A local preservation officer said Thursday that a bill passed by the state House of Representatives and sent to the Senate could have serious implications for Montana’s Indian tribes, as well as for property owners in general.
Alvin Windy Boy, former Business Committee chair and now tribal historic preservation officer for the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation, said the bill could cause serious problems. The bill would allow utilities to seize lands for construction of power lines.
“That’s really unfortunate. We’re bowing to other countries, or non-U. S. companies, for the almighty dollar, ” he said.
The law stems from a ruling by state District Judge Laurie McKinnon of Shelby. In her ruling, McKinnon wrote that the Canadian company trying to build an electrical tie-line from Alberta across Montana could not use eminent domain to acquire property.
Montana Alberta Tie Line had requested permission to use eminent domain on property owned by Shirley Salois near Cut Bank. Her son and guardian, Larry Salois, opposed the route of the high-voltage power line, saying it passed too near wetlands and over culturally significant teepee rings.
McKinnon ruled in favor of Salois’ argument that private companies could not use eminent domain under existing law. Her ruling has been appealed.
Supporters of the bill now moving to the Senate have said it is necessary to allow power companies to use eminent domain to build transmission lines. Not allowing that could kill the Montana-Alberta Tie Line and other projects, and kill economic development including development of alternative energy such as wind power.
Opponents have said it will have devastating impacts on the rights of property owners.
Windy Boy’s brother, state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, said Thursday that he will oppose the bill when it gets to the Senate.
“Giving utility companies too much unbridled power, it’s kind of kicking dust in the face of property owners, and it’s not right to come down and change laws because you lost a court case, ” he said.
Local Reps. Tony Belcourt, D-Box Elder, and Wendy Warburton, R-Havre, both voted in favor of the bill, which passed 69-30.
Rep. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, voted against it.
Alvin Windy Boy said the bill should be of concern to every property owner.
“It’s unfortunate that the state leglislators didn’t take that into consideration, ” he said.
It has another aspect for the Native Americans, he said, which has been a problem since the start of the proposal to build the tie line.
Many Montana tribes, including the Chippewa Cree, the Assiniboine and Gros Ventre of Fort Belknap Indian Reservation, and the Assiniboine and Sioux of Fort Peck Indian Reservation have culturally significant locations far from the borders of their reservations, he said.
While federal law — which should supercede the state law if passed — requires good faith efforts to mitigate damage to cultural sites — along with environmental issues — the proposed law could affect how that is done in Montana, Alvin Windy Boy said.
“It also draws a concern as to how consultation is interpreted, ” he added.
He said the federal declaration of consultation policies with Indian tribes should have included all tribes with potentially significant cultural areas on the route of the tie line being part of the investigation of the route.
But the only tribe that was consulted was the Blackfeet, Windy Boy said. Tribes such as the Chippewa Cree and the Gros Ventre, Assiniboine and Sioux, which also had ranged through the area historically, were left out.
He said that flies in the face of the declaration made by President Bill Clinton, which Windy Boy attended in the 1990s, and the re-statement of it by President Barack Obama.
“For too long, over the years, traditional cultural sites have been destroyed without regard to the historical inhabitants, ” he said.
Resident farmers and ranchers, as well as the Indian tribes should have been consulted before the eminent domain legislation was drafted and voted on, Windy Boy added.
“I wish those legislators would have checked with their constituents, ” he said. “It’s pretty evident that hasn’t happened. ”
