James Robert Allison III
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300206692
- eISBN:
- 9780300216219
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300206692.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
This book shows how American Indians fulfilled the promise of Indian self-determination by reclaiming control over reservation resources. During America’s 1970s quest for energy independence, tribes ...
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This book shows how American Indians fulfilled the promise of Indian self-determination by reclaiming control over reservation resources. During America’s 1970s quest for energy independence, tribes possessing valuable minerals resisted massive mining projects threatening their indigenous communities. They also launched a national campaign to improve their tribal governments’ capacity to manage reservation land. Working with federal agencies tasked with increasing domestic energy production, these groups created the Council of Energy Resource Tribes to educate tribal leaders and broker deals that could provide energy to the nation and revenue for the tribes. Unfortunately, an antiquated legal structure hindered tribal efforts at development. Progressive-Era laws embedded with notions of Indian inferiority – namely, the 1938 Indian Mineral Leasing Act – denied tribes the right to control reservation mining, placing this authority instead with unprepared federal agents. By the early 1980s, however, increasingly sophisticated tribes demanded the legal authority to match their newfound capacity. Working with industry representatives, federal officials, and members of Congress, energy tribes thus constructed a new legal regime – anchored by the 1982 Indian Mineral Development Act – that recognized tribal, not federal, control over reservation development. But importantly, these efforts to restructure federal law also reshaped Indian Country. As tribes altered their governments to better manage resources, intense internal debates erupted over whether these new forms of governance were culturally “authentic.” In the end, efforts to increase tribal capacity and secure legal authority over reservation resources produced both expanded sovereignty and deeply divided communities.Less
This book shows how American Indians fulfilled the promise of Indian self-determination by reclaiming control over reservation resources. During America’s 1970s quest for energy independence, tribes possessing valuable minerals resisted massive mining projects threatening their indigenous communities. They also launched a national campaign to improve their tribal governments’ capacity to manage reservation land. Working with federal agencies tasked with increasing domestic energy production, these groups created the Council of Energy Resource Tribes to educate tribal leaders and broker deals that could provide energy to the nation and revenue for the tribes. Unfortunately, an antiquated legal structure hindered tribal efforts at development. Progressive-Era laws embedded with notions of Indian inferiority – namely, the 1938 Indian Mineral Leasing Act – denied tribes the right to control reservation mining, placing this authority instead with unprepared federal agents. By the early 1980s, however, increasingly sophisticated tribes demanded the legal authority to match their newfound capacity. Working with industry representatives, federal officials, and members of Congress, energy tribes thus constructed a new legal regime – anchored by the 1982 Indian Mineral Development Act – that recognized tribal, not federal, control over reservation development. But importantly, these efforts to restructure federal law also reshaped Indian Country. As tribes altered their governments to better manage resources, intense internal debates erupted over whether these new forms of governance were culturally “authentic.” In the end, efforts to increase tribal capacity and secure legal authority over reservation resources produced both expanded sovereignty and deeply divided communities.
James Robert Allison
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300206692
- eISBN:
- 9780300216219
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300206692.003.0010
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Native American Studies
Setting the stage for the momentous actions that would alter the trajectory of Indian energy development, in particular, and tribal sovereignty, more generally, the Prologue describes the massive ...
More
Setting the stage for the momentous actions that would alter the trajectory of Indian energy development, in particular, and tribal sovereignty, more generally, the Prologue describes the massive energy proposal the Consolidation Coal Company delivered to the Northern Cheyenne tribe in the summer of 1972. Although not a surprise to Northern Cheyenne leaders who had been working to secure this lucrative deal for some time, the offer placed the community in a precarious position. To reject it meant only more poverty, but many believed that accepting a project of these dimensions could threaten the continued existence of the tribe. In the end, tribal leaders would not make the decision on whether to accept Consolidation’s proposal, ordinary tribal members would. Launching a grassroots movement to protect the homeland, the Northern Cheyenne rejected the proposal, determined to develop their own minerals, and promised to alter Indians’ historic role as observers to the expropriation of tribal resources. The revolution in Indian energy development began in Lame Deer, Montana.Less
Setting the stage for the momentous actions that would alter the trajectory of Indian energy development, in particular, and tribal sovereignty, more generally, the Prologue describes the massive energy proposal the Consolidation Coal Company delivered to the Northern Cheyenne tribe in the summer of 1972. Although not a surprise to Northern Cheyenne leaders who had been working to secure this lucrative deal for some time, the offer placed the community in a precarious position. To reject it meant only more poverty, but many believed that accepting a project of these dimensions could threaten the continued existence of the tribe. In the end, tribal leaders would not make the decision on whether to accept Consolidation’s proposal, ordinary tribal members would. Launching a grassroots movement to protect the homeland, the Northern Cheyenne rejected the proposal, determined to develop their own minerals, and promised to alter Indians’ historic role as observers to the expropriation of tribal resources. The revolution in Indian energy development began in Lame Deer, Montana.
