"In '74, 1000/0 of all federally controlled uranium production came from Indian reseroations." ru ll y ntr lied uranium production came from Indian reservations. Since then they've gone kind of crazy in Wyoming, one could say. There's a lot of mining there in Wyoming, but still. for th most pan, we predict that about 80% of federal uranium production comes from Indian lands now. And since the U.S. is the majur pruduc r of uranium, what it looks like on a world scale is that Indians are the No.4 producers of uranium in the world (that's combined U.S. and Canadian Indians). RAIN: What do they get out of it, financially? WLO: As of 75, Indians were being paid $.60/Ib . for uranium whICh was going for $30 /Ib. on the market. That's because the federal government's Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) negotiates these thmgs. Now the pri e has gone up and Indians are getting still, I think, $.601Ib. for uranium, 'cause most of the contracts haven't been rene otiated- the BIA has the right to authorize renegotiation or not. In the outhwest we have a situation where there's the most corruption of any Indian res rvation, on the Navajo reservation. n the Hopi reservation also. Peter MacDonald is called the shah of Navajo . Between him and the Hopi Tribal Chairman (Maraccess = "MFS 1980 Timeline," free from local groups or Mobilization for Survival 3601 Locust Walk Philadelphia, PA 19104 21 5/386-4875 The MFS Thi rd National onference last Denmber in Louisvil le, KY (" Survival in the 'SOs-Building a Unified Movement" )' produced an ambitious timeline of actions and outrc(}ch for the coming year. with these major fo i: April 25-28: OALITION FOR A Na NN e l E R WORLD-Activities in Washington , 0 , with parallel actions in PhoeniX, AZ. Lobby Day, Teach-in, March & Rally, ReligiOUS Service, and Nonviolent ivil Disobcdience at the Dept. of Energy. tin Sekaquaptewa) they sold out the whole reservation. I know that they're energy resource rich, but we can see that they're victims of the system as well. RAIN: Well, some of the more northern tribes are being very wary about coal rights, aren't they? WLO: Right, like Northern Cheyenne. If Indian tribes in the western U.S., not including the west coast area, exercise jurisdiction to their water rights, for example, there wouldn't be any water in those states, 'cause legally all the water belongs to Indian tribes. Now that's not a bad thing to say, and it's not like Indians are gonna steal it all, but under the foremost doctrine of water rights, the "Winters Doctrine," Indians have the rights to that. Now in the Southwest in particular, the Navajo nation has exercised its right by deciding to give away its water, literally give away all its water, to people like New Mexico Public Utilities, Kenecott Copper, KerrMcGee, Exxon; that's where all the water in the Southwest is going to, to the energy companies! If Indian tribes wanted to exercise jurisdiction, they have the legal rights to exercise that jurisdiction, under international law and under national law. RAIN: What you're saying, then, is that if the Indians wanted to they could stop the whole synfuels program, right, 'cause that takes tremendous amounts of water. WLO: If the Indian Tribal Councils could be pushed into looking reasonably at the situation they could stop a lot of energy development, just because of the water rights. But because people like Peter MacDonald are in there, there are now in the area of the Navajo reservation 36 operating uranium mines, 6 operating uranium mills, 4 coal strip mines averaging between 22 and 40,000 acres, and 5 coal-fired power plants. And on-line are up to 6 coal gasification plants. .. . They could stop that if they wanted to. RAIN: And Peter MacDonald gets written up in all the major national magazines as the great Horatio Alger story of the Indians! WLO: That's right. He just got appointed to the National Petroleum Council. He's like ... he's the biggest man in the Indian country. But the only way he's got his power is because he leases out his land, and there's a lot of local opposition to him because, if you're living in the area that Peabody Coal wants to strip mine, and you have to move, then you get really angry. It's like the older women-that's where you see this stuff about WARN-y'know, the older women are the ones that are leading the struggle down there in the Southwest. The women are the traditional leaders at Navajo. In September of this year Katherine Smith, a 65-year-old Navajo woman, was arrested for shooting over the head of a fencing crew. The fencing crew wanted to force her to relocate off her land. That's what provides the gUidance for the younger people in a lot of ing MacDonald. ===================================p=la=c=e=s,=i=t'=s=t=he:s=e:o:ld:e:r:w:o:m==e=n===th:o:s:e:a:re==th:e:p:e:o:P:le:t:h:a:t:ar:e:r:e:s'ls:==tApril 26-Fall: NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT SUMMER - Grass-roots campaign to highlight disarmament during the election period. July 18-26: BLACK HILLS SURVIVAL GkTHERING, South Dakota (see box). - MR The Trilateral Connection (poster), 1979, $3.50 from: Black Hills Alliance P.O. Box 2508 Rapid City, SO 57701 Winona LaDuke calls them "the supreme Wasichu ." The Black Hills Alliance considers them its Number One enemy. Just what is the Trilateral Commission? Lynne Lahr and others in the Black Hills Alliance spent hours poring through Moody's Corporate Index , Standard & Poor'5 Register , Who's Who and a number of other sources to find out. What they came up with is an indispensable resource illustrating the links between U.S. Trilateral Commission members, the federal government, and multinational corporations, foundations, banks, industrials, transportation and energy companies. The Trilateral Commission formed in 1973 and meets on the average of every nine months ;n one of th e Trilateral Commission countries , which represent North America, Western Europe and Japan-the industrial nathms. David Rockefeller and Zbigniew Brzesinski were tile commission's founders. The stated purpose of the organ; zation is "world I'co'lOrnic order." - MR
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