Schweitzer, CSKT council talk energy, mining, IDs

By Jennifer McBride / Leader Staff

PABLO — Tension over gaming regulations and an unresolved water rights contest didn't affect a cordial meeting Friday between Gov. Brian Schweitzer and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, where Schweitzer announced that it was "good to be among friends."

Tribal Chairman James Steele, Jr. said that, while people focused on the failed negotiations between the governments, Schweitzer and the tribes had reached 26 "meat and potato" deals, including agreements on law enforcement, health care and the upper Clark Fork River restoration.

"You've reached out to Indians in more ways than any Governor in Montana history," Steele told Schweitzer.

The tribes and the governor spent most of the time discussing energy, mining policy, bison hunting and the real ID.

Energy

Steele commended Schweitzer for his work fighting British Petroleum's proposed coal-bed methane exploration in the Canadian Flathead, which critics say could affect the environmental quality of the water in Flathead Lake. Senator Max Baucus announced two weeks ago that Canada BP had agreed to abandon the planned methane extraction. Schweitzer said he had spoken on the phone with the CEO of Canada BP and thanked him for dropping the proposal.

"There are some places that are appropriate places to develop energy," Schweitzer said, "but this is the last, best place."

Schweitzer called BP Montana's "friend" because it was contributing to clean up in the upper Clark Fork river. The governor said the upper Clark Fork river clean-up will cost $500 million over 12 years, and no one wanted to see the same irreversible damage in the Flathead.

"We will not allow those mistakes to repeat," Schweitzer said.

Schweitzer and the council also discussed future energy expansion. The tribes, which are currently co-license holders of the Kerr Dam, will take complete control in 2015. Besides water energy, Schweitzer encouraged the tribes to support wind power. Schweitzer has supported the Montana/Alberta "tie line" which will connect the Canadian and American wind grids and offer "clean, green" power. According to documents on the Montana Department of Commerce website, the 230-kilovolt transmission line between Great Falls and Lethbridge, Alberta, would allow for 300 megawatts of transmission in either direction.

Energy will be important to Montana's future economy, Schweitzer said, because companies in more urban areas like Silicon Valley and Seattle live in a demand "bottleneck" and have a difficult time finding sufficient energy for low costs. If the state can offer cheap, clean energy to potential businesses, he explained, corporations will be more willing to move to the state, offering high tech jobs to the next generation of Montanans.

"We could produce hundreds of high tech jobs, good clean jobs," he said, "so you won't have to go digging in holes just to make decent money."

Mining

Steele also expressed concern about the Rock Creek copper/silver mine proposal, which the U.S. Forest Service approved in 2007. The mine, according to EARTHWORKS, an environmentalist group fighting the proposal, would tunnel under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness in the Kootenai National Forest, roughly 25 miles upstream of Lake Pend Oreille. Revett Inc., the mining company, downplays the potential for environmental damage on their website, comparing it to their mine in Troy. The company projects Rock Creek would produce six million ounces of silver and 52 million pounds copper per year if approved.

Schweitzer told the tribal council that the pyrite levels in the Rock Creek ore would make the mine leavings non-acidic, but still called it, along with most of the proposed hard-rock mining projects in Montana, a "non-starter."

"It has so many challenges," Schweitzer said. "There's almost a 100 percent chance that, no matter what the DEQ [Department of Environmental Quality] decides, they'll be sued."

He said he doubted, because of the lawsuits and other challenges, that the Rock Creek mine was actually feasible and pledged to fight for clean water across the state.

Bison hunting

Steele said the CSKT have been watching the state's relationship with other tribes, including the Nez Pierce Tribe's petition to expand the bison hunt on public land near Yellowstone National Park. Steele explained that the Stevens Treaty, which governs the relationship between the Nez Pierce and the U.S., has similar language to the Hellgate Treaty, so developments between Nez Pierce and Montana could affect the CSKT.

According to the Governor, the Nez Pierce have petitioned for an expansion in the number of hunting tags issued because of the Fish and Wildlife Service's increased butchering of bison as part of disease management. Schweitzer explained that, just because bison were being killed because of worries about livestock illness, that didn't mean that more hunting would be a good alternate.

"The problem is gut piles," he said. "Imagine if you were to shoot a hundred bison within a few miles of Tribal Headquarters and leave the gut piles. It would be disruptive."

Council member Rueben Mathias told Schweitzer that the innard offerings were there for a spiritual reason.

"Other animals have to eat too," he said.

Real ID

The Governor also renewed his objection to the Real ID, which would force IDs, including tribal IDs, to follow federal guidelines. He said only three states, including Montana, still completely oppose the Real ID. Originally, more governors fought the proposal, but Schweitzer accused those states of "folding like a cheap suit."

Because Montana refused to spend the millions of dollars required to upgrade a system that Schweitzer said would offer little to no extra security, the governor explained federal officials have threatened to level sanctions against Montana residents, putting them through more thorough inspections in airports and on the border even before the other states upgrade their IDs. Schweitzer said that he still would not change Montana's current system.

"If we are the last remaining nail out on the deck and the federal government comes in with a hammer, we'll stand together," he told the council.

Councilman Michel Kenmille asked Schweitzer to help educate the border patrol on the separate treaty rights of American Indians, which Kenmille said the treaty had been violating. Schweitzer said he was familiar with the Jay Treaty and supported the Indian right of way.

Presidential election

On a lighter note at the end of the meeting, Steele asked Schweitzer who he planned to vote for in the Democratic Primary. Because of the close nature of the Democratic race, super-delegates like Schweitzer are being courted by both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

"Don't be so presumptive," Schweitzer, who supported McCain in 2000, said. "This is a very unusual elephant." Schweitzer went on to complain about McCain's choice of former Senator Conrad Burns to head his Montana campaign. Regardless of Schweitzer's personal preference, he pledged to wait until "Montana votes" on June 3 to officially decide.