WESTERN SKIES - October 4, 2005

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ERIC WHITNEY: The organizers of a proposed hotel-casino in Pueblo abruptly announced this week that the project will not happen. Leaders of the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma came to their decision on Saturday. Stephen Raher has more.

STEPHEN RAHER: The proposed hotel-casino on the Historic Arkansas Riverwalk in Pueblo was the second casino project that the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes had pursued. The first, a larger complex near the Denver International Airport, was abandoned earlier this year. Both casino proposals were offered as potential settlements to the tribes' pending land claims. Michael Brendzel is with Council Tree Communications, the organization that was representing the tribes in their casino bids.

MICHAEL BRENDZEL: The tribal council had a lively debate on the strength of their claims, and what would be an appropriate settlement. And they felt that their land and particularly their water claims were strong enough that they would be able to pursue a more aggressive approach.

RAHER: Brendzel says now that the casino idea has been voted down by the tribes, the relationship between the Cheyenne-Arapaho and Council Tree Communications has ended. The tribe's land claims cover twenty-seven million acres of Colorado's eastern slope and are based on the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Some critics, including Senator Ken Salaazar have said that the claims have little merit, saying that the disagreements over the Fort Laramie treaty have already been resolved.

I'm Stephen Raher.

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WHITNEY: Earlier this year, the University of Colorado announced its plans to be part of a coalition, spearheaded by the University of Texas, who are bidding to operate the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. That's brought CU under fire from some members of its faculty and the public, who believe the decision making process in the bid happened behind closed doors. Last week there were three opportunities for public comment on the bid, in Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs. Although the Regents did not attend the meetings, they'll review the comments made there when they meet tomorrow. Maeve Conran reports from Boulder.

MAEVE CONRAN: While some who spoke at the public forums highlighted the
possible academic and economic benefits to the University of
Colorado, from any involvement with the National Laboratory in Los
Alamos, many more were concerned about the University being connected with a facility that manufactures nuclear weapons. Erin Gamby from the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center in Boulder.

ERIN GAMBY: Los Alamos National Laboratory is a nuclear weapons facility. They design and construct and test new nuclear weapons, as well as other
weapons of mass destruction. So we are looking at involving our entire university system, we're talking about involving all of these campuses in nuclear weapons research.

CONRAN: CU says that if successful in the bid, they will not be involved in the nuclear weapons program, but in other forms of research. Jeff Cheek is the Assistant Vice President for Research and Learning Innovations for the University of Colorado.

JEFF CHEEK: You have to balance when there is political opposition and even if it is for valid reasons, because we did hear the concerns expressed
tonight, but conversely we have to weigh that against "What can we do for the public good?" And if you look at the survey of what CU faculty are willing to collaborate with LANL scientists to do, a lot of that is actually very positive, it's not weapons related, it's not classified, and I would say that it benefits the public good, so where is that balance?

CONRAN: Another point of concern for many speaking at the public forums is the fact that defense contractor Lockheed Martin will also be part of the coalition. Former CU environmental studies professor Adrienne Andersen has targeted Lockheed Martin in her research into major corporate polluters.

ANDRIENNE ANDERSON: It's also a major concern when the University is partnering with a corporation that has such a horrific environmental record and record of violating federal laws of all sorts, race discrimination, age discrimination, sex discrimination, selling weapons systems to foreign
governments illegally. It's not setting a standard, its not setting the bar particularly high when the University is willing to partner with corporations with such abysmal criminal records.

CONRAN: The Department of Energy will announce the winner of the operating bid in December, with the successful party set to take over running the Los Alamos lab next June. For Western Skies, I'm Maeve Conran in Boulder.