tribal economic development

Ezra Rosser on Tribal Natural Resources and Economic Development

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Ezra Rosser, Ahistorical Indians and Reservation Resources, 40 Envtl. L. __ (forthcoming 2010).  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1539703.  The abstract is below:

This article is an in-depth exploration of the impacts of an Indian tribe deciding to pursue environmentally destructive forms of economic development. The article makes two principal contributions. First, it establishes the Navajo Nation’s decision-making role. Prior mineral resource forms of development may have been formally approved by the tribe but the agreements did not truly belong to the Navajo Nation. Extensive research into earlier agreements shows the heavy influence of the federal government and mining interests historically. Existing scholarship on reservation environmental harm tends to deflect tribal responsibility, attributing such decisions to outside forces. Without denying the challenges the Navajo Nation is facing, the article calls for recognition, despite the romanticism that surrounds Indians and the environment, of tribal agency and responsibility for the proposed environmental destruction. Second, I argue that environmental organizations that make use of federal environmental review processes are complicit in the systematic denial of Indian sovereignty that federal primacy entails. Although there is a strong theoretical argument that the only limits appropriate for Indian nations are those of nation-states under international law, the Article concludes that the relationship between environmental organizations and Indian nations ought to be guided by international human rights law.

News Article on LTBB’s Economy

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians of Michigan recently formed a corporation to pursue economic development opportunities.

Waganakising Odawa Development, Inc. is looking at two sectors: government contracting and renewable energy. Frank Ettawageshik, the president of the corporation, believes the tribe can benefit from growth in both areas.

“It’s better, I believe, to not have all your eggs in one basket with revenue sources,” Ettawageshik said at a tribal council meeting, The Petoskey News-Review reported.

So far, Waganakising has landed one government subcontract and is looking for ways to get into alternative energy.

Continue reading →

NPR on Tribal Economic Development

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

From Tom Schlosser:

This week the National Public Radio program “All Things Considered” airs a two-episode series on Tribal economic development in the Southwest. The programs highlight the diverse issues, challenges, and opportunities for Tribes in different locations and which possess different levels of resources. The program focuses on two particular Native economic development models: The Navajo Nation and The Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community.

Interviews include:

Joe Shirley, Navajo Nation President

Martin Harvier, Vice President of the Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community

Quannah Dallas, Salt River Pima’s Economic Development Manager

Brett Isaac, Shonto Community Development Corporation

Joseph Kalt, Director of Harvard University’s American Indian Economic Development Project

Greg Guedel, Chair of Foster Pepper PLLC’s Native American Legal Services Group

Part I of the program, focusing on the Navajo Nation, can be downloaded HERE.

Part II of the program, focusing on the Salt River Pima – Maricopa Indian Community, can be downloaded H

Tribal Business and Biofuel

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

IGNACIO, Colo. — An unusual experiment featuring equal parts science, environmental optimism and Native American capitalist ambition is unfolding here on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in southwest Colorado.

With the twin goals of making fuel from algae and reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases, a start-up company co-founded by a Colorado State University professor recently introduced a strain of algae that loves carbon dioxide into a water tank next to a natural gas processing plant. The water is already green-tinged with life.

The Southern Utes, one of the nation’s wealthiest American Indian communities thanks to its energy and real-estate investments, is a major investor in the professor’s company. It hopes to gain a toehold in what tribal leaders believe could be the next billion-dollar energy boom.

But from the tribe’s perspective, the business model here is about more than business. “It’s a marriage of an older way of thinking into a modern time,” said the tribe’s chairman, Matthew J. Box, referring to the interplay of environmental consciousness and investment opportunity around algae.

Continue reading →

GTB Plans for Winery

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From Indianz:

The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan might get into the wine business.

The tribe conducted a $104,000 feasibility study to determine whether to start a vineyard and winery. “We’re looking at different economic ventures in the area,” Chairman Derek Bailey told Crain’s Detroit. “I think that we need to, especially during these economic times, to explore new ventures.”

The winery would be located near the Grand Traverse Resort and the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel.

Get the Story:

Grand Traverse tribe considers winery (Crain’s Detroit Business 8/12)

Lewis and Clark Law Review Symposium on Tribal Economic Development Published

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

The articles are available here. Authors include Gavin Clarkson, David Haddock, Richard Monette, Alex Skibine, Judy Royster, Bob Miller, and me.

Continue reading →

County Taxation of Mixed-Ownership Tribal Enterprise

Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

The Western District of Washington denied a motion for a preliminary injunction brought by the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation to prevent Thurston County, Washington from taxing a business (a Great Wolf Lodge) jointly owned by a non-native corporation and the tribes.

chehalis-tribes-motion-for-preliminary-injunction

thurston-county-response

chehalis-reply-brief

confederated-chehalis-tribes-v-thurston-county-dct-order

Bob Miller on Intertribal and International Treaties for Economic Development

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Bob Miller has posted “Inter-Tribal and International Treaties for American Indian Economic Development,” forthcoming in the Lewis & Clark Law Review. Here is the abstract:

American Indian Tribes and Indigenous peoples around the world are among the poorest groups in their countries. Economic development is an absolutely crucial issue for these governments and their people. Recently, two different efforts have been undertaken to create beneficial development based on treaties between Indigenous groups.

In August 2007, eleven American Indian Nations, Canadian First Nations, New Zealand Maori Iwis, and Australian Aborigine groups signed a treaty to engage in international economic activities. Dozens of other American Tribes and New Zealand Iwis have also signed this treaty or will do so in the next few months. In addition, Pacific Northwest Indian Tribes have drafted an inter-tribal treaty to facilitate the conduct of business on reservations.

This Article dissects these two treaties and addresses some of the unique legal issues that these treaties raise.

Indian Tribal Businesses and the Off-Reservation Market

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

My submission to the Lewis & Clark Law Review’s symposium issue on tribal economic development, “Indian Tribal Businesses and the Off-Reservation Market” is on SSRN. If it’s not available yet, it will be in a few days. Here’s the abstract:

The pre-American trading centers of the Great Lakes – Sault Ste. Marie, Michilimackinac, and Detroit – developed as natural manifestations of economic activity involving the Indigenous peoples of the region, as well as the French, the British, and lastly the Americans. In many ways, during that period, the Indian people controlled these markets. As history turned against the Indians, the Europeans acquired control of these markets. The federal Indian law and policy manifestation of this control can be explained in the phrase “measured separatism.” While measured separatism had value for Indian and American communities for a time, as well as serious disadvantages, the need Indian law controls over the market has receded to a significant extent. The recent limitations on off-reservation gaming are manifestations of this measured separatism. These controls should be a call for tribal business interests to drop some of their reliance on federal Indian law, which creates some economic advantages, and re-enter the larger economic world.

Judith Royster on Tribal Resources and Economic Development

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Judith Royster has posted “Tribal Economic Development: Practical Sovereignty, Political Sovereignty, and the Secretary’s Shrinking Role in Natural Resource Development,” part of the Lewis & Clark Indigenous Economic Development Symposium. Here is the abstract:

One of the primary means of economic development for many Indian tribes is development of the reservation’s natural resources. Despite the extent and economic importance of the resource base, however, tribal control over the development and use of tribal natural resources has historically been limited. In the last few decades, Indian tribes have gained a far greater role in decision-making concerning the use of their natural resources. In part this increased role results from tribes asserting a greater say in what occurs within their territories, and in part from new federal laws that place more of the decision-making power in tribal hands.

The three major natural resources traditionally subject to leasing are agricultural and grazing lands, forests, and minerals. Each has been subject to federal statutes that follow a similar arc – comprehensive federal control and exploitation during the allotment period; a slight loosening of federal control, tribal consent, and concern with tribal revenue streams in the reorganization period; and new approaches focusing more on tribal participation, partnerships, and increased control during the modern era of self-determination. Most recently, Congress has begun to enact a next generation of resource development statutes that authorize tribes, subject to Interior-approved general regulations, to enter into specific development agreements without federal approval. Following a review of the trajectory of tribal resource development statutes, this article explores the most wide-ranging of these new statutes: the Indian Tribal Energy Development and Self-Determination Act of 2005.