Native Americans At Risk From Toxic Military Leftovers

OOPS, WE DID IT AGAIN
Native Americans at risk from toxic military leftovers

More than a century ago, the U.S. slaughtered a bunch of indigenous folks
and put the rest on reservations in the most arid, isolated, undesirable
parts of the American West. A new study shows that many closed military
sites in the Lower 48 states -- including bombing ranges, weapons-testing
sites, and waste dumps -- are close by those reservations, possibly putting
Native Americans at disproportionately high risk from the toxic materials
and unexploded bombs left behind. According to a Defense Department report,
the abandoned bases are home to "hazardous materials, unexploded ordnance,
abandoned equipment, unsafe buildings, and debris." The feds estimate that
unexploded ordnance contaminates up to 50 million acres in the U.S. and, at
current rates, would take centuries to clean up. Seems environmental racism
isn't confined to low-income urban areas.

straight to the source: Aberdeen News, Associated Press, Nicholas K.
Geranios, 27 Nov 2004