President Obama's Proposal to Construct Nuclear Reactors in Predominantly Black Community Sparks Controversy

President Obama's proposal to construct nuclear reactors in predominantly black town of Shell Bluff, Ga., sparks controversy and is called environmental racism.

 There is some controversy brewing over President Obama's pledge of $8.33 billion in government aid to construct nuclear reactors in the town of Shell Bluff, located in Burke County, Ga. The problem is Burke County is 51 percent African-America and there are already reactors at Southern Company's Plant Vogtle. An argument has been made that the majority of nuclear reactors are located in predominantly black and/or poor communities. Dr. Robert Bullard, an environmental injustice expert and activist told the Washington Informer, "After looking at environmental injustices over the past 30 years I can't help but question why these reactors are being built in Burke County. "When a community gets something good, African-American communities are usually not the first to get it." Some have called the proposal environmental racism, while others see it as a means of creating more jobs and clean energy.

Burke County is already home to commercial nuclear reactors and four miles from the Savannah River nuclear weapons facility. The river is the fourth most polluted in the U.S.A. and its residents are suffering from an epidemic of unexplained cancers, with no federal, state or local funds to test their air, soil and water for possible causes. The reality is that there should be widespread outrage about this proposal, but many people prefer to shrug their shoulders and move on because this doesn't affect their livelihood. In other words, it's not in my backyard, so I don't really care.

Residents fear an accident comparable to the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, when a nuclear reactor had a partial meltdown. While the reactor brought itself back under control, some radioactive waste was released into the environment. Most people don't want a nuclear reactor in their backyards because of the health issues it could cause -- increased cancer rates and contamination of drinking water. What I find abhorrent is how little regard the president and his advisers have for the residents of this community, sandwiched by other nuclear facilities.

The president also proposed tripling the funding for other nuclear power plants from $18 billion to $54 billion in his 2011 fiscal budget. This is a very risky proposal and I can't see any upside for the Obama administration in the construction of these reactors in Shell Bluff.