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Members Attend CBM Development Assembly
Tribal Report Staff
Spang who recently earned a
B.S. degree in Environmental Science attended the assembly on CBM
development.
On Wednesday June 21, 2006 the
Association for the Advancement of Indigenous Resources (AAIR) held an
assembly of experts to discuss the “impacts and realities of coal bed natural
gas development” at the Charging Horse Casino. A buffalo dinner was served for an audience
of approximately 100 Northern Cheyenne Reservation residents. Special guests included: Travis Taylor,
member of the Southern Ute Tribe from Ignacio, CO and Assistant Operations
Manager of Red Willow Production Company; B.J. Kristiansen, Coordinator of
the Coal Bed Methane Commission of Sheridan, WY; John Wheaton, Senior
Research Hydrologist of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology of Billings,
MT; and Karen Brown, Coordinator of the Coal Bed Natural Gas Alliance of
Denver CO.
The purpose of the assembly was to
educate Northern Cheyenne Reservation residents of the possibility of
developing coal bed methane (CBM) on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation. Although the assembly was open to all
Northern Cheyenne Reservation residents, the majority of those in attendance
were Northern Cheyenne Tribal members from the Lame Deer community. Nevertheless, the assembly was more of a
promotion of CBM development rather than an education of the “impacts and
realities” of such development.
Taylor, representative of the Southern
Ute Tribe of New Mexico, discussed the development of the Red Willow Energy
Production Company, emphasizing tribal sovereignty when choosing to develop
CBM. Taylor’s recommendation to the Northern Cheyenne people is to develop using the model
of the Southern Ute Tribe. Taylor
discussed a number of factors that caught the attention of several Northern
Cheyenne Tribal members, among these included, of course, large amounts of
compensation from CBM leases. While
most of the questions from those in attendance primarily centered on “money,”
other issues involving adequate housing, healthcare, education, and
retirement were of secondary importance.
However Taylor
was able to discuss these issues that were not “monthly dividend payments to
adult tribal members.”
The majority of those in
attendance marveled at the housing and business structures that the people of
the Ute Tribe were able to secure because of CBM development. Taylor repeatedly
mentioned the poverty of the Northern Cheyenne Nation and highlighted the
wealth of the Ute Tribe, currently worth three billion dollars in assets and
investments. Taylor also shared the
diversification of the Ute Tribe’s energy production throughout the Southern
States and a few East Coast
States. The fifty-year progression of the Ute Tribe
and the Red Willow Energy Company was gradual and, as Taylor
recommended, “should be the model for tribes like the Northern
Cheyenne to follow.”
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Despite the professional presentations
of Taylor and Wheaton,
culturally identified Northern Cheyenne
members offered several criticisms from the CBM development. Rufus Spear, mentioned that the Ute Reservation is located near
several urban areas, and “it has always been difficult for our Cheyenne tribal members
to receive similar opportunities for training and schooling” (referring to
the trainings and services offered to those Ute tribal members employed by
the Red Willow company). “Most people
who want CBM development are usually the least culturally educated people,
the last people to leave, the last to educate themselves,
and the least likely actually be the ones who responsibly oversee such big
projects.” Spear also mentioned that the Cheyenne tribes “are the only Nations that
still hold their two sacred covenants in high regard. These philosophies and
covenants forbade the desecration of land and water.” Spear continued, “The
Cheyenne people still have their language, culture, ceremonial practices, and
philosophy in tact, when compared to other Indian nations that seek the
American Dream instead of the dreams of their own children. Besides, they
didn’t formally invite the traditional Cheyenne
government.”
Shanara
Spang a recent Northern Cheyenne graduate from Montana State University
who earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Sciences was also in
attendance at the assembly. “The
environments of the Northern Cheyenne and
the Ute reservations are so different and difficult to compare when
discussing CBM development,” Spang said. “Mr. Taylor mentioned himself that the Ute
reservation water was deeper and their soils were filled with more silt in
desert-like areas, this is much different than our forested lands and our
artisan wells which are primarily tapped for drinking water.” Spang continued,
“The areas that Red Willow develops are close to proper waste disposal
facilities and areas, this is a problem for the isolated Northern
Cheyenne. Besides the much smaller Ute Reservation is
checker-boarded with non-Indian ownership, unlike the N.C. Reservation, and
the Ute tribal population is much smaller than the Northern
Cheyenne. These factors could lead to even more problems.”
Red Willow has yet to develop
in northern Plains states; therefore their model for CBM development may not
be appropriate for the Northern Cheyenne,
nor any other northern Plains Indian Nations.
Taylor
was at times contradictory to himself at one point saying, “It [CBM] doesn’t
contaminate our water at all,” and “we have no water contamination on our
reservation.” Later he briefly mentioned the process Red Willow executes when
isolating chemical contaminants from well pipes. These contaminants are “hauled away” to a
nearby treatment plants in New
Mexico. Such
a costly process should have been emphasized in this discussion of “the impacts
and realities of CBM development,” but it was avoided and no discussion
occurred.
Amidst the impressive
photographs of elaborate apartment complexes and businesses, the AAIR had an
information table taking the names and addresses of attendees. On the same table was a petition that
enrolled N.C. Tribal members could
also sign to request to the N.C. Tribal Council that a referendum vote to
authorize CBM development on and within the boundaries of the N.C. Reservation
be placed on this year’s November ballot.
Strangely enough, the petition was not at all mentioned by any of the
speakers. The goal of the assembly was
not to educate N.C. Reservation residents about CBM development as
advertised. Instead the assembly was to rally support for the petition. “AAIR
should be informing people about the original goals of the meeting, before
they even ask tribal members to sign a petition,” Spang
said.
Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne Nation (June 2006 Vol. I No. 7), page 4.
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Tobacco/Gas Tax Reimbursement not a
Per-Capita Payment
Tribal Report Staff
In 1980, the Supreme Court
of the United States
ruled in Washington v. Confederated Tribes of the Colville Indian
Reservation that States did not have the authority to apply a tax on the
sales of tobacco to Indians on reservations.
This U.S. Supreme Court ruling affirmed tribal sovereignty, and that
States could not tax Indians on reservations.
Every sovereign Indian Nation in America since had established its
own tax regulation standards to ensure that a State could not enforce their
tax laws on Indians living on Indian reservations. In the State of Montana, tribes regulate the state tax
codes with a tax refund or reimbursement that is calculated after gasoline
and tobacco sales occur on reservations.
Essentially tribal members do pay State taxes on tobacco and gas
bought on Indian reservations, but Tribes are eventually refunded by the
State every two years. This process has been effective in avoiding taxation
disputes between States and Tribes, while maintaining good relationships
between the two sovereigns.
What most tribal members do not
understand is that the State of Montana
cannot accurately determine how many Tribal members from each Tribal Nation
purchased what amount of tobacco or gasoline taxed. This amount determines the amount of the
tax refund each Tribal Nation will receive each two years. The State of Montana determines the amount of the tax
refund based on the number of enrolled Tribal members living on their
respective reservation, not the total enrollment of Tribal members.
While some Montana Indian
Tribes use this State tax reimbursement to fund tribally controlled programs,
the Northern Cheyenne Nation has always distributed the refund to all
enrolled tribal membership in the form of per-capita payments. However, the tax refund is not a per-capita
payment. Per-capita payments are funds
entitled and distributed to all enrolled tribal membership from
revenue generated by the tribe or from the royalties the tribe incurs through
mineral leases. In other words
per-capita payments come from a tribe’s profits, not from a State tax
refund. While every enrolled tribal member
is entitled to per-capita payments, there are regulations for payments from
State tobacco and gasoline refunds.
On
Monday June 19, 2006 a resolution was presented to change some regulations,
defining which tribal members would be refunded from this year’s Montana State tobacco and gasoline
reimbursement. The resolution was presented
by White River (Busby) District Councilman L. Jace Killsback.
The resolution would have amended the current State tobacco and
gasoline refund disbursement standards by only reimbursing those Northern
Cheyenne Tribal members who have “permanent addresses” on the Northern
Cheyenne Indian Reservation. This
would change the original
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standard which reimbursed all
enrolled tribal members. This
recommendation was made because the amount the State refunds is based on the
number of Northern Cheyenne Tribal members living on the Northern Cheyenne reservation. The State’s refund standard is not based
on the total number of enrolled tribal members.
This
resolution also had several exceptions including reimbursing those Northern
Cheyenne Tribal members who have permanent addresses on the N.C. Reservation
but who may be away from home for educational purposes, services in the
military, or if incarcerated in non-Northern Cheyenne Tribal
penitentiaries. Other exceptions
included those Northern Cheyenne Tribal members who reside in the towns of
Colstrip, Crow Agency, and Ashland. Though these tribal members do not have
permanent addresses in or on the N.C. Reservation, they are close and may
commute to the reservation for work. Councilman Killsback stated, “Since the
State only counts those Cheyenne members who have permanent addresses on the
reservation, which totals about 4,200 compared to about 8,500 of our total
enrollment, it only makes sense to reimburse those tribal members counted. Besides tribal members living off the
reservation can still be reimbursed if they simply change their permanent
addresses to one on the reservation.”
The
State of Montana plans to reimburse
approximately $1,200,000 to the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, based on the 4,200
on-reservation Cheyenne
population. Meanwhile the Northern
Cheyenne Tribe plans to distribute the $1,200,000 reimbursement to about
8,500 enrolled Northern Cheyennes living on the
N.C. Reservation and throughout America,
Canada, Mexico, and countries in Europe.
The
Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council voted on the resolution. It did not pass by 3-6 vote count. After the resolution was denied,
Councilwoman Fisher (Rep. Birney District) made a motion to “recommend that
all Northern Cheyenne Council members educate their respective districts of
this legislation.” Councilwoman
Fisher’s motion was also denied by a 3-6 vote count. It seems that those council members, who
did not want the resolution passed, do not want their respective communities
to know about it either.
All
seven of Montana’s Indian Tribes have
similar compact agreements with the State of Montana for this tax reimbursement. However, the Northern
Cheyenne is the only tribe to disperse their funds to all
enrolled tribal members. Councilman Killsback also mentioned, “This has been
a pressing issue that was brought to me by several Cheyenne tribal members, I am doing what I
was elected to do: bring issues from the people to the attention of our
leaders.” Killsback plans to bring a revised resolution for vote at a later
N.C. Tribal Council meeting.
Tribal Report of the Northern Cheyenne
Nation (June 2006 Vol. I No. 7), page 4.
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2006 Annual Fireworks Display
Northern
Cheyenne Volunteer Fire Department
The Northern Cheyenne Volunteer Fire
Department will be conducting the Annual 4th of July Fireworks Display on
June 30, 2006 in Lame Deer, Montana
@ Dusk. This helps kick off the powwow each year. Music, Entertainment, and
Concessions will be available beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Littlewolf Tribal Building Parking Lot. We will be
conducting Fire Prevention for our youth children before the Fireworks
Display. All visitors are welcome to come and enjoy the fireworks display.
This display is free of charge.
The following is a list of sponsors so
far for this year’s Annual Fireworks Display:
Northern
Cheyenne Tribal Housing Authority, Lame Deer, MT
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PPL Montana, LLC, Colstrip,
MT
Cheyenne Depot 1, Lame
Deer, MT
Chicken Coop,
Lame Deer, MT
Native Action,
Lame Deer, MT
Charging Horse
Casino, Lame Deer, MT
Rosebud IGA, Colstrip, MT
Billings Towing &
Repair, Billings, MT
Joseph Eve &
Company, Great Falls, MT
Range Telephone, Forsyth, MT
Western Energy
Company, Colstrip, MT
Don’s Electric, Colstrip, MT
Donations are still being accepted for
the fireworks display. Please contact the fire department at (406) 477-8161
or put your donations in one of the fire boots at our local businesses. We
hope you all enjoy the fireworks display!
Tribal Report of the Northern
Cheyenne Nation (June 2006 Vol. I No. 7), page 4.
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