Maybe you never thought about it that way, but somebody did, because that's how Indian people were and still are viewed by many. Not as humans, but in the class of presumed inanimate resources and animals, which are all exploited in some manner. We do recognize that we are related to all life on Mother Earth. The animals, plants, wind, water, and even rocks have a spirit. The external costs of damage to the environment and human health are not factored into the economic equation, especially not for damages to lands, economies, culture, and the lives of indigenous peoples.
People are part of the environment, too.
The miners who benefit from the employment suffer from black lung disease and cancer. The Tribes who own the coal and uranium have not received fair market value for the resources until only recently. The Navajo who provide both resources, still have about one third of their people without any electricity. The Alaska Natives pay 50 cents a kilowatt hour for electricity from diesel-powered generators. The hydropower projects built for and in the name of native peoples are in proposed legislation to turn the projects over to the state of Alaska.