When stuck with tonnes of nuclear waste and a highly contentious disposal plan, the Bush administration has shown once again that their method of dealing doesn't rely on politicking and concessions. Instead, they've side-stepped a political stalemate over a Yucca Mountain, Nevada, dump site by green-lighting a privately-owned company's bid to plant the waste on Utah's Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation.

While Utah's officials are standing alongside environmentalists in their vow to continue fighting the highly radioactive waste from coming into their state, the fact that the government is no longer debating the issue will likely set them back. Lawyers for the Private Fuel Storage LLC, the benefactors of the $3.1-billion (U.S.) disposal deal, successfully argued that the public could have little input in the matter, as it is wholly between themselves and the sovereign tribe. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed, and granted Private Fuel Storage a license to build their facility.

The agreement has also divided the small Skull Valley Goshutes, some of whose 130 members would rather not see everlasting poison fouling their sacred grounds.

» Scott Saxon