I grew up hearing stories. Not just bedtime stories, but also stories shared around the dinner table, passed down from my family. These are tales of mutated animals — creatures with extra legs or two heads. They told us about how the land had been taken, the water contaminated, and how a sickness struck the area.
These tales weren’t folklore. This was reality. Growing up in Arapahoe, Wyoming, under the shadow of the uranium industry, I witnessed firsthand the devastating consequences of nuclear waste. My community — those living on Goes in Lodge, Red Crow, and Little Shield — remember the story, one of forced displacement and a long-lasting environmental disaster.
For many, the uranium boom of the 1950s was a sign of progress for the country, but for the people of Arapahoe, it resulted in a toxic legacy. When uranium mining began in the Gas Hills, a local milling site was required to process the uranium ore. The land chosen for the mill site was on the Wind River Reservation and belonged to members of my family. The Bureau of Indian Affairs came to our families to buy the land for the federal-funded project. When they refused, BIA coerced some into signing documents, promising payments that never arrived. Those who resisted were threatened with arrest and forced off their own land. The mill site was then constructed and operational within a year’s time. Although the project was brief, its impact lingers today. The Susquehanna plant operated for only five years before closing, but when it shut down, it left behind a 70-acre unlined impoundment of tailings — approximately 1.8 million cubic yards of low-level radioactive waste.
The Department of Energy removed the tailings in the late 1980s, claiming the danger was eliminated. This was a false promise. Over time, rain and snowmelt washed radioactive materials deep into the ground, polluting the water supply. This created an underground uranium plume — a silent threat that continues to grow, expanding from 20 to 27 acres in recent years and inching closer to the Big Wind River. This experience has left a deep scar on our community. We have seen loved ones suffer and even lose their lives from illnesses linked to radiation exposure from using tainted well water.
Now, Wyoming faces a new threat: HB16, a bill that seeks to redefine “high-level radioactive waste” to exclude “spent nuclear fuel.” In doing so, it opens a dangerous loophole that would allow a “temporary” nuclear waste storage facility to be built in Wyoming.
This “temporary” label is a dangerous illusion. Is it temporary for five years? 50 years? 500 years? We’ve seen “temporary” become “permanent” before. And even if a facility is eventually decommissioned and the federal government finds a safe, permanent storage solution for the country’s nuclear waste, the environmental damage and consequences to Wyoming could be irreversible.
The risks are immense. Nuclear waste remains radioactive for millennia, and there’s no guarantee any storage facility, no matter how secure, can withstand the test of time. Transporting radioactive material across our state and through our communities is hazardous, with the potential for accidents that could devastate our land, water and well-being.
The stories of mutated animals, poisoned water, and sick family members, once shared around our dinner tables, should serve as a stark reminder. We cannot allow these stories to be the reality for another Wyoming neighborhood. In Arapahoe, this toxic legacy continues to haunt our community. We know the true cost of nuclear waste — the environmental devastation, the health risks, and the broken promises.
Wyoming, we must learn from the past. We have a responsibility to ensure that no other community faces the devastating consequences of nuclear waste. We must reject HB16 and protect our state from the dangers and false promises of “temporary” nuclear waste storage.
If you share our concerns about nuclear waste storage in Wyoming, we could use your help. Tell your legislators that you oppose nuclear dumps in Wyoming, and sign up to be notified with alerts as this bill moves through the legislature.