hard earned future... a real look at the american dream hard earned only on al jazeera america "america tonight", the real price of prosperity. >> so what kind of damage did that do, permanent damage to the area in north dakota, christopher putzel found a native community tapping its underground riches future. >> this is our home today. i don't want people to come in and destroy it also tonight. >> never before has the air force put a new fighter bomber at a commercial airport. they do that purply because new aircraft crash more. >> the plane she is talking

about is the f35 fighter. but many residents of this town see it as a real danger. [ chanting ] >> thanks for joining us, i'm joie chen. it's been celebrated for its supposed superstealth capability, it hasn't hidden the f35 fighter jet from a growing course of critics, who charge the single most expensive programme is at best little more than a boom dog and at worst a dangerous aircraft. "america tonight" reported the now correspondent sheila macvicar follows up with forwards on the ground in communities slated to host the joint strike fighter. >> never before has the air force put a bland new fighter bomber at

a commercial airport. usually they go at air force spaces in remote areas, and do that purply, because new aircraft crash more. >> reporter: the plane is the f-35 fighter. from ith stealthy design to the millions of lines of computer code that act as an artificial intelligence, it's hailed as the future of combat aviation. [ chanting ] >> but many residents of this town see it as a very real danger. >> the burlington airport is not a suitable venue for the f-35. it is a commercial airport, it is not a military base. the people were here first. >> rowan was leader of a group fighting to keep the f-35 out of

the local airport at burlington vermont. burlington is home to the vermont air national guard, and is scheduled to refuse 18 f35s by the year 2020. it will be the first air national guard unit in america to get the plane, replacing a unit of aiming f16s. the burlington airport has homes built up to the perimeter. there are up to s on both ends of the run way, will itton to the south. a working class community. >> i've been in the backyards of people who love here, it is astounding to see how low the planes are over their homes. you could probably recognise people in the cockpits, that's how low they are. >> to get a better sense of concerns, consider the f-16.

since its introduction in 1975 the u.s. air force lost more than 320 of them in crashes and mishaps. out of a fleet of 2,230, that's one in seven. if something happens with take off and landing of the f-35s, it is probable that it will land in this area here. it's a recipe for a colossal disaster. about. >> contrast burlington's airport why the air force base in arizona, where the aircraft trin pilots. fields surrounding luke act as a buffer zen. a point reinforced when within f-16 went down. injured. >> it's all populated. >> greco is not just an activist.

she is a former air force colonel. a highly decorated officer, specialising in strategic development and arms control. greco says the f-35 poses a threat greater than earlier generation war fighters. like many modern military planes, the f-35 is largely made of composite material - carbon and graphite, held together with resins and glues. >> if it doesn't land on top of them, there's the danger of smoke and fumes that came off of the burning wreckage, filled with chemicals. some of them are toxic. >> according to the engineering textbook on the flammability of composite material, inhaling smoke can cause acute and delayed health problems. long-term risks include cancer and tumours. stealth aircraft like the f35

are covered with special membranes designed to absorb radar. those materials are said to be highly toxic when burnt. in the 1980s, and '90s, several workers at the secret air base area 51 in nevada reported fulling ill after dealing with burning stealth material. two of them are said to have died as a result. >> back in 2008/2009, i started developing back problems. eventually i had to remove the vertebrae out of my back, from the cancer. >> jason is one of the few people in america who has been within feet of a burning stealth aircraft. >> actually brought up, from this, because they were having a hard time trying to identify this cancer, and to this day it's still unknown. >> in 1995 fletcher was the leader of a search and rescue team in new mexico.

one night his team got a call. witnesses saw a huge fireball over an indian reservation. fletcher assumed it was a plane crash, but was told nothing. he went in looking for survivors. normally we are told the type of plane, whether it's private commercial airline or what. >> reporter: and you didn't know how to protect yourself? >> no. >> reporter: when you were at the crash respirator. >> no. >> reporter: knowing what you know now, was it right to be at thatite without a respirator? >> no. >> reporter: it would be weeks before the secrecy was found out. the plane that crashed was an f-35 a.

the pilot was killed. this only came out after a local investigate. >> so this says in the aftermath of the crash the air force issued a warning that the smoke from the burning plane may have been toxic. ? later. >> this says that there was a paper delivered at an n.a.s.a. conference in 1994, an air force paper that said some materials may have burnt posed health risks, barr illium, radar material and others. no one said anything to you about any of that? >> no, no. and after this came out the day before, you got a letter. >> got a letter from a gentleman who was retired, but worked on the project, the stealth project. >> in the letter he talked about his own experience. >> correct, and having to be under full hazmat suit, full

respirator, self-contained suits any time anyone worked around the project. >> reporter: as for his cancer, fletcher can't hep but wonder if his exposure caused it. he asked the air force for regular medical evaluations but was denied. and said to this day the air force hasn't been forthcoming. fletcher believes that lack of transparency is a lesson and a warning for the residents of burling phone and winuski. >> the air force is developing the operational play book for the plane, not just how to fly it, but under specific circumstances. >> let me ask you this, is the community writing a playbook in regards to hazards and risks of bringing the plane in and what the community needs to know and prepare for. >> where would you place a fighter bomber. >> rowan and her group are not

waiting for that. they filed a lawsuit challenging the decision to base the f-35 in burlington. little more than three weeks ago the council voted to lawsuit. we wanted to speak with someone, anyone about the decision to base the f-35 in burlington. the pentagon, the air force, the air national guard, senators and burlington's mayor turned us down. as for correcto, she is left fighting the military she served proudly for 30 years, afraid the expensive weapon may spell disaster for her town next, profit and loss. >> we used to swim in the lake, fish in it all the time. >> christopher putzel in north dakota with the energy boom that bust. >> later, learning lessons.

a new approach to highed and the metrics to show whether it works. "america tonight"s adam may on the minerva projects and whether this experiment in education may make the ivy league reconsider its approach. >> we're here to fully get into the nuances of everything that's going on not just in this country but around the world. getting the news from the people who are affected. >> people need to demand reform... >> ali velshi on target weeknights 10:30p et

from rags to riches, north dakota's oil boom bet great wealth, but now some are considering the value of the resources and the costs of what is left behind. "america tonight"s christopher putzel on a native american

community questioning what rich really means. >> reporter: this land, known as mm-hmm a nation used to be filled with cattle ranchers. over the past seven years it's been at the heart of a fracking boom. fracking transsported the country into what looks like an industrial zone. >> i used to swim and fish here. >> richard crows-heart is an environmental activist spending 12 years working in the oil industry. you were offered money for your land. >> yes. did you take it. >> i had an idea of what it

would cost by me endorses that piece of paper. they came in and took advantage of people. mineral leases brought wath to some of the 14,000 members. since tracking took place, most of the wealth went to those who owned country with oil under it. life for the rest is bleak. poverty and health problems is rampant. the tribe is paying a high price. the threat of poisoning land. >> how often do you get is call about a

spill. >> sometimes we'll have three in sometimes a major incident on the weekend. weekly, on average, 7, 7 to 8. >> reporter: about one a day? >> yes. >> reporter: edmond baker is the environmental director for nah station. he has six field officers to monitor 1300 wells, they pump 386,000 barrels of oil, accounting for a third of oil produced in the state of north dakota. >> i'll come out and admit it, we can't handle it, we are not equipped, we are not staffed. you need competent people, people who are not only scientifically equipped, you need people who know how to understand the law, and enforce the law, and hold companies accountable. >> the worst of the brine spills came in july 2014 around air dan

creek. 1 million gallons of brine, salty water, a bi-product of fracing poured from a broken pipeline. >> what we are looking at is the clean-up process. what i see as destruction to the environment, destruction to our life, all because of greed, and a dollar bill. to me, a dollar bill is not worth what i see here. or what happened the deepest fear is that the brine might contaminate the lake, a critical tribal water source. the owner of the pipe line said last year there was no evidence that salt water made it into the lake. the company would not talk to "america tonight". a tribal investigation into the spill is ongoing. >> some of these pipes were put into place too fast. prior to my administration, they were. the integrity is questionable in many areas. >> mark fox is the new chairman

of mha nation. elected on a reformist platform, he said they have little incentive. >> it's called a flip. you build a system, put it in place, and sell it. money. the boom took off too fast. we weren't prepared for it, the government was not prepared for it. state was not prepared. the only entity ready was the oil industry. they knew exactly what they were going to do, exactly what they wanted and how they were going to do it. >> reporter: much of the oil development took place in a traditional community of 600. lisa and walter lived in mandarey all their lives. >> every day there's a spill. doesn't matter if it's salt water, toxic waste or oil. >> people are extremely concerned for the environment. why hasn't the road been fixed.

all the trucks drive on the road. we have big huge potholes, no one is doing anything about it. we have a family of four killed out of 22. they were crushed by a truck trucks can be seen streaming down country roads at all hours. residents say it's not only a traffic hazard, but some of the toxic waste meant for disposal fails to make it off the reservation. >> when did you learn about this? >> this morning, about 9 o'clock i got a call from chief compliance. that looks like sludge at the bottom of someone's tanks. it's not much. it's not making money to go all the way off the reservation, where the hazardous waste disposals are. it's easier to dump it here. these happen on weekends, when no one is working, or at night. >> reporter: when no one is

patrolling. >> exactly. >> reporter: they know that. >> they know that. >> reporter: with few regulators across the reservation, trucks have been dumping brine, and oil waste and human waste. sanitation truck at a remote spot near the lake. >> when i seen the vehicle in that specific area, and i was like "why is he down there? what is he doing", he's obviously doing something he's not supposed to do. he's dumping. i grabbed the camera phone and started videoed where he was coming out of and asked what he was doing. he basically confessed to me that he was dumping. >> reporter: did he say he was dumping? >> yes. >> reporter: the company's owner told a local newspaper that they

had permission to release waste water there. the land owner said they had given no permission. the oil industry is getting what amounts to a free pass. >> reporter: as the environmental director how many fines have you issued? >> two. >> reporter: two. >> two. >> reporter: why only two? >> due to a lack of staffing. a lack of understanding the programme. >> reporter: if you were fully staffed, how many fines would you give? >> on average, one a week. >> reporter: what is the biggest obstacle getting in the way of putting more environmental protections in place? >> government reform. our government has to reform and change the way it does business. >> reporter: ironically what may help is the recent drop in oil prices, cut nearly in half over the past year. it could give nha nations breathing room to get control

over liquid wealth. >> if we sell valuable oil out of the ground. at the end of the day so to speak, 30 yeras from now, standard living for our people all of our people. poverty, crime, and health disparities. that's what it should represent. if we can't do that, it's better off leaving in the ground. this is our land. this is our home. we basically need to protect it. from anything and everything. down to the spills to the wells built in the area. we need to protect the land, our water. our air. my whole family. people in the whole community. it's been affected by this whole thing.

this is our home today. i don't want these people to come in here and destroy it. come in here and destroy it.c >> reporter: for this tribal nation, a boom that may have gone bust and just a few days ago correspondent tells us more than 200,000 gallons of brine spilt on the reservation, came from a broken pipeline, it was not as big as the one last july, it is a major concern for the community, and its impact is not fully known yet . >> next, no campus, no classrooms, but big lessons in revamping highered. the virtual college offering ivy league teaching at a fraction of the price. and learning the truth - next

week on "america tonight", the disturbing story of the loved ones whose bodies were donated to science, and the discovery of what really happened to their remains. that's tuesday on "america tonight".

it's graduation season, which means more young people are entering the grown up world

of debt and lots of it. college debt, and the rising cost of tuition leading to it is a concern of graduates. their parents, and leaders in higher ed. putting it stop to it may take a radical lesson and even overhaul of the way college happens. adam may on the wisdom behind the minerva project much >> reporter: minerva aims to compete with elite schools. it's an online course. founding dean joined the start league. >> i don't think students are effectively being educated or given tools for life or acquiring what we think of as a great cognitive tool that allows them to succeed. >> he may have a point. a recent study of a sample group

of graduates found that 45% demonstrated no significant improvement in critical thinking or complex reasoning after the first two years of college. a world class neuroscientist and former chair of psychology, he says minerva doesn't teach traditional subjects like maths or biology. first-year students take courses with titles like formal analysis and complex systems. designed to teach critical thinking skills rather than content. the technology is designed to compel student to participate. >> you see the full sliddio of the class, you see all the times that anyone spoke or typed any. you can filter down where you want to see people talking for more than 10 seconds or when they raise their hand. >> intriguing technology, but experimental.

>> do you have concrete data showing this method of teaching is working. >> we have methods that some of the practices that we use work well. others, we don't know. >> this wom person joined down burky and others to take this -- berkeley and others to take this class. it's not completely online. the classmates live in this apartment building. minerva's version of a dorm, and the only campus students have. tuition is $10,000 a year, room and board $18,000, half the college. >> we claim we are a solution. now, the battle of ideas is not about the substance of the student experience.

when universities engage in that battle again, that is what will not just save but elevate american higher education around the world. and minerva has plan to expand. the school accepted 200 new student for the next class from nearly 11,000 applications also lessons learnt, al jazeera america launches a new series hard-earned. we met hard-working americans and hear about their challenges. their stories begin sunday, 10:00p.m. eastern on al jazeera america tell us what you think at "america tonight". talk to us on twitter or facebook and come back and we'll have more of "america tonight". >> tuesday. >> i thought we were doing something good. >> bodies donated for science... >> how much regulation exists? >> very little. >> a shocking look inside the

world of body brokers. >> got a call from the fbi saying we have your husband's remains. >> an america tonight exclusive investigation. tuesday, 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> previously on hard earned. >> happy birthday! and here's your whistle for when you've fallen and you can't get up. >> bitch. >> i was sad. >> we didn't get the loan. >> we even put it on our calendar a little picture of a house. >> today was another terrible day at walgreens. just happy to get home and get to my little ones. >> i always wanted to be a midwife. but i just can't be a full time student, worker and mom. go sit d