The Democrats' Dirty Secret: Presidential Candidates Backed by Nuclear Powerhouses

Tens of thousands of people across the continental United States and in Hawai'i still suffer the effects of previous uranium mining booms during the 1940s and the Cold War, and fears are growing over how a nuclear power renaissance will impact tribal lands.

Tiokasin Ghosthorse, a member of the Lakota Nation, explains, "In western South Dakota, there is an unspoken nuclear Chernobyl. There are days when the sky is brown from the dust of uranium mining tailings in the air. This is cattle and wheat country. When the dust settles, no one knows they are being radiated."

Ghosthorse, also the host of "First Voices Indigenous Radio" on New York's WBAI, speaks in a firm voice when he discusses the impact of uranium mining on his home in Cheyenne River Indian Reservation. "A few years, there were only 19 of us left from my 1973 high school graduating class of 70 or 80 people. Nine out of 10 of them had died of cancer."

To bring attention to the environmental threats and the destruction of sacred sites, hundreds of Native Americans and supporters began trekking from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., on Feb. 11. The five-month walk commemorates the 1978 Longest Walk that led to the defeat of 11 anti-Native American bills in Congress and passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

"The Walk is a call of action to the people to wake up and realize that the continued exploitation of Mother Earth cannot go on," said Ricardo Tapia, a national coordinator of the Longest Walk 2. "This walk is for people of all colors. We are concerned about the trees, water and the sprit of the land. These things are alive. To most non-Indians, these are just seen as resources."

The New York Times recently noted that in the case of New Mexico, where the nuclear power industry is seeking to restart uranium mining near a Dine (Navajo) reservation, "mining companies walked away from their cleanup responsibilities" of a thousand open mines after the Cold War ended. The Times stated "among the horrors" that resulted were "shifting mountains of uranium tailings; open mines leaching contaminated rain into drinking water tables; wind-blown radioactive dust; home construction from uranium mine slabs; and even the grim spectacle of children playing in radioactive swimming holes and ground pits."

NUCLEAR ENERGY BACK ON THE TABLE

Like many other commodities, from gold to oil to wheat, uranium's price has risen because of speculation. As of 2003, processed uranium ore, known as yellowcake, was trading for $7 a pound. Last year, it hit $138. The dwindling of Cold War-era uranium supplies combined with anticipation that industrializing economies in China, India and Russia would turn to nuclear power, led hedge funds and other big investors to drive up the price of yellowcake and the stocks of uranium mining companies. It's this paper wealth that has stoked mining interests around the world.

The Las Vegas Sun noted on Feb. 10, "More than 1,000 new uranium mining claims have been staked on federal lands near the Grand Canyon during the past three years because of rising uranium prices." According to the U.S. Department of Energy, uranium exploration and development drilling totaled 5,000 holes covering 2.7 million feet in 2006. It is estimated that at least 50 percent of uranium deposits are located on Native-owned lands.

But to realize these vast profits, the uranium mining industry needs various governments to approve new mining operations and to revive the controversial and dangerous nuclear power industry. In Virginia, for example, which has a moratorium on uranium mining; the state Senate approved a bill commissioning a "study" on Feb. 13 to determine if it is safe to mine a site that contains the "largest unmined uranium deposit in the United States, worth an estimated $10 billion."