Northern Cheyenne tribal members gather to oppose the proposed Otter Creek coal mine on January 17, 2013

Arch Coal understands money. What Arch Coal doesn’t understand is community. They don’t understand history. They don’t understand the Cheyenne people whose ancestors fought and died for the landthat they are proposing to destroy. They don’t understand the fierceness with which the people, both Indian and non-Indian, in southeastern Montana love the land.

This is why not one dragline will rip the coal from the earth and not one dynamite blast will loosen the precious topsoil. It is why not one rail car will be loaded with coal and why not one toxic orange cloud will pass over someone’s house or the Tongue River. It is why not one burial site will be dug up and why not one elk will be displaced. It is why our water will continue to run clean and plentiful and our wildlife will continue to roam free.

This is why the proposed Otter Creek mine in southeastern Montana will never be built.

How Arch Coal treats the Northern Cheyenne community

I, along with hundreds of Northern Cheyenne tribal members, have attended all of the recent public hearings that were held on the proposed Otter Creek coal mine and Tongue River Railroad. These hearings were held to gather public input on the proposed coal mine and associated infrastructure that is needed to haul the coal out of southeastern Montana and to the West coast for export to Asia.

Standard procedure for Arch Coal representatives was to sit in the back of the room, checking their phones and looking at their watches. Many times, they would walk out in the middle of someone’s testimony. Mike Rowlands, head of Arch Coal in Montana, spoke to us for one minute.

Click here to view the embedded video.

One minute about a coal mine that will impact my people for generations. This is all he thought we deserved apparently.

Not once did they stand up and tell my community why we should support their efforts to build a massive coal mine on our borders. Not once did they tell us why we should bear the burden of the air, water and environmental pollution that will occur.

You know why they don’t do that? Because they don’t have to. To them, this mine is a done deal. The permit is a detail, a step in the process. A process rigged for one outcome. They don’t care if the Northern Cheyenne community supports them.

Well, I guess they did say they were just here to open a coal mine.

Fighting Back

By now, we have given Arch Coal and the state of Montana thousands of reasons why we are against this mine. Those thousands of reasons are people, individuals and families who are coming to public hearings, group meetings, signing petitions and getting involved.

In November 2012, Cheyenne tribal members turned out in force at public hearings to oppose the Tongue River Railroad. In December 2012, we attended coal export public hearings in Spokane and Seattle to oppose the development of any coal export terminals in the northwest and support our brothers and sisters from the northwest tribal nations who are fighting to protect their land and treaty rights.

Lucas King, Northern Cheyenne tribal member, testifies at the Seattle coal port hearing in December 2012. Photo by Paul K. Anderson.

Northern Cheyenne tribal members attend a public hearing on the proposed Otter Creek coal mine

On February 20, 2013, we submitted detailed scoping comments to the Montana Department of Environmental Quality on the proposed mine. Over 250 Cheyennes helped write and develop these comments.

On March 20, 250 Cheyennes and our allies from the Southern Cheyenne, Three Affiliated Tribes, Oglala Lakota Nation, Yakama Nation gathered in Lame Deer to oppose any development of the Otter Creek and Tongue River Valley.  This will not be a one-time event.

Then, on March 24 through the 30, a group of us travelled to Henry Red Cloud’s Renewable Energy Center on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to learn how to install solar photovoltaic systems.

Cheyenne students learn how to install solar PV at Henry Red Cloud’s Renewable Energy Center. Photo credit: Alexis Bonogofsky

We have been fighting for this land for hundreds of years and will continue to do so.

Protecting Otter Creek and Tongue River Valleys for Future Generations

Montana politicians who support the Otter Creek mine and Arch Coal are on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of the people. Since Montana’s leaders will not stand up for the people, the people will stand up and lead them. Politicians like Senators Max Baucus and Jon Tester understand the importance of protecting the North Fork of the Flathead River from coal mining but not the lifeblood of southeastern Montana, the Tongue River. Why is protecting the Flathead River more important than the Tongue River?

We will not let it become a sacrifice zone for energy exports. We have already moved beyond the paradigms forced on us by the coal companies.

This message is for Arch Coal and all other mining companies that want to dig up our homeland.

We will not only stop the Otter Creek coal mine, we will pursue renewable, distributed energy and find real, sustainable solutions for our people.

Save Otter Creek sign on Highway 212 on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation

Vanessa Braided Hair is a Northern Cheyenne tribal member and is organizing tribal citizens to oppose the development of the proposed Otter Creek coal mine and Tongue River Railroads in southeastern Montana. She is a also a wildlands firefighter and descendent of the Northern Cheyenne Otter Creek homesteaders. She lives on Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana.

From left: Vanessa Braided Hair, Waylon Roger and Paulee Small. NWF photo by Alexis Bonogofsky.

Cheyenne’s Speak Out

Otter Creek rally in Lame Deer, Montana. (r) Tom Mexican Cheyenne (c) Otto Braided Hair (l) Martin Braided Hair Photo credit: Alexis Bonogofsky

“We believe our community will bear the brunt of the negative impacts from the Otter Creek mine. Sacrificing the land, water, animal and plant life for mining and money is not worth what our ancestors fought and gave their life. Our group is worried about the crime, accidents, drugs and other social issues that come along with boomtowns that our Tribe is not equipped to handle. We are being asked to deal with this so that a transnational corporation can make billions of dollars shipping coal to Asia,” said Tom Mexican Cheyenne.

The proposed mine’s proximity to the border of the reservation is of particular concern to Northern Cheyenne tribal members. Otter Creek Valley, used for thousands of years by tribal peoples, contains cultural, historic and burial sites important to the Cheyenne people and many other Plains Tribes and serves as important habitat for hundreds of wildlife species.

“To preserve language culture and identity you must protect air, land, and water, that’s who we are.  Without language and land we are not who we say we are,” said Phillip Whiteman Jr., Northern Cheyenne Sweet Medicine Chief.

People have watched as North Dakota reservations have experienced dramatic increases in crime, traffic accidents and cultural conflict from nearby oil development. When coupled with environmental impacts of air pollution, water pollution and decreased wildlife populations, many tribal members now are opposing the development of the mine.

Tribal Renewable Energy Alternatives

Henry Red Cloud with Northern Cheyenne tribal members Jeff King and Kale Means at a solar photovoltaic training last month. Photo credit: Mark Andrew Boyer Photography

A couple of the trainees will then go on to work in Colorado on a large scale solar installation this summer with the goal of starting their own renewable energy business on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation.

“We want a different future for our children. Coal is a dead end for us,” said Vanessa Braided Hair, Northern Cheyenne wildlands firefighter and community organizer. “We will fight this till the end.”

Tongue River Railroad Colstrip Alternative

This new route, what they call the Colstrip Alternative, would travel up the Tongue River and then veer northwest over ranch land and block management land open to hunters and then on to Colstrip, Montana where it would meet up with a rail spur that joins with the northern Burlington Northern Santa Fe line.

And yet, even though there is a route change with new maps, new impacted landowners and new environmental and cultural impacts, the STB still has the scoping public comment period due on January 11, 2012.

How to Build a Coal Train: Tongue River Railroad style

For those of you not up to speed on railroad regulations, I don’t blame you. If you are having trouble sleeping, just open up the Surface Transportation Board website, go to their Environmental Rules page, and start reading. The regulations governing the construction and operation of a railroad are complicated and long. However, if you’re all caught up on your sleep, and just want a quick primer on how to get a permit to build a railroad, keep reading. I’ll define terms to help you out along the way.

Pretend that you are the head of TRRC. This is how it goes. It’s easier than it seems.

Step 1 – Submit a permit application to the STB: This step is easy. It is important to use decades old environmental data, lie about where you plan to sell your coal, act as if your industry isn’t dying, and make sweeping generalizations about the need for a railroad that aren’t backed up by any facts. It’s also good to have numerous different versions of your maps and routes to confuse the public. In addition, after the public hearings are over, make an announcement about a new route.

Step 2 – Obtain Eminent Domain Authority from STB: In order to construct and operate this rail line, you’ll need eminent domain authority.

This authority is necessary since you want to cross land currently owned and in use by ranchers and farmers and over extremely important tribal cultural and historic sites. This will hurt their businesses, but it’s OK since you know that it will really benefit everyone in the long-run. And by everyone, I mean you and only you.

You also plan on taking the train through an Amish community (a community that doesn’t use electricity), and have tracks running through one of their hand-raised and built barns. What are some barns in comparison to the billions of dollars you will be making selling this coal to China? Can’t they just build a new one?

However, in order to obtain eminent domain authority, you have to convince the STB that your project is in the “public convenience and necessity.” Oh…that’s gonna be a hard sell, right? I mean, how would the public benefit from our natural resources being shipped to Asia?

Step 3: Convince government bureaucrats that your project is in the public interest and necessity. You’ve seen the writing on the wall. Your industry is dying. You can’t compete with wind and natural gas. You keep trying to blame it on the government, the environmentalists, and the wind industry, but those arguments are less and less convincing over time. Climate change is wrecking havoc on the environment and causing extreme weather.

“But,” you think, “if I can convince politicians and bureaucrats that my railroad will benefit the public, I have a chance.” How do you explain to the STB that your project is in the best interest of the public? Let’s see what you say in your application.

“Given the explicit need for transportation of coal from the Otter Creek area and the fact that the TRRC rail line is the only viable means by which to transport such coal to market, it would clearly serve the public convenience and necessity to authorize the construction and operation of the TRRC rail line. This is not a rail line that is being proposed for construction based on speculation or with only a thin public interest need. The fact that BNSF and Arch have invested in the TRRC rail line and are prepared to expend substantial resources to build it underscores the need for the rail line. Indeed, the market is the best governor of the demand for a new reail line and here market foreces are coalescing behind a determination that the coal resource at Otter Creek should be developed and transported. Where industry players are prepared to dedicate resources to a significant mine and the railroad needed to to transport the mine’s product to market, the STB has no grounds for finding that construction and operation are inconsistent with the public convenience and necessity.” Page 21 TRR Application to the STB. 12/14/2012

I’ll get rid of some of the industry jargon and restate it for the layman.

Given that we have sunk millions of dollars into leasing the Otter Creek coal tracts and the fact that in order to make billions of dollars in profit we need a way to get it to Asia (because no one will buy it in the U.S.), and the Tongue River Railroad is the only way to get this coal to the Asian market, this rail line is clearly in the public convenience and necessity. And by the way, we have invested a ton of money into this so that shows that the coal mine should be developed because if it isn’t, we will lose our money. And, that would make us really sad. So, the conclusion is clear and irrefutable: that this coal train will benefit the public. Case closed.

Step 4: Sit back and wait for the STB to give you a permit.

At this point in the process, you have done everything you need to ensure that you will obtain a permit. You have submitted an application and then you let the government bureaucrats, who end up bearing the brunt of the public anger, become your agents.

Instead of the government looking out for the interests of the public, they end up being a broker in your business deal, making sure that you end up with the right to take away someone else’s livelihood and private property, destroy the aquifers and cultural sites, pollute the land, air and water, so that you can make money.

It’s a good racket that you’ve got going.

Too bad you’re going to lose.

Help us stop the Tongue River coal train

Submit Comments

You can send your comments to: Ken Blodgett, Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20423-0001, Environmental filing, Docket No. FD 30186. The STB also provides an online comment form.

Support National Wildlife Federation

Become a member or donate today.

Join us online in our efforts to spread the word about NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships

Here’s our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @NWFTribalLands to keep up on the lastest news.

If you need help submitting comments or want more information about the Tongue River Railroad and its impacts on wildlife, please contact me at bonogofsky@nwf.org.

Northern Cheyenne group that traveled 1200 miles roundtrip to Spokane, WA to a coal port hearing. From (l) to (r) – Mike Scott (Sierra Club), Burdette Birdingground, Vanessa Braided Hair, Kale Means, Alexis Medicine Horse, Jeff King, Alexis Bonogofsky (National Wildlife Federation), Kaden Walks Nice, Adriann Killsnight – Photo by Jack McNeel

Why would someone care about a coal port facility being proposed over 1,000 miles away?

Black Thunder Coal Mine – Powder River Basin – photo by Ecoflight

If these ports are permitted and constructed, southeastern Montana will become a sacrifice zone for coal development and the Northern Cheyenne will bear the brunt of impacts to their land, water, air, and cultural sites.

Since the Army Corp of Engineers did not schedule any public hearings in Montana, over 60 Montanans decided to head to Washington to tell the Corp that they must analyze the impacts that this coal port facility will have on southeastern Montana and all of the rail communities that will have to deal with the exhaust, coal dust, train noise, traffic delays, air and water pollution, destruction of cultural sites, and the myriads of other impacts from coal mining in southeastern Montana.

Army Corp of Engineers needs to analyze all impacted communities – from the prairies to the ports

The basic message that people from Montana brought to Spokane is that impacts to ALL of the communities, from the existing and proposed mines in the Powder River Basin to the ports on the West coast and all the rail communities in between, must be analyzed.

By agreeing with the conservation community that citizens in Spokane will be impacted by new coal port terminals they implicitly admit that all rail communities will be impacted. If Spokane residents have a right to be a part of the coal port scoping hearings then Montana rail communities should also have the opportunity to attend a public hearing in their own community, instead of travelling over 1,000 miles.

If the rail communities are impacted, then the people who live near the massive new coal mines that are being proposed to feed these ports will be impacted exponentially more and deserve their own hearing.

Northern Cheyenne and Crow tribal member testimony

Even though only 75 people were allowed to speak, and the coal companies paid temporary workers to hold spots, the Power Past Coal coalition was able to secure spots for four of the Northern Cheyenne speakers and one of Crow speakers. Below you will find short 2 minute videos of their testimony.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

How you can help

You can comment on the proposed coal port Gateway Pacific Terminal online or by email at comments@eisgatewaypacificwa.gov.

Tell the Army Corp of Engineers that they MUST analyze impacts from these coal ports in all communities, from the mines to the ports, from the prairies to the ocean.

You can also join or donate to NWF’s efforts to stop coal exports.

Become of fan of NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships Program on facebook and follow us on Twitter @NWFTribalLands

Protesters outside the Montana Capitol building in 2010, protesting the leasing of the Otter Creek coal tracts

If you have been reading my blogs about the effort of the Tongue River Railroad company to acquire a permit to construct and operate an 80 mile rail line along the pristine Tongue River valley, then you know that the consensus in eastern Montana, among the landowners, tribal citizens and hunters is that we don’t want it.

At each public scoping hearing, in Lame Deer, Forsyth, and Ashland, and Miles City, person after person rose in front of their community members, their families, the STB staff and industry representatives, and said in no uncertain terms, that they opposed the Tongue River Railroad and would protect their land, community and culture.

Jeannie Alderson, long time Northern Plains Resource Council member and rancher said, “The coal companies always tell you what they are going to bring, but they never tell you what they are going to take away.”

For five days straight, liberals and conservatives, cowboys and Indians, the young and our elders told STB to deny the Tongue River Railroad Company a permit.

Watch the Northern Cheyenne and their neighbors stand up to Big Coal and the Tongue River Railroad

Lucky for you, my friend Jeff King, a Northern Cheyenne tribal member and solar air heater trainee, was able to capture some of the testimony from the final Lame Deer hearing. So, instead of me telling you what people had to say, I want you to hear it for yourself. I tried to boil three hours of testimony down to about 20 minutes.

That means that a lot of heartfelt testimony was left out and unfortunately, the battery ran out so not every person that spoke is represented.

Believe me, this is 20 minutes that you don’t want to miss.

Click here to view the embedded video.

And watch it till the end…..

Clint and Wally McRae, ranchers whose land would be crossed by the Tongue River Railroad. Photo courtesy Sierra Club

And, just a side note, two representatives from Arch Coal sat in the corner during this hearing. Never once did they get up and defend their project or  speak to the people whose lives they intend to upend. In fact, during one man’s testimony, as he spoke of his grandmother’s death, they stood up and walked out.

As Arch Coal representatives told one Ashland man, “we are just here to open a coal mine.”

Join us in stopping the Tongue River Railroad

Submit Comments

You can send your comments to: Ken Blodgett, Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20423-0001, Environmental filing, Docket No. FD 30186. The STB also provides an online comment form.

Support National Wildlife Federation

Become a member or donate today.

Join us online in our efforts to spread the word about NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships

Here’s our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @NWFTribalLands to keep up on the lastest news.

If you need help submitting comments or want more information about the Tongue River Railroad and its impacts on wildlife, please contact me at bonogofsky@nwf.org.

To put these hearings in perspective for those of you who don’t live in eastern Montana, they are being held in very small and rural communities and the economy is primarily based on family-owned farms and ranches and wildlife-based recreation, mostly hunting.

When 75 people turn out to a public hearing on a cold Montana night in a small town, that’s a big deal.

What was the consensus in Ashland last night?

Ashland is the community that is closest to the proposed Otter Creek coal mine and would also bear the extra burden of the proposed Tongue River Railroad. This community has the most to lose from the industrialization of this quite and pristine valley.

Well, if last night was any indication, the residents in Ashland don’t want the railroad running through their community. In the packed auditorium, over 20 citizens spoke against the railroad and not ONE person stood up to support it. After every speaker, the auditorium erupted in applause.

A “Travesty”

Walter Archer, chair of the Northern Plains Resource Council, kicked the night off with the first public comment calling the whole situation a travesty. Right on his heals came Henry Coffin, a local rancher.  He read the part of the Montana Constitution that says Montanan’s have a right to a “clean and healthful environment” and also a “right to defend our property.” He told them to leave the Tongue River “dead alone”. Kenneth Medicine Bull, a tribal member called it an “American tragedy.”

You can imagine where the night went from there.

This is an environmental justice issue

Golder Ranch – Photo take by Alexis Bonogofsky

He said that ultimately what the Tongue River Railroad proposal boiled down to was an environmental justice issue, for both the Northern Cheyenne Tribe and the local farmers and ranchers.

As Brad pointed out, and what most American’s don’t know, he is part of the 1% of the population in the United States that produces food for the rest of the 99%. One farmer called the Tongue River Valley, the “San Joaquin of the Plains,” with amazingly long growing season and plentiful and clean water from the Tongue. In addition, the tribal communities in southeastern Montana have some of the highest poverty rates in the nation. These two groups of people will have to deal with immense impacts of this mine and rail line.

The truth comes out

These proposals have nothing to do with national energy security or economic development. This isn’t about jobs for the poor, helping Montana’s tax base or helping local schools.

This is about money. But not money for Montanans, the Northern Cheyenne or local farmers and ranchers. And the last time I checked, mule deer and elk don’t know the first thing about using money to buy food. They rely on the plentiful forage in the Tongue River Valley.

A couple of things are important to know about the Tongue River Railroad and the Otter Creek mine:

1. The companies that are proposing the Tongue River Railroad and the Otter Creek Coal Mine are owned by some of the richest men in America.  A handful of  people will become very rich off Montana’s natural resources while;

Phillip Whiteman and Lynette Two Bulls speak at an environmental justice meeting in Lame Deer earlier this year

2. The 1% of the population who grow and raise food for the rest of the population and Native Americans will bear the brunt of the water, air, social and environmental impacts from the TRR and Otter Creek coal mine.

It’s pretty simple.  A BLM study conducted during a statewide oil and gas environmental impact statement showed that historically, energy development that occurred off the reservation, although was promised to bring the Cheyenne people out of poverty, actually worsened economic conditions on the Reservation.

Closing statement

At the end of the evening, a man who came with his wife stood up and walked slowly to the front of the auditorium. He hadn’t planned on speaking and obviously just finished doing chores for the evening. His jeans were tucked into his mud boots, dirt smeared on his sweatshirt and his voice shaking slightly from nervousness.

He stood up and looked at the government bureaucrats sitting at the table in the front of the room, white lights beating down on their face and said,

“What voice do we have?”

Indeed.

What you can do to help:

Submit Comments

You can send your comments to: Ken Blodgett, Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20423-0001, Environmental filing, Docket No. FD 30186. The STB also provides an online comment form.

Support National Wildlife Federation

Become a member or donate today.

Join us online in our efforts to spread the word about NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships

Here’s our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @NWFTribalLands to keep up on the lastest news.

If you need help submitting comments or want more information about the Tongue River Railroad and its impacts on wildlife, please contact me at bonogofsky@nwf.org. Stay tuned for updates about the public scoping hearings and more about the Tongue River Railroad in Part II and III.

Over 90% of citizens who spoke at the meeting expressed opposition to the proposed rail line, with almost 100% of Northern Cheyenne who testified opposing the rail line and expressing grave concerns.

Northern Cheyenne Tipi – Photo by Alexis Bonogofsky

This proposed rail line, if authorized, would be devastating to wildlife, tribal cultural resources, local ranchers, hunting opportunities and the uniquely clean air and water enjoyed in this part of Montana.

What is a “Scoping” Process and why is the STB conducting one for the Tongue River Railroad?

STB’s Tongue River Railroad “Alternatives” Map

A scoping hearing is when a government agency (in this case the STB) meets with members of the public to discuss the wide variety of issues related to a certain project (in this case the TRR rail line). They ask what the public believes should be addressed in the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).  The intent of the process is for the STB to learn about the concerns of impacted citizens and further define the issues, feasible alternatives and potential mitigation measures that may warrant in-depth analysis in the environmental review process.

What are they analyzing? The Tongue River Railroad “Alternatives”

One extremely important issue to note is that the STB must analyze various “alternatives.” Such “alternatives” include the different routes that the rail line could take but it also includes a “no-action” alternative. Let me do some bureaucratic language translation for you. I speak it fairly well. When they say the “no-action” alternative, they mean that the STB has the power and the ability to deny the Tongue River Railroad company a permit to construct and operate this rail line. 

The map provided at yesterday’s scoping meeting showed the “alternatives” and yet, the STB did not have a map that showed no rail line. The STB seemed reluctant to discuss the “no-action” alternative in their presentation or expressly tell the audience that this was even a possibility. It seemed as if the agency’s representatives thought the “no-action” alternative was not even a possibility.

Check out the Tongue River Railroad “Alternatives” Map here.

At 7:20 p.m., after a one-hour open house and a 15 minute presentation by the STB contractors, the STB informed the crowd that each person had 5 minutes to speak.

Northern Cheyenne tribal members have something to say about it

Sign on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation

One woman, who had seen the destruction of the bison bone bed on the Crow Reservation, expressed great concern for the hundreds of cultural sites along the Tongue River and Otter Creek drainages. She asked the STB, “who is going to protect these site from destruction?” She was the first of many to raise concerns about the potential destruction of cultural and historic resources. As many stated, the Northern Cheyenne are deeply connected to this region and they want the STB to tell them how this rail line will impact the plants they use, the wildlife they harvest and the sites that are important to their tribe.

Vanessa Braided Hair, a young Northern Cheyenne woman, spoke out strongly against the proposed rail line. She was adamant that “no-good” would come from the line.

Another woman—who lives off wild game such as deer and elk—also spoke out against the rail line and asked the STB how this train would affect her ability to hunt and gather along the Tongue River. She knew that wildlife would be impacted and therefore her ability to make a living would be too.

A young man, William Wilson, also known as Possum, stood up and told the STB that his people “fought and died for this land” and he is not willing to see it destroyed.

Local rancher, Clint McRae, told the STB that one of the alternatives went directly through ranches whose owners have never been notified that it was even a possibility? How can people comment on a plan if they have never been notified of the existence of this plan?

Who does the STB represent?

Person after person stood and spoke up for their people and their land.  They asked about increased road traffic and the safety of their kids. They asked how this mine and railroad would affect their Class I Airshed, something the Tribe is fiercely proud of. They asked how the new railroad would  affect the water quality of Tongue River.

Tribal members told the STB how it would impact their land, resources and cultural heritage, which their people fought and died to protect. They talked about the need for renewable energy projects. They talked about the impacts of climate change.

Wally McRae, rancher and cowboy poet, stood up and asked whether the Surface Transportation Board represented the people sitting in that room or a for-profit coal and railroad company?

I think the STB needs to answer that question first before it answers anything else.

Undeterred by their permit being pulled, the backers of this railroad are trying again to get this expensive and destructive railroad built all the while destroying valuable wildlife habitat, threatening condemnation of private property and forever changing the character and nature of this valley forever.

Why I Care About the Tongue River Valley (and why you should too)

a Bull Elk – Photo courtesy Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks

The valley provides valuable wildlife habitat

The Tongue River valley provides habitat for thousands of species of western wildlife and plants. The river, which flows from the snowfields of Wyoming’s Big Horn Mountains and meanders for more than 250 miles before emptying into the Yellowstone River, supports a “mind-bogglingly rich assemblage of native warm water fish.”  The river winds through the beautiful and varied landscapes of eastern Montana – the Tongue River Canyon, the Tongue River breaks, and the buttes, grasslands, and pine hills – which provide ideal habitat for the wildlife of the Great Plains including mule deer, elk, bald eagles, cougars, black bear and many other iconic western species.

The Northern Cheyenne, whose reservation is bordered on the eastern edge by the Tongue River, also value the river system for its wildlife and plants. Some of the edible plants collected along the Tongue River include chokecherries, currants, ground plums, mushrooms, prickly pear, rose hips, sage, scurfpea, snowberries, sunflowers, wild mint, and wild turnips. Cheyenne value the antelope, deer, elk, rabbit, duck, goose, grouse, pheasant, catfish and northern pike for subsistance hunting and fishing.

In a 2003 letter to the Tongue River Railroad Company, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks stated their concerns,

“Millions of sportsmen’s dollars have been invested into the Miles City Fish Hatchery, block management,  conservation easements, and programs to provide access for hunting and fishing along the Tongue River.”

The valley contains invaluable cultural and archaeological resources

Centuries ago, the rich supply of wild game and fish attracted Native Americans to the Tongue River region. They hunted migrating herds of bison, deer, and elk and fished the abundant streams. Southeastern Montana  is full of evidence of these early occupants: arrowheads, tepee rings, petroglyphs, battlegrounds, burial sites and a 2,000-year old bison bone bed.

There is a deep connection between the Northern Cheyenne and the Tongue River.

“The Tongue River valley has been home to the Northern Cheyenne since at least early historic times, the people developed a relationship with the river and the valley in terms everyday activities, the wildlife and plant life it sustains as well as in a spiritual context.” (BLM, Statewide Oil and Gas EIS, Northern Cheyenne Supplement)

Clint and Wally McRae, ranchers whose land would be crossed by the Tongue River Railroad.

The previous Tongue River Railroad environmental impact statements noted that there were many cultural areas that would be destroyed by the construction of this rail line, important to not only the Northern Cheyenne but also many of the Sioux tribes, Arapahoe, Shoshone and Crow.

The valley sustains the local agricultural and hunting economy

Clean water and undisturbed wildlife habitat are key components of the local economy in southeastern Montana. The Tongue River is the lifeblood of the local ranches, many of which were established by the first American settlers to set foot in Montana. Ranchers, many of whom allow the public on their land for hunting, rely on a clean river to irrigate their fields and water their livestock.Hunters and anglers, who come to this region of abundant wildlife from across the country to harvest trophy mule deer and elk, drive the local economy and support jobs.

Why the Tongue River Railroad is a Bad Idea

1. The railroad will harm wildlife and destroy habitat: Loss of habitat, wildlife mortality due to collisions with trains, and the reduction in habitat quality are the main impacts of habitat fragmentation by railroads. This may cause reduced population viability or threaten a species survival. On a local scale, trains affect wildlife habitats through the introduction of noxious weeds, emission of toxic contaminants like heavy metals, or spraying of herbicides to control weeds as well as the likelihood that the trains will spark a wildfire in this arid country. And, because the Tongue River Railroad would carry coal and coal alone, the valley would be subjected to thousands of pounds of toxin-laden coal dust each year and would face the risk of coal train derailments into the Tongue River.
2. The railroad will destroy cultural resources. Coal companies in the region have shown that the preservation and protection of cultural resources is not a priority for them. Unfortunately, laws that are intended to protect tribal, historic and archaeological places and artifacts give do not emphasize the value of leaving these resources in place. If the railroad is allowed to proceed, it will inevitably impact some of the valley’s cultural and historical resources and important cultural plant species.
3. The railroad will be a major contributor to climate change: The Tongue River Railroad Company - jointly owned by Arch Coal and Burlington Northern Santa Fe – wants to build the new railroad spur for one reason: to transport coal from Arch’s proposed Otter Creek mine to coal-fired power plants in Asia. However, they are still somehow insisting that this coal will be burned in the mid-West market.

We all know that coal is one of the dirtiest fuel sources on the planet, that coal mining coal causes irreparable damage to the land, water, and air, and that burning coal releases greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. If the company is unsuccessful in its bid to build the railroad, development of the massive coal mine at Otter Creek may be economically unfeasible.

What you can do to help protect the Tongue River Valley

Deer Medicine Rocks, located along Rosebud Creek in southeast Montana.

Attend Public Meetings in Montana

The STB is holding several public meetings in the Tongue River region to inform the public about the proposed railroad and to hear comments from interested individuals. The meetings are being held on the following dates and locations. For directions to each hearing go to the STB website they have set up for the public comment period.

November 12 – Lame Deer, Montana

November 13 – Forsyth, Montana

November 14 – Ashland, Montana

November 15 – Miles City, Montana

November 16 – Lame Deer, Montana (second hearing)

Submit Comments

You can send your comments to: Ken Blodgett, Surface Transportation Board, 395 E Street, SW, Washington, D.C. 20423-0001, Environmental filing, Docket No. FD 30186. The STB also provides an online comment form.

Support National Wildlife Federation

Become a member or donate today.

Join us online in our efforts to spread the word about NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships

Here’s our Facebook page, or follow us on Twitter @NWFTribalLands to keep up on the lastest news.

If you need help submitting comments or want more information about the Tongue River Railroad and its impacts on wildlife, please contact me at bonogofsky@nwf.org. Stay tuned for updates about the public scoping hearings and more about the Tongue River Railroad in Part II and III.

Crowd at the Way of Life Gathering in Lame Deer, MT listen to speakers.

The Northern Cheyenne Reservation, located in present day southeastern Montana, is in the heart of the Powder River Basin, the largest coal-producing region in the Nation.

The gathering focused on encouraging participants to reconnect with nature and on educating them about the importance of protecting natural resources and wildlife, the social and environmental impacts of mining, climate change, and economic alternatives to resource extraction. Yellow Bird and its supporters want tribal members to be fully informed before the upcoming vote that will determine whether coal development can proceed on the reservation.

The Tribe has an abundance of natural resources on its homeland in southeastern Montana and it has fought to keep these resources undeveloped for generations. Because the Tribe has invested countless hours and resources into protecting tribal lands, the Northern Cheyenne reservation maintains clean water, clean air and pristine wildlife habitat.

However, multinational coal companies are now asking the Tribe to open its lands to coal mining. And this isn’t the first time the Tribe has had to make this decision.

History of fighting coal development

A sign on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation

According to an historical account of the Northern Cheyenne tribal opposition to coal development, compiled by Dull Knife College in Lame Deer, there was much community opposition to the Peabody coal leases. Ted Risingsun, a cultural leader and tribal council member, responded to the promises of jobs and economic development this way:

“I think I would rather be poor in my own country, with my own people, with our own way of life than be rich in a torn-up land where I am outnumbered ten to one by strangers.”

After months of listening to their constituents and doing their own investigations, the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council voted 11–to–zero on March 5, 1973, to seek cancellation of all the coal permits and leases. The Tribe petitioned the Secretary of the Interior, explaining the permits and leases violated 36 federal regulations. Then Secretary of the Interior Rogers C. B. Morton refused to cancel the leases outright. Instead, a year after the petition, on June 4, 1974, Morton placed the leases on indefinite hold, a de facto victory for the tribe.

Way of Life Gathering 2012

Wahleah Johns speaks to the Gathering

In addition, other speakers addressed economic development alternatives to fossil fuel development and how the Northern Cheyenne community could take advantage of renewable energy and the emerging green economy.

At a crossroads

Today,  the Northern Cheyenne are at a crossroads. Soon, possibly at end of September, Northern Cheyenne tribal citizens will be asked to decide whether to lease the billions of tons of coal that lie under the reservation to a large coal mining company.  This company will most likely offer the Tribe less than they were offered in the 1960s coal leases and probably less than the State of Montana was recently offerred for the Otter Creek coal tracts, which are adjacent to the Reservation. The people will have to decide whether the promises of economic development outweigh the threats to their land, air and water.

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Deer Medicine Rocks

Yesterday, in the beautiful Rosebud valley in southeastern Montana, hundreds gathered to celebrate and honor an important and sacred place, Deer Medicine Rocks, as a National Historic Landmark. Northern Cheyenne, Oglala Lakota, ranchers, historians, and others came to this remote site, just north of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation to honor and recognize a place where Native Americans have carved their prophecies, their history and their dreams for thousands of years. I was honored to attend the celebration as a representative of NWF’s Tribal Lands Partnerships Program and as a proud Montanan. Deer Medicine Rocks demands your attention. It juts out into the never ending Montana sky amid other sandstone bluffs and prairie and sage brush flats. This region and the abundant wildlife that call it home, is one of the most special in all of Montana and the Nation. When you step foot in this country, you’ll never forget it.

Petroglyphs cover the walls of the sandstone face of the rocks, including a rock art inscription of the prophecy of a tribal victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn that was revealed Hunkpapa Lakota medicine man Sitting Bull during a Sun Dance held in the Rosebud Valley in June 1876. For those of you who may never make it out to southeastern Montana to see this amazing place, the National Park Service has described some of the petroglyphs that reveal themselves on the rocks.

“There are elk with tracks; buffalo bull sitting down (possibly Sitting Bull’s signature); buffalo tracks; bear tracks and a grizzly bear; mountain sheep; deer; birds; salamanders; a thunderbird; a coyote; the sacred Sun Dance of the Lakota people, with pole and piercing of the flesh; tepees; a man on horseback; war regalia in the form of bear claws, a mirror, and eagle bone whistles; a view of soldiers with grasshopper-like legs falling into camp; a medicine wheel with quadrants including a moon and a man smoking a pipe; and a human with a shield.

Lightning Strike on Deer Medicine Rocks

On the northeast side, a lightning bolt struck the rock creating a blue stripe that seared through the image of a deer and knocked away a piece of the stone thereby providing the site’s most common name, “Deer Medicine Rocks.” National Park Service