Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles met with a lobbyist for a nuclear waste storage facility after prodding from the White House, the Associated Press reports.

Records show that Griles met with the lobbyist to discuss Private Fuel Storage's plans to store up to 40,000 tons of radioactive waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in Utah. The November 2001 meeting came after the company pressed the White House for action on the issue.

More than a year later, Griles offered the tribe 26,800 acres of state and federal land and other concessions if the tribe dropped its plans. Former assistant secretary Neal McCaleb had met with the tribe around September 2002 to discuss the controversial waste facility.

The tribe's chairman, Leon Bear, who is under federal indictment for stealing tribal funds, signed an agreement to host the repository.

Get the Story:
White House help sought on N-dump (AP 6/29)

Relevant Links:
The Skull Valley Goshute Tribe - http://www.skullvalleygoshutes.org
Private Fuel Storage - http://www.privatefuelstorage.com

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