Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council, Inc. Opposes Minnesota-Wisconsin Powerline
Lac du Flambeau, WI, March 15 - Eleven more American Indian tribes are now
on record against a 260-mile powerline planned for northern Wisconsin. The
line which would originate just outside of Duluth and terminate in Wausau,
would cross Lac Courte Oreilles Chippewa territory. Wisconsin's mining
activists fear the line is also being built to bring power to the proposed
Crandon copper sulfide mine near the Mole Lake Chippewa reservation. The
line is being constructed to ship cheap electricity generated by a northern
Manitoba mega-hydroelectric project which is devastating traditional
Pimicikamak Cree Indian land.
The resolution states that GLITC, Inc. "strongly opposes the construction of
transmission lines anywhere in Wisconsin that will result in more harm to
Pimicikamak Cree Nation, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
and the Chippewa ceded territories in Wisconsin and Minnesota." GLITC, Inc.
supports greatly increased investments by tribal, local, state and national
governments, individuals, and corporate and institutional entities in energy
conservation and renewable energy resources in the upper Midwest, to
displace the need to purchase more electricity from Manitoba Hydro.
In September 1999, Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa
(Hayward WI) became the first American tribe to support for Pimicikamak Cree
Nation, and in February 2000, the Great Lakes Intertribal Fish and Wildlife
Commission affirmed its opposition to the powerline on Chippewa ceded
territory.
For more information: GLITC, Inc.: 715-588-3324; Pimicikamak Cree Nation:
612-871-8404