Posted-Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 09:56:51 -0500 (CDT)
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 09:55:32 -0500
Subject: WI tribe becomes first in US to support Cross Lake
From: "Ann Stewart"
To: Mark Anderson
The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians has become
the first US tribe to pass a resolution against the 250-mile long, 345 kV
transmission line being proposed by Minnesota Power and Wisconsin Public
Service Corporation. Their "hydro history," opposition to the line, support
for Cross Lake and the recognition that there are alternatives make this a
model resolution for other organizations.
If you are so inclined, letters of support can be sent to the Tribal
Governing Board, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
(fax 715-634-4797; they do not have email).
Resolution No. 99-91
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is a
federally recognized American Indian Tribe, organized pursuant to the Indian
Reorganization Act of 1934, 25 U.S.C. Section 462, et. seq; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board is the governing
body of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
pursant to the Lac Courte Oreilles Constitution: Article III; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians has
inhabited the lands and waters of Northern Wisconsin on the Lac Couerte
Oreilles Indian Reservation since time immemorial and;
WHEREAS, the Lac Courtes Oreille Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has
experienced social and environmental devastation from the flooding of its
lands and waters as a result of a hydroelectric project built sixty years
ago; and
WHEREAS, the hydroelectric project has never been subjected to comprehensive
social and environmental assessments; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
lost a large part of its traditional economic subsistence of hunting,
fishing and trapping base; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians has
learned that a 250-mile, 345 kV transmission line is being proposed by
Minnesota Power and Wisconsin Public Service Corporation to carry bulk power
from Manitoba Hydro through Sawyer County and other jurisdictions in
Wisconsin; and
WHEREAS, high power transmission lines have been shown to increase cases of
childhool leukemia and have shown to increase cancer rates in general; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa has a higher
than usual rate of cancer, which may increase due to proposed transmission
lines; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is
aware that our brothers and sisters of Pimicikamak Cree Nation in Manitoba,
Canada, have suffered the loss of their traditional ways of life and the
destruction of vast areas of the lands and waters of northern Manitoba which
they have inhabited since time immemorial; and
WHEREAS, Pimicikamak Cree Nation is living daily amid the environmental
devastation caused by flooding or rendering inaccessible more than 3,000,000
acres of its traditional territory; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
recognizes that flooding one of North America¹s largest boreal forests has
resulted in methyl mercury contamination of the Cree people and the fish,
aquatic mammals and animals such as moose, that depend upon northern waters
for their existence; and also the release of immeasurable quantities of the
powerful greenhouse gas, methane, into the atmosphere; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is
aware that Pimicikamak Cree Nation continues to suffer very high rates of
crime, violence, substance abuse, suicide, and mass poverty and unemployment
(reported to be among the highest in Canada); and that its youth are in
despair because they have no future; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians is
aware that the Premier of Manitoba (its Governor) has recently asked
Manitoba Hydro (a state corporation) to double its exports to the United
States, which will result in the building of more generating stations,
transmission lines, reservoirs, northern roads, and more flooding and
environmental destruction; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians
recognizes that there are alternative methods for the generation of
electricity that cause less harm to the environment, and in particular, to
the indigenous peoples who depend upon the lands, waters and animals for
economic, cultural and spiritual subsistence; and
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians,
while recognizing the importance of electricity to the economic well-being
of the state of Wisconsin, also believes that the full social and
environmental costs of electricity generation must be included in its
purchase price; and
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake
Superior Chippewa Indians strongly opposes the construction of transmission
lines anywhere on the Lac Courte Oreilles Reservation that will result in
more harm to the peoples Lac Courte Oreilles as well as to the lands, waters
and peoples of Wisconsin; and
The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians calls for
greatly increased investments by tribal, local, state and national
governments, as well as by individuals and corporate and institutional
entities in energy conservation and genuinely renewable energy sources in
Wisconsin and the upper Midwest, to displace the "need" to purchase
additional environmentally and socially destructive electricity from
Manitoba Hydro; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior
Chippewa Indians strongly opposes the building of transmission lines in the
territory ceded in the treaties of 1836, 1837 and 1842 where Lac Courte
Oreilles people hunt, fish and gather for their subsistence.
CERTIFICATION
I, the undersigned, as Secretary Treasurer of the Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal
Governing Board, hereby certify that the Tribal Governing Board is composed
of seven (7) members, of whom being present, constituted a quorum at a
meeting thereof, duly called, convened, and held on the 20th day of Sept.
1999; that the foregoing resolution was duly adopted at said meeting by an
affirmative vote of 3 members, 0 agains, 0 abstaining, ad that said
resolution has not been rescinded or amended in any way.
Don Carley / Secretary Treasurer
Lac Courte Oreilles Tribal Governing Board
Now Therefore Be It Resolved:
That Lac Courte Oreille Nation strongly opposes the construction of
transmission lines anywhere in Wisconsin that will result in more harm to
Pimickamak Cree Nation, as well as to the lands, waters and peoples of
Wisconsin;
That Lac Courte Oreille Nation calls for greatly increased investments by
tribal, local, state and national governments, as well as by individuals and
corporate and institutional entities, in energy conservation and genuinely
renewable energy sources in Wisconsin and the upper Midwest, to displace the
³need² to purchase additional environmentally and socially destructive
electricity from Manitoba Hydro;
That such investments will result in local job creation, training and
permanent employment, and greater reliability and self-sufficiency for
tribal members and for the citizens of Wisconsin, rather than the ³export²
of these jobs to Manitoba, as well as having the people and tribes of
Wisconsin dependent upon hundreds of miles of transmission lines for their
electricity;
That Lac Courte Oreille Nation will communicate this resolution to the
following: