Ray Ring

Senior Editor

Concerned about the nonexistent economy on their Montana reservation, members of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe have voted to open their land to coal mining. It’ll be a big change, and it provides a message for everyone on all sides of the West’s energy wars.

The Northern Cheyenne have fended off mining companies since the 1970s, in court battles that reached the U.S. Supreme Court. They’ve also become a leader, among all tribes, in protecting other aspects of their lands and waters. But meanwhile, they have almost no jobs other than the federal programs, and high rates of drug use and other social ills. High Country News, in a 2003 cover story, highlighted the dilemma.

Recently, some Northern Cheyenne formed the Association for the Advancement of Indigenous Resources, and they circulated petitions to get a pro-coal measure on their November 7 ballot. The vote for mining was close — 664 to 572 — and a separate measure, calling for coalbed-methane drilling, got crushed (only 365 voted for it, with 841 against).

The contrasting votes are especially interesting. The Northern Cheyenne reservation has huge reserves of both resources. But voters see the drilling as the greater threat, potentially adding roads, well pads and pollution across more acres and watersheds, compared to relatively confined open-pit mines.

Tribal President Eugene Little Coyote tells the Billings Gazette that the Cheyenne government will proceed “very carefully” in negotiating with coal companies. We’ll see where it goes.