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dam-l [harmful-hydro] News from Indian Country (May 2000)
Environmental justice and energy policy conference
The real cost of what we consume
News from Indian Country [Hayward WI], mid May 2000, p9a
People gathered to learn about the connection between environmental
justice and energy policy at the April 15 conference at the
University of St. Thomas, a prominent Twin Cities Catholic college.
The conference was billed as an opportunity for people of color and
activists to find common ground.
"I don't think we should be reluctant to talk about values," US
Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, and the keynote speaker, told
220 attendees. "Nationwide, people support what's called soft-path
energy."
But this support for renewables like wind, solar and energy
efficiencies, Wellstone pointed out, "doesn't translate into
political clout."
"The utility (Manitoba Hydro) has a new contract with Northern States
Power pending at the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission," said
scheduled speaker Chief John Miswagon, head of Pimicikamak Cree
Nation in Cross Lake, Manitoba.
"Split Lake's leaders want a new dam so they can get more
compensation. Their people suffer as much poverty and despair as we
do, but we've chosen a different path," he said of an unannounced
appearance by Cree from Split Lake and Nelson House, Manitoba, and
the CEO of Manitoba Hydro.
Although four large generating stations on the Nelson River nearest
to Split Lake cause ongoing environmental damage, Cross Lake lies ten
miles from the control gate for the entire Nelson River hydro system.
"Every drop of water released from the storage reservoir which is Lake
Winnipeg into the Nelson affects my people and our land," Miswagon
said. "That is why we tell our story on behalf of the Nelson's
environment because this project continues to violate our human and
environmental rights. Where is the justice in that for us and for
Minnesota users of this power?"
Patrick Spears, president of Inter-Tribal Council on Utility Policy
in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, agreed. "It is time to respect the
lives of Native and all peoples who do not support the continued
devastation caused by the construction of huge power plants on the
rivers that are the lifeblood of the land," he told activists.
"The Department of Energy estimates that 75% of the total energy
needs in the United States can be generated through development of
wind energy. We can generate wind power on the Plains; we need
support to use the federal power grid system to move the power to the
people who want green power."
Jason Whiteman, Natural Resources Director for the Northern Cheyenne
Tribe in Lame Deer, Montana, and Juliette Majot, Executive Director of
International Rivers Network in Berkeley, California, as well as Chief
Miswagon, showed slides of the human and environmental damages caused
by coal production and large-hydro generation.
"I was horrified by the environmental pornography," said an activist
from Minnesota. "I finally understand that special places like the
Nelson, the lands of Lame Deer and the Three Gorges in China are
being lost to all of us."
Speaker Dianne D'Arrigo from the Nuclear Information Resource Service
in Washington DC, also faciliated one of tfour afternoon workshops
designed for activists to learn more about specific nuclear, coal,
megahydro and transmission issues.
The transmission workshop was led by Linda Ceylor, spokeswoman for
Save Our Unique Lands (SOUL), a grassroots-based organization in
Wisconsin. SOUL has teamed up with the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe to
fight a 250-mile power line that will ship coal-generated electricity
from North Dakota and hydro from Manitoba through Minnesota and
northern Wisconsin.
At the beginning of the day, moderator Steven Hoffman, chairman of
environmental studies at the University of St. Thomas, said, "The
question we need to ask is whether people have an opportunity to
participate meaningfuly in decisions that affect their social lives
and the physical environment that they depend upon."
Rhoda Gilman wrote a few days later in a letter published in the
Minneapolis Star Tribune, "Those of us who enjoy the benefits of
international trade, whether in goods or in energy, need to be
informed about the real costs of what we consume."
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