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Navtec, a nuclear power
company was building two nuclear power plants, one near St.
Mary's on the Yukon River and one on the Kuskokwim River
close to Bethel. They were designed to power all the
villages on the respective rivers. The St. Mary's region
extended from Russian Mission to Hooper Bay. The Bethel
region was from Aniak to Tuksuk Bay. The company officials
said these plants would get rid of all the fossil-fueled
generators and would also be more efficient and cost
less.
Navtec also wanted to set up
nuclear waste sites along the Y-K Delta to store the waste
from the power plants. Some of the sites chosen for the
waste were Marshall, Bethel, Hooper Bay and Aniak. They were
chosen because the company thought they had suitable land to
hold the nuclear waste and because they were pretty close to
the power stations themselves. Bethel would be the primary
holding facility. Although there was a problem with Bethel
and Hooper Bay because they were located
on the tundra and the waste
would soak into and pollute the land, they decided to build
them anyway. g build them anyway. r
The state and federal
government opposed the idea of Navtec building nuclear power
plants in the region because nuclear power was something new
to the natives and something might go wrong and cause a
nuclear catastrophe. It could also pollute the wetlands of
the Y-K Delta and kill a lot of wildlife and destroy their
habitat. The people and their local governments were also
against the building of the power plants and the waste sites
because they knew that nuclear power and the waste sites
would be very harmful to their way of life. It was the
regional Native corporation, Calista, that was for going
ahead with this because they would be running the plants and
earning all the profits at the same time. This caused a big
uproar between Calista and the local and state governments.
But Navtec proceeded with their plans anyway.
The villagers in the
proposed waste site areas were determined to stop the
construction, though, and tried to stop some of the Navtec
surveyors from coming to their villages and testing the
land. They knew the land wasn't suitable enough to hold the
nuclear waste. The surveyors went back and told the company
president, Zed Mack, what had happened, but he said they
would still go on with the projects. Some of his own workers
opposed the decision, saying it would lead to the worst
environmental disaster in history. But he fired the workers.
He said he didn't care just as long as the company made some
money. But he was trying to keep this aspect of the project
a secret because he didn't want the public to find
out.
But the public did find out
and once the word got out and the villagers voiced their
concern about their area being affected by the nuclear
plants and their waste sites, the President of the United
States and the Governor of Alaska both put a stop their
construction. Navtec was charged with several counts of
violating state and federal laws along with many
environmental laws. Zed Mack was fired and jailed for the
things he did and tried to do. After that the local village
councils and corporations made the decision to forbid any
construction of projects that would do harm to the people or
their surrounding environment.
Fred
Alstrom
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Marshall
Cultural Atlas
