It was the fourth time in a year that Chairman Leon Bear scrapped the vote, and some members are again calling for an independent observer to ensure fair elections.

In all four cases, Bear reportedly blamed a lack of a quorum, but critics say the election was called off before members could organize at the tribal meeting hall in the heart of the Goshute Village in Tooele County.

They say the terms of Bear and his niece, vice chairwoman Lori Skiby, ended last year, but Bear is maneuvering to prevent them from electing new leaders. The Goshutes have about 121 members, about 70 of whom are adults eligible to vote.

"We're tired," said Margene Bullcreek, one of the Goshutes opposed to the waste. "We're tired of talking and not being heard."

A sharp divide has grown in the eight years since the three-person executive committee led by Bear signed a lease for Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear utility companies, to store spent reactor fuel storage on Goshute land.

Federal regulators approved a license for the facility in September. If built, a 100-acre pad would be able to hold up to 44,000 tons of waste - roughly all the waste ever generated by the U.S. commercial nuclear industry - on its way to yet-to-be-approved permanent disposal.

The tribal divide goes deeper than the nuclear waste issue. In recent months, Bear was sentenced to probation on tax fraud charges stemming from a leadership corruption case. And, in a separate criminal case, three Goshutes who claim they won a 2001 executive committee election pleaded guilty for using tribal funds illegally.

Bear did not respond to a request to comment. But, in an interview with National Public Radio last month he said a majority of members support the nuclear-waste project.

"Storage is going to have to be had," he said. "It might as well be us. We'll get paid to store spent fuel."

In contrast, Bullcreek and six other Goshutes opposed to the waste project filed a federal appeal last week that asks to have the licensing decision thrown out. Bullcreek was in Wisconsin on Sunday for a conference dealing with the dangers of transporting nuclear waste and the impact on American Indians, according to the La Crosse (Wisconsin) Tribune.

There was some good news for the opponents last week, when Nevada Sen. Harry Reid dropped his opposition to a plan to create a new Utah wilderness area that could block the waste site.

Utah's congressional delegation wants to create the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area near the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation. Such a designation would keep the Bureau of Land Management from approving a rail line to the site.

The proposed wilderness provision has in the past been stymied by several senators, including Reid.

Bear's critics said Sunday it was not apathy but a feeling of helplessness that is driving the low election turnout. Many members have to come from out of state to take part in the elections, and they have grown weary of getting here, only to have the election canceled, said Bullcreek.

"It's a boycott," she said.

Tribal business continues to be carried out by leaders who aren't really elected, critics say. And, they say, Bear continues to punish them by refusing to distribute the tribal benefit checks and housing benefits that his supporters receive.

Sammy Blackbear said it is understandable that Goshutes don't participate in elections declared by Bear. Many feel the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, which is supposed to help with elections, favors the pro-waste faction.

"They know it's rigged, and we are not going to have a fair election," said Blackbear, one of the would-be tribal leaders sentenced in the 2001 election case.

He said he will begin looking for an independent official, like a member of Congress, to help oversee an election.

"That's what we need," he said. "We need someone to come in and intervene to ensure we have a fair election.

fahys@sltrib.com

What's next?

* The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs still has to decide on final approval for the 121-member Skull Valley Band to lease land for the site.

* The U.S. Bureau of Land Management also make a decision on a right-of-way the company needs to build and use a rail spur that would take waste from a point near I-80 and Delle.

* State attorneys await a decision on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will hear its appeal of a case brought by PFS and the Skull Valley Band against state laws to block the waste project. The court's ruling would be on the timing of the issue, not the substance. Utah attorneys filed an appeal of the NRC ruling Tuesday.

* Utahns hope to get support for a new law that would emphasize reprocessing of nuclear waste and long-term storage. If they succeed, the PFS storage would not be needed.

* As it develops plans for transporting waste to the remote site, PFS would begin construction of the concrete and soil pads that for the storage containers. The consortium hopes to begin in two years.