I'm a big fan of serendipity. These days I'm inclined to find it more often on the Internet than other places. Today's post is an example.
A Tweet from Audrey Sawyer of Ohio State University started it off:
Teaching a new module on environmental justice in a grad-level seminar this semester. Have lecture content you're proud of or an EJ topic/pub you'd like me to bring up in my class? Please let me know! I'm especially interested in EJ topics beyond water.
Audrey's post was followed by a response from Lara Fowler of Penn State, which identified a "radioactive racism" NPR article about (from 2005) a Utah tribe, the Skull Valley Goshutes, whose reservation has been divided over the possibility of the storage of around 4,000 nuclear waste canisters. As someone who used to dabble (one really doesn't 'dabble' here) in the nuclear industry when I worked in Nevada I was curious if this storage was realized.
That led me to a Google search, which turned up the paper, Environmental Racism: Nuclear Waste as an Agent of Oppression? by Andrea Boeckers of Merrimack College.
Abstract
This research seeks to analyze the decision-making processes ofmanaging nuclear waste for countries dealing with this problem, as well as the interplay between national and local governments, private companies, the populace, and native nations. The long-term storage of nuclear waste is a serious global problem, and despite the millions of people enjoying the benefits of nuclear power, most refuse to accept the burdens associated with its waste. The driving question for this research largely ties to how governments attempt to designate who will bear the burden of these wastes. When a problem needs to be solved, yet there are no clear, easy solutions, the weight is often placed on those who are either politically, economically, socially, or geographically disadvantaged. Through a deeper investigation into the global community, Australia, the United States, and the Skull Valley Goshute Tribe, we can see how these issues unfold and how affected communities attempt to fight back.
This is a useful paper. It covers not just the Skull Valley Goshutes but an Australian site as well.
And here is a 2012 article from the Salt Lake Tribune stating that the Skull Valley site plan will not be implemented.
I'm unsure the Skull Valley Goshute Tribe really had sovereignty over its land. I doubt such a facility would have been allowed so close to Salt Lake City.
Enjoy!
"Certain privileges make liars of all men." - Unknown
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