USA Set to Drop Nuclear Obama on Indian Lands?

When Obama made his run for the White House, he did it with the support of a number of Native Americans. And once in office, he promised that “You will not be forgotten as long as I’m in this White House.”

But recent initiatives on the energy front in the US make me wonder if that promise is about to be seriously tested.

In mid-February, Obama pledged US$8.3 billion in loan guarantees for “the first U.S. nuclear power plants in nearly three decades.” Justified as a way of reducing greenhouse gases, it raises the question of where the fuel for these plants will come from — and end up once it’s spent.

Many indigenous territories are blessed/cursed with large deposits of uranium, including those located within the borders of the United States. And the fact is, uranium mining has not been kind to the peoples within those territories, sparking formal opposition to any new mines or dump sites among many (but not necessarily all) Aboriginal communities.

This is definitely a controversy in the making, with implications for first peoples across North America and beyond.