Editing Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository (section)

== Cultural impact ==
Archaeological surveys have found evidence that Native Americans used the immediate vicinity of Yucca Mountain on a temporary or seasonal basis.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Native American cultural resource studies at Yucca Mountain, Nevada |first1=Richard W. |last1=Stoffle |first2=David B. |last2=Halmo |first3=John E. |last3=Olmsted |first4=Michael J. |last4=Evans |date=February 1990 |publisher=Institute for Social Research |page=29 |isbn=978-0879443283}}</ref> Some Native Americans disagree with the conclusions of archaeological investigators that their ancestors were highly mobile groups of hunter-gatherers who occupied the Yucca Mountain area before Euroamericans began using the area for prospecting, surveying, and ranching. They believe that these conclusions overlook traditional accounts of farming that occurred before European contact.<ref>
{{cite web |date=February 2002 |title=Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain |url=http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/documents/feis_2/vol_1/ch_03/index1_3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080126070559/http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/documents/feis_2/vol_1/ch_03/index1_3.htm |archive-date=January 26, 2008 |access-date=2008-05-16 |publisher=Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. Department of Energy}}</ref>

Yucca Mountain and surrounding lands were central in the lives of the [[Southern Paiute]], [[Shoshone|Western Shoshone]], and Owens Valley Paiute and Shoshone peoples, who shared them for religious ceremonies, resource uses, and social events.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/kendziuk.html |title=Environmental Justice Case Study: The Yucca Mountain High-Level Nuclear Waste Repository and the Western Shoshone |access-date=2010-07-08}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Fowler |first1=Catherine S. |last2=Hamby |first2=Maribeth |last3=Rusco |first3=Elmer |last4=Rusco |first4=Mary |date=October 1991 |title=Native Americans and Yucca Mountain |url=http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/library/se-039-91v1.pdf |access-date=2010-07-08 |work=Cultural Resource Consultants, Limited}}</ref>