Tribal leaders in northern Wisconsin are requesting federal government intervention to stop mining activity in the Penokee Hills.
They’re doing so because they say the clock is running out to protect the ceded territory. One factor is a Senate bill that could make 5.5 square miles in mining areas off-limits to the public.
Bad River Tribal Chairman Mike Wiggins says this would kick tribal biologists off the area they’re obligated to protect. “We've seen enough now to understand that state legislators are willing to pressure scientists, are willing to try and restrict access to publicly accessible places that are critical for ... objective data-gathering and analysis,” says Wiggins. Six tribal leaders sent a letter to President Barack Obama asking him to stop mining activities to protect the ceded territory.
State Sen. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst), one of the sponsors of the “off-limits” bill, says this is not a place for the federal government. “I sure hope the president doesn’t come in and usurp the state’s ability to manage its natural resources,” says Tiffany. “That’s something the federal government has always delegated to the states.”
But Wiggins says the difference is that this is state land in the ceded territory, and so the U.S. government must act. “We need intervention because of all of the efforts to obscure and cloud over [Gogebic Taconite’s] activities,” says Wiggins. “We expect the federal government to be there for us and to honor those treaties.”
The letter also asks for a meeting with Obama as leaders of sovereign states. Tribal governments are recognized as sovereign nations in the treaties of 1837, 1842 and 1854. Here's a copy of the letter:
