Stimulus Greed Endangers Tribe's Cultural History, American Indians Say

...When Congress passed the economic stimulus package in 2009, it promised billions of dollars to “shovel ready” government projects that could get up and running quickly. But the scramble for the flood of money led to some shortcuts being taken to meet start-up deadlines -- leaving problems that will have to be dealt with later.

And that is exactly what the Quechan Indians are charging in a federal suit filed Wednesday in the Southern District of California. They allege that the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Land Management rushed approval of a massive solar energy project in the Imperial Valley that would place more than 28,000 solar dishes across 6,144 acres of public land -- and that they neglected to take into consideration the Quechans' historic and cultural claims to the land....