Dear HCN,
A recent
High Country News article about the Northern
Cheyenne tribe’s battles over coal (HCN, 1/20/03: A breath of
fresh air) includes an allegation by Gail Small that the settlement
of the New World Mine battle near Yellowstone National Park several
years ago was an example of “environmental racism”
because the conservation groups “signed off on the Otter
Creek” coal deal.
The state of Montana demanded
federal coal leases in eastern Montana as ransom for stopping the
proposed mine. The conservation community strongly opposed this
proposal, as did the Clinton administration.
Despite our
opposition, a deal was cut by Republican leaders in a meeting
behind closed doors, in a congressional subcommittee that
instructed the secretary of Interior to find federal coal lands in
eastern Montana to compensate the state. If the state and the
Interior Department could not agree on a land trade, the Otter
Creek tracts would automatically transfer to the state at the end
of the Clinton administration’s term. Then-President Clinton
line-item vetoed the Otter Creek provision at the urging of
conservationists. It was only when the line-item veto power granted
to the president by the Congress was ruled unconstitutional by the
Supreme Court that the Otter Creek provision became law.
Ironically, given the state’s claim that it deserved
compensation, the Otter Creek tracts are unlikely to be developed
due to their distance from existing coal mines, power lines or
adequate transportation facilities.
We sought out the Crow
Tribe in this battle as an important ally due to the fact that the
mine site was located within their historic territories. Our
failure to involve the Northern Cheyenne, in hindsight, may have
been an oversight, but it hardly constitutes an act of
environmental racism. If we had thought that our efforts would have
had a direct impact on Northern Cheyenne lands and communities, we
would have sought their involvement in the battle as valuable
allies.
Michael Scott
Bozeman, Montana
The writer is executive director of the Greater
Yellowstone Coalition.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline It wasn’t environmental racism.
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