Study finds dangerous military waste near Indian reservations

The last major campaigns by the U.S. Army against Indian tribes took place in the late 1800s. But the military is still dangerous to Indians in the West today, a new report found. The study contends the dramatic expansion of U.S. military bases during the 20th century was largely concentrated in the same remote, arid places where Indian reservations were located. That means Indians could be disproportionately exposed to toxic chemicals and unexploded bombs, compared to non-Indians, according to the report by Gregory Hooks of Washington State University and a former graduate student, Chad Smith, now of Texas State University-San Marcos. Two world wars and the Cold War "pushed the United States to produce, test and deploy weapons of unprecedented toxicity," the study said. "Native Americans have been left exposed to the dangers of this toxic legacy." The study, just published in American Sociological Review, is based on geography, not on actual data showing whether Indians are more often injured by unexploded bombs, Hooks said. Such studies remain to be conducted, he said. Using Defense Department data on closed military bases in the Lower 48 states -- including bombing ranges, weapons testing and storage sites -- researchers discovered the locations deemed most hazardous "lay within close proximity to Indian reservations," the report said. Numerous past studies have shown that minority groups often face so-called "environmental racism" from dangerous factories and other commercial facilities because poverty limits the places where they can afford to live. [more]