The DOE recruited tribes to take nuclear waste by invoking Native spiritual duty.

Evidence

David Leroy, DOE’s nuclear waste negotiator, aggressively courted tribes with nuclear waste proposals. According to Nilak Butler, a former Indigenous Environmental Network council member, Leroy and the DOE argued that Native responsibility to hold nuclear waste emanates from the “superior Native understanding of the natural world” and the fact that we are “our brother’s keeper.” — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations, 516

Categorization

• XREF: Showcases how colonial power appropriates Indigenous identity claims to serve extractive ends, echoing assimilationist ideology in the colonial cases. — connects to: US tribal lands are prime targets for nuclear and toxic waste disposal. — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 53; Federal DOE funding steered national Native organizations toward nuclear waste siting. — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 513; Federal agencies funded tribal organizations to market nuclear waste siting. — Winona LaDuke, All Our Relations: Native Struggles for…, 512 (+1 more)