Indian Country Today, December 2, 2003

ALBUQUERQUE, Dec. 2 - American Indians opposed to the U.S. Energy Bill 2003 described it as corporate-welfare for the rich and corporate-rape of Mother Earth, as the National Congress of American Indians concluded its 60th Annual Convention.

During the tense debate, Alaskan Natives stood firm, gaining support from the lower 48 states, to protect sovereignty and prevent for-profit Alaskan Native Corporations from gaining status as tribes.

Alaskan Natives said the energy bill is a tool for the slow eradication of tribal governments and seizure of land and resources by Bush-friendly corporations.

However, Southern Ute Chairman Howard Richards Sr., of Colorado and Rosebud Sioux Chairman Charles Colombe of South Dakota argued in favor of the energy bill.

It was Gwich'in elder Jonathan Solomon and the Zuni Pueblo Gov. Arlen P. Quetawki which brought the debate full circle to the sacred. "We need tribes talking to tribes, not corporate money," said Solomon, 74, from Alaska.

Solomon said NCAI must not be taken over by corporate money and the people must remain strong. As for those who came to argue on behalf of the energy bill, Solomon said it was clear where the influence came from. "They are sent here by corporate money."

‘Protect his peoples'

Gov. Quetawki said he has been given a sacred trust to protect his peoples' sacred places and prevent anyone from taking coal, oil or gas from his Mother Earth.

"I am not about to allow anyone to come in and take them from me," Gov. Quetawki told NCAI.

Delivering a stern warning, Gov. Quetawki said, "Pretty soon you will run out of them," he said of mining coal and uranium and drilling for oil and gas. Gov. Quetawki said the true riches are the language, religion and culture. "If those run out - where do you expect to be!"

When elder Solomon and Gov. Quetawki concluded, NCAI voted unanimously to accept new wording in a letter of concern about the energy bill to the Senate Energy and Natural Resource Committee Chair, Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and member Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. The letter refined the wording in a letter sent earlier in the week from an NCAI working group.

Before the vote, Solomon said he did not like what he saw happening at NCAI. Responding to negativity about the age of the Alaskan's spokesperson, Solomon pointed out that as an elder he gave the difficult task of presenting the Alaska concerns to Evon Peter, 27, Gwich'in of Arctic Village.

Peter, co-chair to the Gwich'in Council International and former chief of the Neetsaii Gwich'in, consulted with Colombe during the debate and successfully worked out NCAI's position.

Peter told NCAI that Alaskan Natives are concerned about the definition of Indian tribes in the energy bill because it gives for-profit Alaskan corporations status as tribes to develop and regulate energy development. Southern Ute Chairman Richards spoke against contacting senators with concerns over the energy bill.

"Why are we now at this late hour dealing with this?" He said the bill gives tribes the option of controlling their own destiny by entering into leases without Interior involvement, yet it also allows tribes to "be under the thumb of the federal government" if they choose.

Rosebud Chairman Colombe said there are 15 tribes (out of more than 500 federally recognized tribes) in support of the energy bill.

"Let's not carve up what has been negotiating in good faith," he told NCAI. Richards said 53 tribes are members of the Council on Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) and questioned why other energy developing tribal delegates remained silent during the NCAI debate.

Picuris Pueblo Gov. Gerald Nailor of New Mexico responded that the tribes are not silent. He said when he speaks he speaks for all the people and for sovereignty.

Gov. Nailor said it is vital to reach Congress with the message of "who we are and what we are all about."

Janine M. Sam of the Little River Band of Ottawa, with her baby sleeping in her arms, told NCAI that the federal government continues to change the definition of American Indians and Alaskan Natives and the tribes would be the ones to suffer in times of litigation in court.

Calls for filibuster

On Native America Calling, broadcast live in the hall of the convention, Montana State Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder and Chippewa Cree councilman, called for a filibuster to prevent passage of the energy bill. "I would support the filibuster," said Windy Boy.

Windy Boy said there was no consultation with Indian tribes in regards to the energy bill. He said tribes are dealing with enough pollution, including an abandoned mine near Fort Belknap in the Little Rocky Mountains left behind by bankrupt corporations.

On the energy bill panel, Osage Chief Jim Gray of Oklahoma pressed for passage of the energy bill, saying that his people depend on oil and gas development for revenues. He said it gives tribes the opportunity to develop their resources.

"I'd like to have 80 percent of what I'd like to have, rather than 100 percent of nothing." Gray said.

Gray said plans for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge have been halted, proof that Congress is listening to Native people.

Gwich'in Faith Gemmill said multi-national corporations have no respect for indigenous people and the energy bill would relieve the federal government of its trust responsibility and threaten sacred sites.

"We have high rates of cancer, high rates of birth defects and global warming," Gemmill said.

Navajo youth Enei Begaye of the Black Mesa Water Coalition in Arizona described the suffering of the Navajo and Hopi people because of coal mining on Black Mesa, during the audience responses.

Native America Calling host Patty Talahongva said opponents of the bill claim there is too much corporate welfare and detrimental impact on the environment.

Earlier, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called the energy bill, the "No lobbyist left behind bill."

During a news conference held three days earlier, adjacent to NCAI, American Indians opposed the bill. They said energy corporations could take advantage of tribes who are still developing their governments. Further, Navajo and other tribes have been left with decades of cancer and death from Cold War uranium mining.

After NCAI reached its position on the energy bill, NCAI President Tex Hall thanked the delegates for their diplomacy.

During the convention, Hall was re-elected president of NCAI, Joe Garcia of San Juan Pueblo re-elected vice president and Juana Majel-Dixon re-elected secretary. Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington, was elected treasurer.

The convention concluded with a traditional honor song by Rosebud Chief Leonard Crow Dog, which offered a tribute to the people and named Hall as a leader of Indian people.

© 2003 Indian Country Today. All rights reserved.