Of mills and mines: an intercategorical critique of the hidden harms of natural resource boom and bust cycles in U.S. history

Abstract

ABSTRACT The extant environmental justice research examines the unequal distribution of environmental risks across and within societies. While patterns of environmental injustice reveal that marginalized communities carry the greatest burden, to date, few scholars have examined the mutually constitutive relationships between environmental risks and intersectionally-subjected individuals and communities. In this article, we utilize intersectionial theory and tools to expose the ‘hidden’ costs associated with resource extraction throughout U.S. history, and to draw attention to the fact that these costs go beyond environmental risk and damage to include severe socio-cultural consequences for both the communities where extraction sites are situated and the individuals that comprise the labor force working at these operations. We also highlight how elites involved in resource extraction and development in the United States have capitalized on the socioeconomic and sociocultural marginalization of intersectionally-subjected populations to consolidate wealth and power. We do so across three extraction contexts: the California Gold Rush, coal mining in Appalachia, and uranium milling and mining in the four corner region. In closing, we explore the relevancy of this analytical approach to contemporary extraction contexts.