The C.E.R.E. Project: Native American Concerns at Selected Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Sites Undergoing Environmental Restoration. William Serban, Department of Political Science, Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana 70125
One component of the Consortium for Environmental Risk Evaluation (CERE) research project during 1994-1995 was a study of the documented public concerns of four Native American tribes living proximate to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) nuclear weapons installations at Hanford (Washington state) and the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL). The CERE study shows that there is a scarcity of systematic study about Native Americans and risk assessment. Research results show that tribal nations have a unique government-to-government relationship with federal regulators as well as concerns about tribal, safety, culture and future land use that differ significantly from other stakeholders. This presentation will focus on four discrete issues: (1) concerns common to the Nez Perce, Shoshone-Bannock, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla, and Yakima tribal nations; (2) concerns unique to each tribe; (3) the future direction of relations between DOE and tribal nations; and (4) the special protocols that researchers and investigators must employ with tribal nations.