LAND-TRANSFER BACKERS | OIL AND GAS AUCTIONS GO ONLINE | JUSTICE FOR LEONARD PELTIER High Country ForN people whoews care about the West Salmon Power A historic legal victory could give Alaska tribes more control over their fish, wildlife and homelands By Krista Langlois July 25, 2016 | $5 | Vol. 48 No. 12 | www.hcn.org 12 48 No. | $5 Vol. 25, 2016 July CONTENTS FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG Editor’s note On sovereignty and FBI nabs suspected BLM bomber On June 22, FBI agents arrested William Keebler, a Utah man, for allegedly subjugation orchestrating an attack on a Bureau of Land Management cabin in on Mount Trumbull northwest Arizona. The night before, the Patriots Defense In the 1970s, the Pacific Force militia planted a bomb at the facility with the intention of blowing Northwest was at war over it apart. Undercover agents apparently thwarted the attack by providing fishing. Tribal fishermen a faulty bomb, which failed to explode. Keebler, who leads the group, allegedly orchestrated the failed attack in response to what he views as insisted on their right to government overreach and the mismanagement of natural resources. Court catch more salmon, inspiring documents state that Keebler intended to blow up government vehicles a lawsuit against the state and buildings, not people, though he also wanted to create a second of Washington that 14 tribes eventually joined. In bomb that might be “used against law enforcement if they got stopped 1974, a white U.S. district court judge decided in while driving.” This recent bombing plot is part of a long history of violent threats toward federal-lands agency employees that stems from deep- their favor, granting them rights to half the salmon rooted disputes over public-lands management. catch. George Boldt’s courageous decision, which Keebler spent 13 days at the 2014 Bundy standoff, supporting Nevada angered many white Washingtonians, remains rancher Cliven Bundy against the federal agents who were cracking down a landmark in the push for tribal sovereignty. It on decades of grazing violations. The felony complaint against Keebler was also a validation of Native American civil states that he hoped to create a confrontation similar to the Bundy disobedience, led by a Nisqually man of similarly standoff. Keebler also knew LaVoy Finicum, the activist who was shot and killed by Oregon State Police in a confrontation at the end of the armed strong character, Billy Frank Jr. occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year. Too few people pass such tests of character. He scouted the location of the bomb attack with Finicum last year; the America is failing one right now. For despite our Mount Trumbull facility is near Finicum’s grazing allotment. The federal patriotic songs on the Fourth of July, this is not the government has been criticized for failing to respond adequately to previ- land of the free, nor the home of the brave. It is a Accused BLM bomb suspect William Keebler, photographed in February at the funeral for Arizona ous illegal acts associated with the Sagebrush Rebellion. Keebler’s arrest and the undercover action that led to it shows that it is now paying close land divided by those who benefit from a legacy rancher LaVoy Finicum in Kanab, Utah, who was killed during the Malheur standoff in Oregon. attention to such threats. TAY WILES MORE: hcne.ws/blm-bomb of privilege and those who suffer from a legacy of PATRICK BENEDICT/GEPHARDT DAILY subjugation. As I write this, the nation is in shock over Fish camp on the Kuskokwim, where Mike Williams’ family and other Alaska Natives have fished for generations. JOBS LOST IN WESTERN COAL MINES Trending yet more killings of black men by police and the Quoted 2012- JUNE 2016 KRISTA LANGLOIS Western coal jobs decline 511 jobs subsequent murder of five policemen in Dallas. In early June, 80 full-time employees lost from Wyoming wind FEATURE Supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement are Having a compelling received layoff notices from the West Elk 3 mines MT resistance marching through American cities, including many Mine in Somerset, one of Colorado’s largest 12 In 2009, senior editor On the cover Salmon Power A historic legal victory could give Alaska tribes in the West, arguing in essence that unchecked coal producers. The mine is the last still in 677 jobs (for lost from Jonathan Thompson Isty Hlasny hangs more control over their fish, wildlife and homelands modern vision operation in the North Fork Valley on the power infringes on our fundamental sovereignty — a 2 mines wrote about Wyoming’s salmon in the smoke By Krista Langlois “ state’s Western Slope, where coal mining stutter-step adoption human being’s sovereignty over his or her own body, 1 to close house at fish camp public lands) is probably has been a mainstay of the rural economy WY over his or her own safety and security. of wind power. The on the Kuskokwim CURRENTS for nearly 120 years. Just five years ago, unusual alliance of River near Bethel, Understood this way, sovereignty is lacking for the best antidote to the approximately 1,200 people were employed 813 jobs the fossil fuel industry Alaska, in June 2014. 5 The path of lease resistance Escalating protests against public-land drilling many in America. It is lacking in other ways, as well. by three coal mines here. Now, fewer than 15 jobs lost from and environmentalists, BOB HALLINEN/ usher in online auctions For tribes, the issue has been addressed haltingly 250 people are. In April, Arch Coal and lost from 5 mines driven by economic ALASKA DISPATCH NEWS militias and legislators 1 mine 2 closed at best over the past 150 years. In Alaska, the Peabody Energy announced 465 layoffs at UT CO and wildlife concerns, 5 The Latest: Road runoff regs two major Wyoming coal mines, as both filed struggle is ongoing. As correspondent Krista Langlois stymied the wind indus- 6 Snapshot: The good, the bad and the ugly of drones who want to take for bankruptcy. Historically low natural gas prices 150 jobs try’s growth and halted reports in this issue’s cover story, a year-old tribal and stricter environmental regulations make it lost from projects in their tracks. 7 Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t Feds propose measures commission is working with the federal government over and privatize our harder for coal companies, and many have been hurt 2 mines The pattern has contin- to reduce Glen Canyon Dam’s impact on the Grand Canyon — a bit to give Alaska Natives more say in the annual by questionable business decisions and high executive ued in recent months: harvest of salmon, on which their people and culture salaries and bonuses. According to HCN data compiled NM the state passed a new 8 Land transfer support The American Lands Council has galvanized inheritance. from local media and energy industry reports, more than 2,600 depend. This hopeful development stems solely from wind tax at the same county commissioners to back federal-land transfers —Bill Hedden, from his essay “In praise of a coal-mining jobs have disappeared since 2012 across the West. time that it looked to the tireless efforts of a new generation of tribal 9 BLM moves away from landmark Northwest Forest Plan wild West: A 21st-century vision for Western For out-of-work coal miners, Western states have done little to provide a safety DATA COLLECTED wind to replace coal’s leaders, who have had to battle an entrenched state public lands, including” their role in solving net; so far, there are no statewide programs that provide re-training, counseling BY PAIGE BLANKENBUEHLER Conservationists, counties and timber companies raise alarms decline. government every step of the way. challenges like climate change” or economic development strategies. Some coal companies offer laid-off workers MORE: Help us gather 9 The Latest: Birth control for wild horses For the tribes, and indeed for communities MORE: hcne.ws/publiclands-vision a severance package, but former miners have few opportunities to find positions more data on other You say throughout the West, sovereignty and survival are that match their previous salaries — on average, more than $80,000 a year. coal-mine layoffs: DICK MARSTON PAIGE BLANKENBUEHLER MORE: hcne.ws/coal-layoffs hcne.ws/layoff-tip DEPARTMENTS inextricably linked. The horrendous events of recent “The fossil fuel industry in Wyoming weeks should make us reconsider the history of 3 FROM OUR WEBSITE: HCN.ORG is working hard to our nation and region, acknowledging how they 4 LETTERS “One man lost thwart new develop- were forged through violence and subjugation. Photos ment of wind energy.” Complete access two family 01 THE HCN COMMUNITY Research Fund, Dear Friends This legacy yet ripples through our society, in black DIANE FISHLEY to subscriber-only Unofficial border patrol members to content 91 MARKETPLACE communities who live in fear of police power, SPENCER “Schools TRILLION The Arizona Border Recon was founded and through tribes who lack control of their own drugs and could gain revenue HCN’s website 23 WRITERS ON THE RANGE 13 in 2011 to help patrol the U.S.-Mexico gallons of groundwater from wind resources in By Mike Baughman resources and heritage. border, collecting data on border- drug violence, hcn.org It’s long past time to free a man unjustly imprisoned that have been lost the same way they are We need people like Billy Frank Jr. and George crossing routes and turning back so he decided Digital edition In this season of fire, nix the campfire By Marjorie “Slim” Woodruff from the Colorado now tapping extrac- anyone members deem illegal.