articles-october 7

Means wins tribe primary election
By Jomay Steen, Journal Staff Writer

PINE RIDGE - Russell Means won the first round in a landslide victory Tuesday out of a field of 13 candidates vying for tribal president of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Means was a clear winner of the Oglala Sioux Tribe's primary race. With 917 votes, he garnered more than twice the support received by incumbent President John Yellow Bird Steele, who got 413 votes for a fourth-place finish.

Citing concerns about people leaving the land to resettle in urban areas, Means said he wants to stanch the flow of American Indians off the reservation and build bonds with South Dakota and surrounding states. full article

Tribe to appeal ruling on size of reservation

The Associated Press

SHAWANO — The Stockbridge-Munsee Indian Tribe says it will appeal a federal court decision that reduced its Shawano County reservation by about three-quarters, to about 15,000 acres.

“It is such a complicated matter that the court ruling was 147 pages long,” Tribal President Bob Chicks said of last week’s decision by U.S. Magistrate Patricia Gorence. “We are taking our time to review all of the details. We believe in the merits of our case and will continue to persevere.”

Chicks said the ruling would be appealed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. full article

Federal judge reviews Northampton County land tiff

Will decide if Indian tribe's suit for 315 acres in Forks can proceed.

By Elliot Grossman
Of The Morning Call

October 7, 2004

PHILADELPHIA | For two hours Wednesday, lawyers argued in federal court about the rightful owner of a piece of land, something that's done regularly in courtrooms across the country. But this argument was different.

This one involved a land transaction that may have occurred even before the United States came into existence. And the people fighting for ownership contend that the nation's settlers cheated their ancestors, American Indians, out of the land. full article

Tribes renew suit over mine cleanup
New complaint says state should improve treatment of polluted water

By MIKE DENNISON
Tribune Capitol Bureau

HELENA -- The Fort Belknap Indian tribes and a trio of conservation groups Wednesday renewed their state lawsuit over cleanup at the Zortman-Landusky gold mines, saying current water-treatment plans aren't doing the job.

A new complaint, filed in District Court at Helena, said the state should be forced to improve long-term treatment of polluted water at the mine sites in the Little Rocky Mountains south of Malta.

It also said the state should enforce water-quality standards at two streams that flow onto the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and that have become increasingly polluted. full article

Umatilla tribes say they'll sue over environment at Hanford
By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

YAKIMA -- The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation have filed notice of intent to sue the U.S. Department of Energy, demanding the agency assess the harm that 40 years of plutonium production caused to natural resources at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.

In filing the notice, the tribes joined the states of Washington and Oregon in seeking to have natural resource injuries assessed at Hanford. In July, the two states sought a court-ordered assessment of environmental harm at Hanford if the federal government does not conduct one. full article

Tribe: Pay us for air rights

07.10.2004 - By ANNE BESTON

Maori want to charge for the use of air space above Lake Taupo in a move that would cover floatplane landings, bungy jumping and bridges over rivers.

Ngati Tuwharetoa believe that an agreement which gave them ownership of the Taupo lakebed and the beds of its tributaries and streams entitles the Tuwharetoa Maori Trust Board to charge a licence fee to commercial operators.

The tribe makes about $1 million a year from an existing fee system. full article