High Unemployment at Indian Reservation

Nuke Waste Site

The author of this report has been ask to consider the test case of an Indian reservation in Northern Colorado that is considering taking on a nuclear disposal site from a corporation in the name of giving jobs to some of their men and women. This is certainly not irrelevant given that nearly two thirds of the people on the reservation are unemployed. Many of the tribal members are on board with the plan due to the jobs it would bring while many others are against it due to the potential short- and long-term effects the presence of the site would have. The author of this report has been asked to consider and discuss the social, safety, economical and environmental aspects of the possibility at hand and whether accepting the plan of the corporation is prudent. While the acceptance of this waste plant would be a good thing from an economic standpoint in the short-term, the long-term consequences of having the plant present could be mixed to very bad depending on certain outcomes.

Analysis

One consideration is that there will be jobs for people on the reservation, at least in theory. However, an obvious question becomes whether the jobs will only be open to those on the reservation and whether the people of the reservation would meet the requirements in question. To state the obvious, the reservation having a two thirds unemployment rate is staggering and that does indeed need to be addressed an in earnest way. However, there have to be some major reasons the rate is that high and they would almost certainly have nothing to do with the plant that is being suggested. Whether it be depression, suicide, alcohol and other drug addictions and so forth, there are number of reasons why that rate would be so high. Another good reason it could be that high is that the schooling (including college work) of the people on the reservation is not being planned for and executed properly. Allowing the plant to be built is not going to fix that. Also, there is no guarantee (per the above) that the plant will be limited to Indian workers. If there is a dearth of qualified applicants, it almost certainly will not be (Tann & Yanow, 2007).

When it comes to environmental and safety issues, there are a few things that have to be considered. First, disposal sites like this have a shelf life and there is only a certain amount of time where this site will be active and working. Second, it will have to be verified exhaustively that the materials disposed of in the site will not make their way into the grounds and air around the reservation as either could cause dirty drinking water, cancer and other very nasty health maladies. Third, there is the question about safety when it comes to when those materials are being transferred to the center. Trains and other carriers of this material can have accidents and this can lead to people in the accident area being hurt or killed (EPA, 2016).

Given the above, the reservation should say "no" to the plant and try to move to something else. It would be even better if the tribe focused on things that were organic to the tribe and thus were not laden with attached strings. Indeed, the corporation that is trying to come to the tribe's land is just trying to make a buck above all else. Even if their intentions beyond that are pure, they are going to make sure that they hire people with stable work histories and the proper work qualifications. There is a good chance that they will find this hard on a reservation that is two thirds unemployed.