‘Ready to fight’: how a Russian uranium ban would threaten Native American tribes

[TU Curmudgeon]

In Alaska the vast majority of native Alaskans are unemployed. There are no jobs in any of the native villages because there are no businesses. There are no businesses in any of the native villages because there are no roads or services. Electricity is available only through a diesel-powered generator. Most villages don't even have schools much less a medical facility. Teachers are periodically flown into these villages to teach students, and the seriously ill have to be flown out to receive medical care. Even law enforcement has to be flown in to these villages whenever the need arises.

It is rather difficult to find a job when there are no jobs.

Picky, picky, picky.

I mean, it's their own choice that they didn't move to where there were jobs that they were trained for and schools of the quality of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (in Alexandria, VA) and then work hard enough to get into Harvard and become the CEO of a multi-billion dollar business - right?

 

[Glitch]

Not quite. The land was "granted" back to the native Alaskans by the US government. That grant was conditional and the native Alaskans do NOT have "fee simple" title to the land - that remains in the hands of the US government. What the native Alaskans got was "use rights" to the land - which is all that they had ever actually considered that they had.

Again, "the land" was NOT "granted" to the native Alaskans. What they received was "use rights".

That is the nature of free enterprise capitalism in action - right?

That works out to around $2.11 per acre (plus the right to use the 10.69% of their own land that the government didn't want).

You are flat out wrong. They were granted title to the land, but prohibited from selling their land for a period of 20 years. Which Congress has extended every 20 years for an additional 20 year period. The last extension was in 2011, prohibiting native Alaskans from selling any of the 45.5 million acres given to them under ANCSA. They own the land, just as I own my land. Complete with title and everything. The only difference between my land and their land is that I can sell my land, and they can't.

You are also clearly confused. The $900+ million in cash was in addition to the 45.5 million acres of land granted to them. They weren't buying the land for $900 million.

 

[Glitch]

Picky, picky, picky.

I mean, it's their own choice that they didn't move to where there were jobs that they were trained for and schools of the quality of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (in Alexandria, VA) and then work hard enough to get into Harvard and become the CEO of a multi-billion dollar business - right?

Actually, according to the Alaska State Constitution the government is required to provide law enforcement and health, education, and welfare.

Article VII, Section 1 of the Alaska State Constitution:

The legislature shall by general law establish and maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the State, and may provide for other public educational institutions. Schools and institutions so established shall be free from sectarian control. No money shall be paid from public funds for the direct benefit of any religious or other private educational institution.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

You are flat out wrong. They were granted title to the land, but prohibited from selling their land for a period of 20 years. Which Congress has extended every 20 years for an additional 20 year period. The last extension was in 2011, prohibiting native Alaskans from selling any of the 45.5 million acres given to them under ANCSA. They own the land, just as I own my land. Complete with title and everything. The only difference between my land and their land is that I can sell my land, and they can't.

You are also clearly confused. The $900+ million in cash was in addition to the 45.5 million acres of land granted to them. They weren't buying the land for $900 million.

Please look up the meaning of "fee simple" ownership.

That the native Alaskans DO NOT have.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Actually, according to the Alaska State Constitution the government is required to provide law enforcement and health, education, and welfare.

Article VII, Section 1 of the Alaska State Constitution:

Yep

... maintain a system of public schools open to all children of the State ...
​

GOVERNOR - "I am please to announce the opening of the All Alaska High School today. Enrollment in The All Alaska High School is open to all children in the State of Alaska and is located in Pilgrim Hot Springs."

 

[Deuce]

Picky, picky, picky.

I mean, it's their own choice that they didn't move to where there were jobs that they were trained for and schools of the quality of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (in Alexandria, VA) and then work hard enough to get into Harvard and become the CEO of a multi-billion dollar business - right?

Dummies should have chosen richer parents with better connections.

 

[MaryP]

In the long run it WILL cost LESS if we finally restart our venture into THORIUM fuel cycles instead.
Yes, initial costs are higher, but URANIUM geopolitics, particularly those regarding WAR, are permanent or longstanding enough that they might as well be.
And thorium is safer. Thorium fuel cycles are meltdown-proof by their very nature, by design.
A thorium fueled reaction CANNOT "melt down".
Biggest point of all is, thorium supplies are relatively the same around the globe, and enough for almost a THOUSAND YEARS of supply.

This is not your grandfather's nuclear power.

Then why aren't we using it?

 

[MaryP]

In Alaska the vast majority of native Alaskans are unemployed. There are no jobs in any of the native villages because there are no businesses. There are no businesses in any of the native villages because there are no roads or services. Electricity is available only through a diesel-powered generator. Most villages don't even have schools much less a medical facility. Teachers are periodically flown into these villages to teach students, and the seriously ill have to be flown out to receive medical care. Even law enforcement has to be flown in to these villages whenever the need arises.

It is rather difficult to find a job when there are no jobs.

With all that money and those corporations, they can't afford a health clinic or a school? What chance does anyone have to get educated enough to make a success of all that opportunity for their people if they have no school? I realize there are some remote native villages in far northern Alaska, but that's not the way most of the tribes live, is it?

 

[Glitch]

With all that money and those corporations, they can't afford a health clinic or a school? What chance does anyone have to get educated enough to make a success of all that opportunity for their people if they have no school? I realize there are some remote native villages in far northern Alaska, but that's not the way most of the tribes live, is it?

There are several native Alaskan medical facilities throughout the State. All of them on the road system with access to water, electricity, and natural gas. They can't build them in the villages because none of the villages have water (other than personal wells), electricity, or natural gas, or even roads. The people in the village of Sleetmute, for example, have to travel 243 miles to reach the nearest Alaskan native medical facility located in Anchorage.

Schools are a different story. The State is required to provide an education. This is typically in the form of home education in most villages, with the education materials being supplied by the State, and with State hired teachers flying into these remote villages occasionally to check on the progress of the students.

The same thing is true if they want a job. They have to leave their village, and travel hundreds of miles to find a job somewhere on the road system.

It isn't just the villages north of the Arctic Circle. Western Alaska, and all along both the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers villages line their banks. They are so remote that the USPS won't even bother giving them ZIP Codes.

 

[MaryP]

There are several native Alaskan medical facilities throughout the State. All of them on the road system with access to water, electricity, and natural gas. They can't build them in the villages because none of the villages have water (other than personal wells), electricity, or natural gas, or even roads. The people in the village of Sleetmute, for example, have to travel 243 miles to reach the nearest Alaskan native medical facility located in Anchorage.

Schools are a different story. The State is required to provide an education. This is typically in the form of home education in most villages, with the education materials being supplied by the State, and with State hired teachers flying into these remote villages occasionally to check on the progress of the students.

The same thing is true if they want a job. They have to leave their village, and travel hundreds of miles to find a job somewhere on the road system.

It isn't just the villages north of the Arctic Circle. Western Alaska, and all along both the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers villages line their banks. They are so remote that the USPS won't even bother giving them ZIP Codes.

If they don't have electricity or NG, they must not want it. They could put up a few windmills. That's what my family did until electric came to our rural town. And there's propane. Okay, they want to be left alone, I guess.

 

[Glitch]

If they don't have electricity or NG, they must not want it. They could put up a few windmills. That's what my family did until electric came to our rural town. And there's propane. Okay, they want to be left alone, I guess.

That isn't how it works. They don't have electricity or natural gas because they have never had it, and there is no infrastructure to deliver any of those services. Those villages that are fortunate to be on the Yukon and Koskokwim Rivers can arrange to have a barge deliver diesel fuel for an electric generator. Wind generators are of very limited use. You cannot use them when the winds blow faster than 40 mph, or when the temperatures drop below freezing. Biogasification is also popular among remote Alaskans, but only on an individual basis.

Even those who live on the road system don't get consistent power. Every Alaskan that I know has a generator. I also keep a 5 kW generator. Which is just enough to run the electric pump at the bottom of my well and keep the lights on. I will lose power two or three times every year, although usually not for more than a couple of hours. At least I have natural gas and central heating. Those living in villages have to rely on wood as their primary source of heat and cooking fuel.

Most native Alaskans want the same standard of living as the rest of us enjoy. Which is why the native Alaskans living in ANWR want the oil developed, so they can become as wealthy as their next-door Alaskan native cousins in Prudhoe Bay. They do not live without electricity or roads by choice.

 

[Hamish Howl]

Can't we just buy it from Hillary Clinton?

 

[MaryP]

That isn't how it works. They don't have electricity or natural gas because they have never had it, and there is no infrastructure to deliver any of those services. Those villages that are fortunate to be on the Yukon and Koskokwim Rivers can arrange to have a barge delivery diesel fuel for an electric generator. Wind generators are of very limited use. You cannot use them when the winds blow faster than 40 mph, or when the temperatures drop below freezing. Biogasification is also popular among remote Alaskans, but only on an individual basis.

Even those who live on the road system don't get consistent power. Every Alaskan that I know has a generator. I also keep a 5 kW generator. Which is just enough to run the electric pump at the bottom of my well and keep the lights on. I will lose power two or three times every year, although usually not for more than a couple of hours. At least I have natural gas and central heating. Those living in villages have to rely on wood as their primary source of heat and cooking fuel.

Most native Alaskans want the same standard of living as the rest of us enjoy. Which is why the native Alaskans living in ANWR want the oil developed, so they can become as wealthy as their next-door Alaskan native cousins in Prudhoe Bay. They do not live without electricity or roads by choice.

Interesting take, but I'm not sure I totally buy it. I watched a long senate hearing in which the Native Alaskans were fighting tooth and nail against oil development because it would interfere with the Caribou herds.

In Maine, I lose power a few times a year, too. It's not something that just happens in Alaska. It's called weather.

You cannot use them when the winds blow faster than 40 mph, or when the temperatures drop below freezing.
Sure you can.

But it's always interesting talking to you.

 

[Antiwar]

COMMENT:-

​

Interesting conundrum, eh wot?​

Humanity has put humanity in several interesting existential conundrums.

 

[Antiwar]

Then why aren't we using it?

Because it's not ready for primetime?

 

[Glitch]

Interesting take, but I'm not sure I totally buy it. I watched a long senate hearing in which the Native Alaskans were fighting tooth and nail against oil development because it would interfere with the Caribou herds.

In Maine, I lose power a few times a year, too. It's not something that just happens in Alaska. It's called weather.

You cannot use them when the winds blow faster than 40 mph, or when the temperatures drop below freezing.
Sure you can.

But it's always interesting talking to you.

Consider that you are getting your information through the Democrat Propaganda Network (a.k.a. CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC), which is not exactly a credible source. You are only fed what they want you to think.

Alaskan Natives Support Development

Arctic Power is a grassroots, non-profit citizen’s organization with 1,000s of members founded in April of 1992 to expedite congressional and presidential approval of oil and gas exploration and production within the Coastal Plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

anwr.org

The caribou herd nonsense was raised in 1977 when the trans-Alaska pipeline was first built and Congress made the oil companies bury sections of the pipeline to allow the caribou to cross. It turned out to be a completely bogus argument and solution. The caribou don't give a damn about the pipeline and cross where ever they feel like it. During inclement weather the caribou will regularly use the pipeline for shelter, since it is the only thing taller than 3" on the north slope.

Leftist environmental nutjobs caused Congress to force the oil companies to waste millions burying a pipeline and increasing the risk of breakage due to earthquakes for absolutely no reason whatsoever. That won't happen this time.

FYI: They have been tracking the Porcupine Caribou Herd that gives birth around Prudhoe Bay since 1977. Their population has increased nine fold since then.

 

[Antiwar]

Consider

Leftist environmental nutjobs

"Filth!"

 

[HangLow]

What justice?
We fought a war and they lost.
We don't owe them anything.

When the Europeans arrived, carrying germs that thrived in dense, semi-urban populations, the indigenous people of the Americas were effectively doomed. They had never experienced smallpox, measles, or flu before, and the viruses tore through the continent, killing an estimated 90% of Native Americans.

Guns Germs & Steel: Variables. Smallpox | PBS

www.pbs.org

​

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Dummies should have chosen richer parents with better connections.

Spoken like a real patriotic, right-thinking, patriotic, hard working, patriotic, honest, patriotic, real, patriotic, true, patriotic, conservative, patriotic, Christian, patriotic, White, patriotic, American, patriotic, Republican patriot who supports Donald John Trump {BBHN}.