Good morning, NUNAverse:
Multiple tribes and environmental groups opposed to Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline project asked the Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday to overturn a lower court decision affirming the approvals granted by independent regulators that allowed construction to begin last December. More than 500 protesters have been arrested or issued citations since construction on the Minnesota leg of the project began in December. The White Earth Band of Ojibwe, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the Sierra Club, and Honor the Earth petitioned the state’s highest court to hear the case after the Minnesota Court of Appeals last month ruled that the Public Utilities Commission correctly granted Alberta-based Enbridge a certificate of need and route permit for the 337-mile (542-kilometer) Minnesota segment of a larger project to replace a crude oil pipeline built in the 1960s.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a tribal citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, is facing pressure from the White Earth Tribal Council to stop the Line 3 oil pipeline. Several organizations, including the White Earth Tribal Council, the Sierra Club, the RISE Coalition, and several members of the Minnesota State Legislature, held a rally inside the Minnesota State Capitol Building. Speakers and demonstrators demanded that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan stop the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline in northern Minnesota and honor treaty rights. Flanagan maintains she does not have the ability as the second highest ranking elected official of the state of Minnesota to stop the controversial pipeline.
The Oneida Nation announced a new sports betting venture on earlier this month, following the amendment of its gaming compact with the state of Wisconsin in a signing ceremony with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. The compact amendment allows for “event wagering,” which includes sports betting and televised events such as awards shows and professional sports league drafts. Chad Fuss, the tribe’s spokesperson for the new venture, said the Oneida Nation submitted documents on July 2 for the Department of the Interior’s approval, which can take up to 45 days. The Oneida Nation said it hopes to have a temporary location for sports betting near its sports bar up and running by football season this fall, although Fuss said mobile betting will not be immediately available. The tribe added that the sports bar will be remodeled to accommodate a permanent sports betting lounge.
The disinterred remains of nine Native children who died more than a century ago while attending a government-run school in Pennsylvania are headed home to Rosebud Sioux tribal lands in South Dakota on Wednesday after a ceremony returning them to relatives. The handoff at a graveyard on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks was part of the fourth set of transfers to take place since 2017. In Pennsylvania, the nine sets of remains inside small wooden coffins were carried past a phalanx of tribal members and well-wishers before being loaded into a vehicle trailer to be driven to Sioux City, Iowa. The children died between 1880 and 1910.
Keep reading for a full news update.
Casinos:
Oneida Casino To Be First In Wisconsin To Offer Sports Betting
Native News Online, Andrew Kennard, July 14
The Oneida Nation announced a new sports betting venture on July 1, following the amendment of its gaming compact with the state of Wisconsin in a signing ceremony with Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers on the same day. The compact amendment allows for “event wagering,” which includes sports betting and televised events such as awards shows and professional sports league drafts. Chad Fuss, the tribe’s spokesperson for the new venture, said the Oneida Nation submitted documents on July 2 for the Department of the Interior’s approval, which can take up to 45 days. The Oneida Nation said it hopes to have a temporary location for sports betting near its sports bar up and running by football season this fall, although Fuss said mobile betting will not be immediately available. The tribe added that the sports bar will be remodeled to accommodate a permanent sports betting lounge.
Law:
Line 3 Opponents Appeal To Minnesota Supreme Court
AP News, Steve Karnowski, July 14
Tribal and environmental groups opposed to Enbridge Energy’s Line 3 oil pipeline project asked the Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday to overturn a lower court decision affirming the approvals granted by independent regulators that allowed construction to begin last December. The legal move came as protests continue along the route in northern Minnesota. More than 500 protesters have been arrested or issued citations since construction on the Minnesota leg of the project began in December, but they have failed so far to persuade President Joe Biden’s administration to stop the project. Meanwhile, opponents have been demanding more transparency about a spill last week of drilling mud into a river that the pipeline will cross. The White Earth Band of Ojibwe, the Red Lake Band of Chippewa, the Sierra Club and Honor the Earth petitioned the state’s highest court to hear the case after the Minnesota Court of Appeals last month ruled that the Public Utilities Commission correctly granted Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge a certificate of need and route permit for the 337-mile (542-kilometer) Minnesota segment of a larger project to replace a crude oil pipeline built in the 1960s that can run at only half capacity.
Boarding Schools:
Indigenous Children’s Remains Turned Over From Army Cemetery
AP News, Mark Scolforo, July 14
The disinterred remains of nine Native American children who died more than a century ago while attending a government-run school in Pennsylvania were headed home to Rosebud Sioux tribal lands in South Dakota on Wednesday after a ceremony returning them to relatives. The handoff at a graveyard on the grounds of the U.S. Army’s Carlisle Barracks was part of the fourth set of transfers to take place since 2017. In Pennsylvania, the nine sets of remains inside small wooden coffins were carried past a phalanx of tribal members and well-wishers before being loaded into a vehicle trailer to be driven to Sioux City, Iowa. The children died between 1880 and 1910. Ione Quigley, the tribe’s historic preservation officer, recounted how she attended the disinterment earlier this week and used red ochre to prepare the remains in a traditional way.
Other:
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan Pressured To Stop Line 3 Oil Pipeline By Her Tribe And Others
Native News Online, Darren Thompson, July 14
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, a tribal citizen of the White Earth Nation of Ojibwe, is facing pressure from the White Earth Tribal Council to stop Enbridge’s tar sands Line 3 oil pipeline. Several organizations, including the White Earth Tribal Council, the Sierra Club, the RISE Coalition, and several members of the Minnesota State Legislature held a rally inside the Minnesota State Capitol Building. Speakers and demonstrators demanded that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan stop the Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline in northern Minnesota and honor treaty rights. Flanagan maintains she does not have the ability as the second highest ranking elected official of the state of Minnesota to stop the controversial pipeline.
Fires Threaten Indigenous Lands In Desiccated Northwest
AP News, Gillian Flaccu, July 14
Karuk tribal citizen Troy Hockaday Sr. watched helplessly last fall as a raging wildfire leveled the homes of five of his family members, swallowed acres of forest where his people hunt deer, elk and black bear, and killed a longtime friend. Now, less than a year later, the tribal councilman is watching in horror as flames encroach on the parched lands of other Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest that already are struggling to preserve traditional hunting and fishing practices amid historic drought. At least two tribes have declared states of emergency amid the devastation. Blazes in Oregon, California, and Washington state were among nearly 70 active wildfires that have destroyed homes and burned through about 1,562 square miles (4,047 square kilometers) in a dozen mostly Western states, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Home From Carlisle: Rosebud Sioux Youth Council Reclaims Their Ancestors
Native News Online, Jenna Kunze, July 14
With the cedar boxes of nine of her ancestors’ remains behind her, 21-year-old Asia Black Bull addressed a crowd of roughly 60 visitors at the Carlisle Barracks’ transfer ceremony Wednesday morning. She explained that when members of the Rosebud Sioux Youth Council—also called the Sicangu Youth Council—arrived at the graveyard of the United States’ first off-reservation Indian boarding school on Monday, it was raining as though their ancestors were crying out to them. On Wednesday, the U.S. Office of Army Ceremonies completed its fourth-ever exhumation, returning the remains of nine Rosebud Sioux youth to their next of kin.
Minnesota Park Recognized As Historic, Sacred Cemetery
Native News Online, Kalle Benallie, July 14
As far back as Samantha “Sam” Odegard can remember, Indian Mounds Park was an example of how sacred sites have been desecrated, in this case for people’s recreation. Odegard, a tribal historic preservation officer for the Upper Sioux Community, or Pezihutazizi Oyate, helped the city of St. Paul, Minnesota conduct a cultural landscape study about Indian Mounds Park. She and three others looked at the history of the 82-acre area and interviewed people for information. A recommended new sign will read: “This is a burial place, and our ancestors are still here. You are in a cemetery. It is a sacred burial ground that has been here for thousands of years.”
Olympic Surfing Exposes Whitewashed Native Hawaiian Roots
AP News, Sally Ho, July 13
For some Native Hawaiians, surfing’s Olympic debut is both a celebration of a cultural touchstone invented by their ancestors, and an extension of the racial indignities seared into the history of the game and their homeland. The Tokyo Summer Games, which open July 23, serve as a proxy for that unresolved tension and resentment, according to the ethnic Hawaiians who lament that surfing and their identity have been culturally appropriated by white outsiders who now stand to benefit the most from the $10 billion industry. The Indigenous people of Hawaii traditionally viewed the act of stylishly riding ocean waves on a board for fun and competition as a spiritual art form and egalitarian national pastime that connected them to the land and sea.