un5
derground nu"lear weapons testing. .ut it is well5suited, without danger or serious
in"on*enien"e, to ta!e this additional step for the "ommon good 1-maha +orld5
Herald 2002). & more ta"it approa"h was to suggest that the attra"ti*eness of the
newspapers home region depended on relo"ating nu"lear waste to the apo"alypti"
lands"apes of the Areat .asin. &s an editorial from the Oregonian put it: 7emo*al
of this waste is essential to preser*ing -regons reputation as a "lean and naturally
beautiful state) 1?ay 2002). In this *ision, the Areat .asin plays the unfortunate but
ne"essary role of ensuring the beauty of other parts of the "ountry.) HB:
attempts in newspa5
pers to "riti2ue the "old war "onstru"tion of the Areat .asin as a desolate,
unpopulated region isolated from the rest of &meri"a; %his strategy too! two forms,
the first of whi"h was to interrogate the pronu"lear metaphor of remoteness; &s one @e*ada
resi5
dent wrote in a rebuttal to an editorial printed in the Washington Post: %he [Posts]
editorial says that Mu""a 'ountain is remote, but in fa"t the mountain is D: miles
from /as 0egas. +hy not put the waste dump D: miles from the Fistri"t of Colum5
bia> Im sure theres a site or two in the ,henandoah 0alley that would be =ust as
suitable as Mu""a); the rhetori"al strategy is to remo*e the
Mu""a nu"lear waste fa"ility from its "onstru"tion in an apo"alypti" lands"ape and
pla"e it in abstra"t spa"e; -ne letter writer made this point by
as!ing, Fo you want the &po"alypse to dri*e past your house>) HB4
%he se"ond way in whi"h =ournalists "hallenged the "old war "onstru"tion was
to humani$e the pla"e; ran"hers and others who
thri*e on this remote lands"ape fear the day when the mu"h5ballyhooed, radioa"5 ti*e glow
train, as they "all it, "omes rumbling o*er the ridge) HB9
%he +estern ,hoshone ha*e been parti"ularly a"ti*e in opposing the dump be"ause
it en"roa"hes on tribal lands. %he nation argues that the 46GB %reaty of 7uby 0alley
ne*er e8tinguished their title to some 4G million a"res of traditional land but, in5
stead, simply granted safe passage for whites through the territory. In 4DOG, the
&meri"an Indian Claims Commission ta"itly a"!nowledged this interpretation when
it awarded the nation a payment of P9G million for surrender of the lands in 2ues5
tion. %he ,hoshone refused the payment, but the Interior Fepartment a""epted it
on their behalf. In 4D6H, the E.,. ,upreme Court used this "hain of e*ents5not the
original treaty5to rule against the ,hoshone "laim that they ne*er "eded the lands.
%he issue remains deadlo"!ed today.) HBB
%he stories that ha*e surfa"ed, howe*er, are powerful, be"ause they portray a
thoroughly humani$ed *ersion of the Areat .asin that "ounters popular per"ep5
tions. %he Reno Gazette-Journal issued a series of arti"les on the ,hoshone ,pirit
7un,) an annual e*ent during whi"h tribal members tra*el a 9No5mile en"ir"lement
of the @e*ada %est ,ite to ma!e *isible their opposition to the Mu""a 'ountain
pro=e"t. 7unners "arry an 65foot eagle staff an a*erage of NH miles ea"h day, followed
by others who plant willow bran"hes adorned with ribbon flags in the six ,hoshone
sa"red "olors. %he o""asion pro*ides an opportunity for aboriginal people to "om5
muni"ate their deep atta"hments to the land and thereby "hallenge interpretations
of the basin as a pla"e for waste.) HBB
%he Mu""a 'ountain debate, therefore, is not =ust an argument o*er geologi"al
suitability or transportation logisti"s but also a "ontemporary e8tension of the long5
term debate o*er the Areat .asins meaning in &meri"an "ulture. In this instan"e,
the printed news medium has ser*ed as a parti"ularly important *ehi"le for
rearti"ulating the regions *alue as the nations wasteland, although efforts to 2ues5
tion the regions remoteness and humani$e the pla"e are e*iden"e of a "hallenge to
this dominant *iew. In the final analysis, howe*er, the news5produ"tion pro"ess
and its stylisti" "on*entions wor! against more nuan"ed, grounded, and di*erse
interpretations and therefore suppress understanding the Areat .asin as anything
other than the nations nu"lear dumping ground.) HBH