Lac Courte Oreilles Resolution
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 pursuant 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 Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation since time
immemorial and;
WHEREAS, the Lac Courte Oreilles 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 Americašs 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
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