ROCK AND
A HARD PLACE
HUFFINGTON
02.09.14
IN THE PATH OF COAL
Cherry Point, WA
Bellingham
Powder River Basin
National parks
American Indian reservations
Waterways
Cities and towns
Proposed ports
PHOTO
SOURCES:
OR ILLUSTRATION
WYOMING STATE
CREDIT
GEOLOGICAL
TK
SURVEY
Coal train route
Seattle
Olympia
MONTANA
Spokane
WASHINGTON
Yakima
Longview, WA
Celilo Village, OR
Billings
Missoula
Port of Morrow, OR
OREGON
the tribal council are for coal mining and some are against it.”
The Northern Cheyenne’s decision on whether or not to harvest their coal may, too, come
down to pending verdicts on the
Pacific Northwest ports. No train
tracks currently run to their reservation’s coal reserves, though
rail lines could be expanded with
enough demand.
Mexican Cheyenne believes the
council is leaning towards development of the coal. “I see a real
desperation to help the economy
any way they can,” he said.
Wind energy has also been on the
table here for years. But impoverished tribes such as the Northern
Cheyenne and the Crow often lack
the funds necessary for capital in-
IDAHO
WYOMING
vestments and opportunities for
outside help, such as tax credits.
Debra Lekanoff, a leader with
the Swinomish Tribe of Washington, said the tribes need federal
support to find alternative ways to
benefit from their resources. “We
urge the federal government to
help our brothers and sisters with
funding, capacity-building and
sound science to open up the doors
to new opportunities,” she said.
She suggested that the “elephant in the room” in the coal
development debate is the challenge of “walking in two worlds”
and soundly balancing “economic sustainability and environmental protection.”
The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which includes the
Yakama and Lummi, adopted a
resolution in September supporting a pilot project proposed by