Office of the United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator

The Office of the United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator was a short-lived independent agency of the federal government of the United States during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The agency was responsible for the placement and long-term storage of radioactive waste in the United States.[http://www.isu.edu/library/special/mc067b.htm Richard H. Stallings Biography, Idaho State University Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113132002/http://www.isu.edu/library/special/mc067b.htm |date=2008-11-13 }} It was created under the auspices of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE5DC163BF930A25751C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Hired to Be Negotiator, But Treated Like Pariah]

Although the agency was created in 1987, it remained without a head until 1990,[https://web.archive.org/web/20121022051622/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1115662.html Nuclear Waste Negotiator; A Post With Scant Appeal; `Superbly Qualified' Person Finally Found] when President George H. W. Bush appointed former Idaho Lieutenant Governor David Leroy, a Republican, to be the first United States Nuclear Waste Negotiator.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=undfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=oi8MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4250%2C3655936 |work=Lewiston Morning Tribune |location=(Idaho) |agency=Associated Press |last=Kenyon |first=Quayne |title=Former Idaho 'hot property' eyes a hot seat |date=July 29, 1990 |page=3B}}[http://www.dleroy.com/ David H. Leroy, Attorney - Boise, Idaho] In a 1991 speech to the National Congress of American Indians, Leroy stated the Native American's tradition of long-term culture made them especially suited for storing nuclear waste, including quotes from Chief Seattle. This led to sharp negative reactions from the audience, calling it Machiavellian and Orwellian.{{Cite web |title=Radioactive Racism: The History of Targeting Native American Communities with High-Level Atomic Waste Dumps |author= |work=Public Citizen |date= |access-date=2 August 2020 |url= https://www.nirs.org/wp-content/uploads/radwaste/scullvalley/historynativecommunitiesnuclearwaste06142005.pdf}}

In 1993 President Bill Clinton replaced Leroy with former Democratic Congressman Richard Stallings, also from Idaho.

The agency was eliminated in 1995.[http://www.isu.edu/library/special/mc067b.htm Richard H. Stallings Biography, Idaho State University Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081113132002/http://www.isu.edu/library/special/mc067b.htm |date=2008-11-13 }}