Indians & Energy: Exploitation and Opportunity in the American Southwest

Indians & Energy focuses on the American Southwest because it is particularly well suited for exploring how people have transformed the region’s resources into fuel supplies for human consumption. Not only do Native Americans possess a large percentage of the Southwest’s total acreage, but on their lands reside much of the nation’s coal, oil, and uranium resources. Regional weather and climate patterns have enabled native people to take advantage of solar and wind power as sources of energy. But issues related to energy and Indians transcend the region-and the nation. The contributors believe the lessons of the Southwest illuminate broader trends in other places. Their intent is not to end, but to join the conversation, and encourage others to do the same. This volume is the result of a symposium that was a cooperative venture between the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies and the School for Advanced Research in 2007-2008.