(DFL, Minnesota)
August 5, 2005
“Peat Mining in the Big Bog:
A Racist, Corrupt Backroom Deal Spun By Capitalist Globalization”
By: Alan L. Maki
“Millennia of living along seacoasts, lakes, and rivers, besides ponds and springs and water holes have had their influence. Man’s History is woven into waterways, for not only did he live beside them, but he used them as highways for hunting, exploration, and trade. Water assured his welfare, its absence meant migration or death, its constancy nourished his spirit (1).” Sigurd F. Olson
Former Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party Governor Elmer Benson said something to me at Measba Cooperative Park many years ago that I will never forget. Benson said, “If you take away all this racism, if you take away all of these closed meetings between politicians and the corporations with their big money wheeling and dealing… and if you take away all the rest of the goddamn corruption in our country, this damn capitalist system would collapse. We wouldn’t need a revolution (2).” I never fully understood this statement until looking into what is now taking place in the Big Bog, using the scientific methodology of modern cultural anthropology.
The intent of this research paper, using the Pine Island State Forest peat mining operation in the Big Bog, is to make people aware that the Minnesota Legislature has failed to provide adequate guidelines for the Department of Natural Resources when it comes to Environmental Impact Statements (3). The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources is not adequately guided in putting together a team of scientists under the direction of a competent project manager with the present guidelines. In order to provide the public with an Environmental Impact Statement that can not only withstand close public scrutiny, but encourages the public to question and challenge the EIS, an adequate study--- known as the Draft Environmental Impact Statement must first be completed, taking into consideration all known factors. One of the primary purposes of completing an Environmental Impact Statement is to insure the project under consideration can stand up to all challenges; this is a foundation of the way science works. Challenges from the public at large and the scientific community to an Environmental Impact Statement is needed in order to make sure all relevant questions and challenges get answered. Scientists always welcome challenges to their work; an Environmental Impact Statement should not drift from this process of welcomed inquiry.
Further, an Environmental Impact Statement should not shun inquiry from those scientists, engineers, and the general public behind “no response required,” especially in a situation like this where there has been a very long history of opposition that centers on issues where wide sections of the population have questions that have not been addressed by the EIS. Nor should public meetings and hearings be planned in such a way as to discourage participation from those who have doubts, questions, and concerns about a project, especially when people believe the project will be detrimental to them, and in this case the charge has been leveled from very informed quarters that the peat mining project in the Big Bog will lay the basis for destroying an entire sovereign Indian Nation, and its people--- economically, socially, culturally, and spiritually by destroying an entire complex ecosystem (4).
With these things in mind, a most important question that needs to be asked, is: Why didn’t the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources together with the Koochiching County Board of Commissioners and United States Congressman James Oberstar hold a public meeting on the “Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Pine Island Bog, Horticultural Peat Development” somewhere on the Red Lake Nation Indian reservation (5)? Did these public officials not consider that many members of the Red Lake Nation would have something to say about their futures concerning this issue? After considering the facts below it will be apparent to the reader that these public officials lacked the moral and political courage to engage the people of the Red Lake Nation in dialogue and debate on this issue resulting in compromising and bastardizing science. These public officials, including United States Congressman James Oberstar, Koochiching County Commissioner Mike Hanson, and Gene Merriam the Minnesota Commissioner of Natural Resources, must be held accountable for their actions. The EIS project manager should have to explain her actions in a grand jury investigation into this matter. Gene Merriam, the Minnesota Commissioner of Natural Resources should have to explain to the Governor, Minnesota Legislators, the people of the state of Minnesota, and most importantly, to the people of the Red Lake Nation why he has chosen not to revoke the permit for peat mining that he signed, knowing now that the EIS is so seriously flawed that it does not rise to the level of meeting any kind of scientific standards. In a democracy one can not simply say that the permit has been signed, there is no stopping this now, while knowing something is terribly wrong.
For over forty years the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources--- working with big business interests including: Minnegasco, Ithasca Power, Berger Ltd., the Blandin Foundation, Bemidji State University, Natural Resources Research Institute, and the Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation agency --- has promoted the mentality of those that stole the land from the First Nations Peoples and conquered them; that nature, left in its pristine state never has any value (6). It is important to take note that the “damn capitalist system” as it was called by former Governor Benson, was imposed upon a people in the most savage and brutal manner that words cannot adequately describe. First Nations People had lived in cooperation with each other and in harmony with nature for many thousands of years. The Big Bog was and continues to be an important ecosystem to First Nations peoples.
Much of modern science is based upon the learning and teachings of First Nations peoples in their struggle for survival over the millennia... including the intrinsic value and importance of ecosystems and the need for environmentalism. Environmentalism is often mocked and stereotyped by the corporate media and big-business interests. This can be seen in advertisements as well as bumper stickers and the large signs posted in the middle of clear-cuts by the DNR, which proclaim the areas as “wildlife habitat.” The thoroughly detesting description of environmentalists as “bunny lovers and tree huggers” has been intentionally fostered by corporate interests over the years. And, we have been led to believe that leaving the management of our forests and ecosystems in the hands of big-business interests is the only way to create jobs, as if it is not possible for humans to live in harmony with nature in our modern world in any other way. For many decades the Minnesota DNR has had a schizophrenic policy towards the natural world. On one hand actively promoting the idea that, unless exploited, nature is meaningless waste; while on the other hand offering up slick posters and publications to tourists and school children promoting the wonders of Mother Nature, while never talking about the two at the same time. This can be seen while reading the “Minnesota Volunteer” the slick, glossy publication of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, along with the Minnesota DNR website; one only has to look at the way bogs are covered in each and then look at the approach the Minnesota DNR has taken towards peat mining in the Big Bog to understand that the Minnesota DNR is a government agency which has not had real leadership on these issues for many years… big-business interests always come first in practice, while Mother Nature is relegated to charming stories detached from the real world (See No. 6 “Volunteers”).
This is why it is so necessary to now consider a completely different approach that had been offered by Roger Jourdain when it comes to how we view the Big Bog, and this capitalist venture of peat mining in the Big Bog, together with how this has come to be--- in spite of widespread public opposition. To do this we need to understand some history and economics, along with understanding that ecosystems, often, have to be protected for scientific, economic, cultural, and spiritual reasons… sometimes for one of the reasons, sometimes in combination, or as in the case of the Big Bog for all of these reasons.
The DNR and big-business, together with the capitalist sooth-sayers working in their ivory towers and city offices, have put forth the idea that the peatlands of northern Minnesota are a “vast wasteland” that needs to be developed in quest of corporate profits. Cheap labor is being employed to turn peat into a commodity to be sold by a foreign, multi-national conglomerate. All the while politicians are grasping for support from the public by touting job creation as their goal. To this end, over the longstanding objections of the people of the Red Lake Nation and many Minnesotans, Gene Merriam, the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, authorized a permit for Berger, Limited of Quebec, Canada to mine peat in the Big Bog (7).
This peat mining for horticultural purposes will be a prelude to very extensive peat mining of the Big Bog if the power generating industry and their business friendly and compliant DNR have their way. According to the Minnesota “Volunteer,” in a lead article entitled “Big Bog: Energy Garden or Wilderness Sanctuary” (See No. 6 March-April 1982, p2…10), peat mined from the Big Bog will eventually be used as a fuel for biomass. This article was obviously a rebuttal to a scathing attack against peat mining in the Big Bog in “Audubon” (See Note 6, September 1981), which pointed out that peat mining over 200,000 acres, would destroy the Big Bog. In another issue of the “Volunteer,” Sept.-Oct. 1975, the article “For Peat’s Sake” touted peat mined from the Big Bog as filtering material for huge municipal sewage systems.
After many years, over the objections from many people (most notably the long-term and consistent opposition from the Red Lake Nation and its undisputed leader and senior statesman, Roger Jourdain), peat mining is now underway in the Big Bog. The Big Bog is a jointly owned and shared resource between the State of Minnesota and the Red Lake Nation; not one of the many articles that have been published in the Minnesota “Volunteer” about mining the Big Bog for peat have ever noted this fact, instead, skirting this issue by talking about the Pine Island State Forest and the Big Bog as if you can pencil in the boundaries of ownership instead of recognizing that the Big Bog’s ecosystem cannot be defined by drawing lines on a map (8). As early as 1969, the Red Lake Nation made the Minnesota Department of Natural resources aware through many in person meetings--- both formal and informal--- memos, a deluge of letters, articles published in the Red Lake Nation News, and through numerous resolutions sent to the DNR, governors, congress people, United States senators, state legislators, county commissioners, and a host of government agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Army Corps of Engineers that the Red Lake Nation was adamantly opposed to mining peat or any other commercialization of the Big Bog (9). The latest resolution opposing this mining came from the Red Lake Nation Tribal Council, which unanimously voted approval after being brought forward by council members Pemberton--- who also heads up the Red Lake DNR and council member May (Red Lake Resolution; March 8, 2005).
It is important to note Red Lake’s longstanding opposition to peat mining because the Commissioner of Natural Resources, Gene Merriam is claiming he signed the permit because he believed--- after receiving a letter from former Red Lake Nation Chairman, Gerald “Butch” Brun purporting to be dropping Red Lake’s opposition to peat mining the Big Bog--- that the Red Lake Nation was now on side with the Natural Resources Research Institute, MNDNR, Bemidji State University, Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Agency, Blandin Foundation, Koochiching County Commissioners, Berger Ltd. and the power generating industry. Chairman Brun did in fact sign such a letter in return for Koochiching Economic Development Authority (KEDA) agreeing to allow Red Lake Gaming Enterprises to pursue the construction of a mega casino/convention center project in International Falls, Minnesota. The problem with this letter is, as reflected in the March 8, 2005 Red Lake Nation Tribal Council Resolution, that Chairman Brun was never authorized by the Council to send this letter that had been solicited by Congressman Oberstar as he brokered this deal, which he announced at a press conference from his Duluth office in December 2004 (RLN Resolution). Chairman Brun is the one and only Red Lake Nation elected official who has ever supported the peat mining project (10). Something to consider is this: If the Governor of the State of Minnesota were to approve of this project and the Minnesota legislature was unanimously opposed, would the Commissioner of Natural Resources have signed this permit? The obvious answer is “no.” Yet, Gene Merriam, the Commissioner of Natural Resources signed this permit to mine peat knowing that this letter had been obtained through the same kind of capitalist trickery and chicanery which surrounds every treaty ever concluded forcing First Nations peoples to cede their lands and rights here in the State of Minnesota; the Commissioner had to have known this was the case or he is incredibly ignorant of the way politics operates in this state, and after having served as a state legislator for many years he has to know that something is rotten when after thirty years of opposition, one lone tribal politician provides a letter that is not even signed by the Secretary of the Red Lake Nation to indicate that the letter is part of the normal tribal procedures or alludes to Council concurrence. The Commissioner, while serving many years as a state legislator was repeatedly visited by Red Lakers on the yearly Red Lake Days held at the state capitol offices where he personally met with Red Lakers, all of whom over the years expressed to him their opposition to peat mining or commercialization of the Big Bog. Congressman Oberstar was also personally, and repeatedly, made aware of Red Lake’s opposition to peat mining in the Big Bog because Roger Jourdain often met with him, and this issue came out in their discussions very routinely over many years. One member of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, Jeffrey A. Koschak who did most of the work on site for the Army Corps said in a telephone interview with this writer he expressed concerns to his superior about the Brun letter and suggested that contact be made with the Red Lake Tribal Council to find out “what was up” because he sensed something may not be right with the letter; Koschak was right. Robert Whiting, the head of the Army Corps regional office in St. Paul told this writer in a telephone conversation that he never followed through on Koschak’s suggestion to investigate the Brun letter.
United States Congressman Jim Oberstar brokered this peat for casino deal. According to Robert Whiting, the head of the regional office of the United States Army Corps of Engineers’ regional office in St. Paul, Minnesota, he hesitatingly, signed the permit only after being informed there was “congressional approval” for the project. When pressed, Mr. Whiting admitted that “congressional approval” amounted to Congressman James Oberstar supporting the project. As far as Mr. Whiting knows, congress never voted its approval nor have any other members of congress ever shown support for the project. There is nothing in the “Congressional Record” indicating the United States Congress has given its approval to peat mining in the Big Bog. A thorough computer search was conducted of Congressional Records 1969 to 2005 (computer search by ALM).
The people of the Red Lake Nation also hold to a view of “landownership” that is at loggerheads with Minnesota Legislators, the DNR, and big-business. Right-wing politicians in Minnesota often refer to the Red Lake Nation derogatorily as a “welfare-state” and “an island of socialism” because the Red Lake Nation has made the collective decision that all land remains the property of the Nation, which can not be parceled off for sale, but can be used by the people to build houses on, conduct business from, and work in a variety of ways to make their livings, etc. Tribal owned enterprises have also been features of the Red Lake Nation, again, bringing forth the reactionary opposition to lament the “socialist state.” Republican legislators have often suggested that Red Lakers have “chosen their own poverty” because they could be selling off all kinds of lakefront property and making a lot of money.
A response to the above view was articulated by Chief May during the 1889 Treaty Negotiations when he declared, “I will never consent to the allotment plan. I wish to lay out a reservation here, where we can remain with all our bands forever (11).” No doubt the real-estate and land speculators continue to cry over those words. One has only to take a drive out to the small commercialized section of non-tribal owned land on Upper Red Lake to see how real-estate agents and investors have squeezed every inch they can from this “private property” while plying their trade in the world of “free enterprise;” where land is a commodity to be sold to the highest bidder. Chief May had the foresight to see where the capitalist system of private ownership of the land was headed.
Roger Jourdain, the long-time serving Chairman of the Red Lake Nation (1959-1990) stated, “Don’t let anybody tell you that you’ve got too much land, that you should sell some of it. Once you sell it, it’s gone (12).” Again, very prophetic and observant words based upon what he saw going on all around him. Certainly no one can say that Roger Jourdain was not a man of tremendous wisdom who gave very considered thought to what was happening, not only on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, but throughout the rest of the world. Roger Jourdain, from the time he was elected Chairman of the Red Lake Nation until the day he died, was one of the most astute and respected politicians in Minnesota. The question that has to come to the mind of any thinking person is why the team that was assembled to draft the Environmental Impact Statement never once considered Roger Jourdain’s longstanding position--- in opposition to peat mining and commercialization when it comes to the Big Bog? After all, Jourdain had a widespread reputation for being a shrewd politician who was always open to compromise because he understood he was living in a very racist society and just because justice required a solution to problems, he understood that Minnesota legislators were not going to be forthcoming in one fell swoop in meeting the requirements of Red Lakers to live like human beings in full dignity. Jourdain built up pressure and got what he could at the time, realizing there was always another day to come back and try to get the rest of what was required for Red Lakers to live with dignity and respect; not unlike a union negotiator bargaining with the company. There isn’t one single politician in Minnesota that didn’t recognize that Jourdain was always open for compromise, and they all knew he was always ready and eager for discussion on any and all issues. So, why did Congressman Oberstar and the Commissioner of Natural Resources refuse to consider Jourdain’s position on peat mining in the Big Bog? Because they did not want to acknowledge that the people of the Red Lake Nation have any say over the future of the Big Bog. This is sheer racism.
Very important to this discussion are the words of Dan Needham, the first elected Treasurer of the Red Lake Nation, who summed up what has transpired, thus, “It was mostly intimidation that cost us that land (Red River Valley) the treaty meeting of 1863 was held out at the Old Crossing by Red River Falls. The government had soldiers there with guns pointing at the Indian encampment, cannons. It scared most of the Indians even the chief… they signed that treaty giving away the Red River Valley lands for about five cents an acre (13).” The land referred to includes the entire Big Bog. These views represent what the courts recognize as mitigating historical circumstances. It is within this framework, together with the resolutions passed in opposition to peat mining and the commercialization of the Big Bog that should have been taken into consideration by an anthropologist employed during the process of creating the Environmental Impact Statement. It is important to note that the peatlands in question were in fact taken in the manner described above and now this “new owner” and a foreign, multi-national conglomerate intends to profit from this land stolen from the people of the Red Lake Nation for five cents per acre. This has been the pattern of history of the last more than one hundred years that has driven Native American communities into poverty; steal their land, use it to accumulate capital, and then use that capital to expand further, while everyone wonders why there is such poverty on Indian Reservations.
If we were to take the coal mines, the taconite mines, the oil wells, the banks, the power generating plants, the steel mills, and the forest lands away from the Rockefeller family and see what happens to them, where would this wealthy family be? Better yet, give it all back to the people who it was stolen from and see what happens with their lives. Then give the Rockefeller family a little plot of land out in the bog and tell them to survive the best they can. This would make an interesting study for anthropologists. Maybe some computer modeling could be done? And these are the kinds of very relevant questions that needed to be posed during the process of preparing the draft EIS, but were not.
Roger Jourdain, during his long tenure as Red Lake Nation Chairman, spent a great deal of his time defending the Big Bog from peat mining and opposing commercialization of the Big Bog. Chairman Jourdain stated, “The most important use of the peatlands is as a natural filter for the waters which maintain our lakes. Peat provides habitat for our wildlife. Much of our forests grow on peat. The wildlife, timber and fish are our greatest resource…(the) primary source of employment and income for our tribe” (The Patterned Peatlands). At meeting after meeting Chairman Jourdain and later, Roger Jourdain senior statesman and private citizen declared, “Destroy this bog and you destroy my People and you destroy my Nation.” None of this was taken into consideration by the project manager, or those Rebecca Wooden assembled to put together this Environmental Impact Statement. Perhaps Jourdain was wrong; but science never put what he said to the test in challenging these words--- before Commissioner Merriam signed the permit to allow peat mining in the Big Bog.
The State of Minnesota has a “review” process that a project of this nature is required to go through before it can come to fruition and receive the necessary permits for operation. The centerpiece of the process is the creation of an “Environmental Impact Statement.” The purpose of creating the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is multifold, but the DNR and business interests primarily use the Environmental Impact Statement to “prove” to the public that there is little if any chance of environmental impacts that will negatively affect people or their living environments, and that there will be no long term detrimental consequences to the environment or ecosystems. How can any of the Environmental Impact Statements ever prepared by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources now be trusted, knowing what we do about the nature of this particular Environmental Impact Statement, which the Commissioner has defended through his public relations man, Mark LaBarbera, as being just as thorough as every single other Environmental Impact Statement ever prepared by the MNDNR? If this is the case, Minnesota legislators had better convene some kind of hearing to reassess all these Environmental Impact Statements and we had all better be more vigilant in the future.
Congressman Oberstar has used “jobs, jobs, jobs” as a kind of witch hunt tactic against anyone and everyone who dares to question any Environmental Impact Statement that is drafted around a project that he supports; if you oppose it you are opposed to workers getting jobs. Congressman Oberstar accuses those with questions of trying to deny people employment, and then he points his finger to all the job losses in his congressional district. Congressman Oberstar has never attempted to mobilize the electorate behind a significant raise in the minimum wage in spite of the fact that in comparison, the poor in Appalachia appear to be doing rather well compared to the people on the Iron Range; nor has the Congressman authored any legislation that would prevent capital from moving equipment, plants, and modern technologies overseas to low wage areas. Oberstar will get up in a DFL convention and rant and rave: “We need jobs, jobs, jobs that pay good wages (14).” Yet none of the new projects that he brings in ever pay wages anywhere near the wages workers received on the jobs they are losing in mining or the paper, pulp, and lumber industry. The peat mining jobs will pay $6.85 to $8.00 an hour to about 35 seasonal workers and Congressman Oberstar says that these jobs will help workers formerly employed at the Boise Cascade operation. At Boise, working under union contract, these workers received $18.00 to $26.00 an hour with very good benefits (15). At no time has Congressman Oberstar ever suggested that a stipulation placed on Berger Limited’s peat mining jobs that they should be done under union contract; kind of strange for a Congressman who relies on unions for his votes. Also, it is interesting that Congressman Oberstar has never suggested that Red Lakers should be entitled to at least half of the jobs in the peat mining operation; using an affirmative action hiring policy.
Is the EIS process really about science, people, and the environment? Or, is the process a cover that is used to excuse the continued plunder of our natural resources for corporate profits, which destroys entire ecosystems? In this particular situation there are many very important ramifications for a sovereign Indian Nation--- the Red Lake Nation. This important information should be considered from a scientific perspective using modern anthropological techniques employing scientific methodology. The EIS project manager should have brought an anthropologist on board to be part of the “team” that developed this EIS. This was not even considered, let alone done.
Scientific methodology and objectivity are the primary tools used by modern day cultural anthropologists. Why do the rules and guidelines not require the EIS project manager to put together a team that includes an anthropologist? An anthropologist would have objectively explored the validity of the statements made by Roger Jourdain and the resolutions, etc. from the Red Lake Nation. As a sovereign Indian Nation, the Red Lake Nation has a right to participate in the decision making process as an equal with the state of Minnesota. Should the social, economic, cultural, and spiritual rights and needs of the people of the Red Lake Nation be taken into consideration? The project manager, Rebecca Wooden, to this day doesn’t believe these to be legitimate concerns even though the United Nations does.
The impact of this project on other inhabitants of the area (Koochiching County) is not being considered here because this is not an attempt to recreate an EIS, but to examine if the EIS is scientifically valid. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, together with the Minnesota Historical Society, Bemidji State University professors and engineering firms (HDR and Freeberg & Grund) did take into consideration, albeit very superficially, factors concerning the people of Koochiching County, Minnesota, who are predominantly white; they are also predominantly working-class, as are the people of the Red Lake Nation (16). Neither race nor class were scientifically analyzed as factors in any of the studies completed for the EIS. Jobs are an important issue for working people of all races; whether residents of Koochiching County or the Red Lake Nation. But, the EIS gives consideration for employment only to residents of Koochiching County, not to Red Lake citizens. This racist aspect of the EIS alone should have caused the Commissioner of Natural Resources to reject the request for the permit (17).
Rebecca Wooden, the project manager for the EIS takes issue with the characterization that the EIS is unscientific, by stating, “We did consider that the Red Lake Nation has a longstanding opposition to commercial developments in the peatlands and we (emphasis ALM) determined that their concerns were unwarranted.” In fact, the Final EIS states that “no comment is required,” as far as considering the objections raised by the people of the Red Lake Nation to peat mining in the Big Bog. Quite an observation from a project manager who has a degree in outdoor recreation and who, upon being queried if the services of an anthropologist was utilized in any stage of the preparation or research for the EIS, responded, “yes.” When asked to name that anthropologist she cited the archeologist. When questioned on her response, Ms. Wooden asked, “Isn’t an anthropologist the same thing as an archeologist?(telephone interview: ALM with Rebecca Wooden 6/13/05)” In fact, the archeologist did study some old buildings at the mining site, known as “The Old Pine Island Ranger Station” erected during the 1930’s by the CCC and WPA. There is nothing in the report saying if the CCC and WPA camps were established with input or collaboration from the Red Lake Nation. As noted by the archeologist, an airstrip was later built. Again, no mention if there was any input from the Red Lake Nation.
This may seem to be nit picking. However, the purpose here is not to test whether or not Rebecca Wooden was competent to be the project manager; not knowing the difference between an archeologist and an anthropologist is self explanatory and answers the question. If Rebecca Wooden did in fact carry out her responsibilities as project manager, then how do we explain all of what was not taken into consideration vis a vis the people of the Red Lake Nation? The issue then becomes have Minnesota Legislators created the proper guidelines required to complete a scientifically sound environmental impact statement under the circumstances presented in this particular project, which is not all that unusual in the state of Minnesota that has so much land under tribal ownership? The answer is “no.”
One would expect that a project manager who thought to include an archeologist would consider placing an anthropologist on the team given the high level of controversy that swirled around commercialization and peat mining in the Big Bog for over thirty years; with much of the controversy arising from the Red Lake Nation’s opposition. The DNR project manager should know that the scientific contributions of anthropologists is required to complete an EIS of this character, just as one would expect the project manager to be able to determine that a hydrologist is needed in order to complete the EIS. An EIS project manager must be given guidelines that enable him/her to make the determination that an anthropologist is needed.
Certainly after seeing the resolution from the Red Lake Nation, the project manager should have been able to come to the conclusion that the services of an anthropologist were required in order to create a scientifically sound EIS that could withstand challenges. That is why an EIS is created in the first place, like any other scientific theory, in order to be challenged. After all, by creating an EIS to be presented to the public, the DNR is saying, “Come on people, challenge this document; if our conclusions are wrong, prove it.”
In withholding facts concerning the positions of the people of the Red Lake Nation by refusing to subject what was contained in their numerous resolutions and statements to scientific questioning and scrutiny this is complete and total scientific dishonesty; tantamount to fabricating an EIS without any scientific merit. On the one hand the Minnesota DNR can not hold up an EIS and say, “We are attesting to the fact that this is the best scientific report that we can compile; while on the other hand knowing that the report does not contain facts obtained from the etic approach of modern anthropology. After all, if there are mitigating historical questions that are relevant to consideration [and mitigating historical facts that are relevant to the survival of a people], these must be stated, and presumably, these would be stated by a qualified project manager before work on the EIS has begun, so qualified personnel could be employed as part of the team for the project. In this case an anthropologist was required, in addition to, an archeologist; but only the archeologist was hired because the guidelines provide the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to respond to any questions that an anthropologist would investigate with: “No Response Required” and “This is beyond the scope of this EIS (See No. 17).” What a convenient, albeit racist, manner for a government agency to dodge the impact of a project’s impact on people and their living environment; not to mention the heavy handedness in dealing with a sovereign Indian Nation.
The DNR repeatedly relied on Koochiching County Commissioner Mike Hanson, not only to provide data, but to collect the data, and then interpret that data for the EIS team without submitting any of it to scientific questioning or challenge. Why wasn’t the Red Lake Department of Natural Resources or any member of the Red Lake Nation Tribal Council consulted with in a similar manner? Do Red Lakers not know their community as well as Commissioner Hanson knows his community? Does the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources begin with the chauvinist and racist notion that the position of a County Commissioner is in some way a more legitimate position than a Tribal Council member? Again, this is sheer racism on its face, especially given the fact that the Koochiching County Commissioner Mike Hanson has no background in any field of science.
The media also had a role to play in all of this. The role the media played only gives further credibility to the allegation that our society is mired in racism. Numerous articles have been published by the International Falls Daily Journal concerning the peat mining in the Big Bog (18). The editor and reporter had access to the very same material used to compile this research paper. They chose not to use materials from the Red Lake Nation archives. Why? What purpose did this serve? Only one purpose was to be had: to foment and inflame racism in the community in order to drum up political support for this peat mining project. Congressman Oberstar needed to have a show of public support for his “job creation program” lest he be accused of assisting another corporation of destroying our environment in quest of maximum profits. Racism always has survived in an atmosphere of ignorance; this peat mining project has proven to be no exception. Congressman Oberstar and Commissioner Merriam have played to this racism continually in promoting this project that will only serve corporate interests and further divide Minnesotans along racial lines.
The central issue is this: Are there historical mitigating circumstances with this particular project? If so, what are they? If there are none, then Rebecca Wooden did in fact fulfill her responsibility in this area because no historical mitigating issues were brought forth in either the draft EIS or the final EIS. But, were mitigating historical circumstances intentionally ignored while completing the EIS? Of course they were as noted previously, these historical mitigating circumstances were staring the project manager right in the face. One would have to be completely blind and deaf, or have no respect for what the people of the Red Lake Nation were, and are saying, in order to accept this EIS prepared under the direction and guidance of Rebecca Wooden. What is even more preposterous and hideous is that the Commissioner of Natural Resources would sign a permit, after reading the Final EIS--- we have to assume he did read this document--- allowing mining in the Big Bog. We also have to assume that Commissioner Merriam understands that he is responsible and accountable for his actions and that he has certain fiduciary responsibilities to the people of the state of Minnesota regarding authorizing this permit.
The issue at hand, the central issue, the mitigating historical problem that has not been considered is this: The land in question in which peat mining is now underway over the objections of the Red Lake Nation was stolen from the people of the Red Lake Nation in a most savage and brutal manner as accurately described by Treasurer Dan Needham as part of the “conquest” of this nation and the creation of the State of Minnesota. It could be argued that all of this happened so long ago that it is no longer of any consequence in creating an Environmental Impact Statement. But then, how is it justified that the socio-economic factors of the people of Koochiching County who suffer an official unemployment rate of about 6%, while the people of the Red Lake Nation have an official unemployment rate hovering over 30% (for what reason this discrepancy, might it be there is a historical problem?), should be given consideration while the economic factors concerning the people of the Red Lake Nation were not even given one single word of mention in the draft EIS or the final EIS, yet, Congressman Oberstar and the Commissioner of Natural Resources, Gene Merriam, both have declared the primary purpose of this project is to create jobs for the people of Big Falls, who live the same distance from the project as the people of the Red Lake Nation.
Compounding the problem, and another mitigating historical circumstance, this land might be part of a future land claims settlement in which the Red Lake Nation would ask the courts to return this land to them--- the rightful owners--- in its pristine state, none of which was considered in preparing to begin work on the EIS; during the process of drafting the EIS; nor does this mitigating historical factor come out in the final EIS; yet this could end up costing the taxpayers considerably if a court challenge is launched.
The Commissioner of Natural Resources is now asking, “Why are you people bringing these points up now, when there was adequate comment period to air your concerns before?” The fact is, these concerns were addressed by Dan Wilm, a Minnesota resident with first hand experience in the Big Bog, and the Pine Island State Forest specifically, between 1996 and 1999(19). How can the Commissioner claim objections to the project are now too late, when the same DNR refused to consider these questions from Mr. Wilm at the time? Then, as now, the DNR is choosing to ignore and circumvent citizen input.
One thing is very clear in all of this, and that is that this entire deal has been a racist, backroom deal from the very beginning to the present peat mining project now underway. Why, in a democracy, would this project be allowed to proceed with racism hanging over the project at every stage? Racism is completely incompatible with democracy. Not one of the politicians involved nor one of the highly educated people could recognize this racism? Or did they, like the Army Corps of Engineers acquiesce to congressional arm-twisting? The permit must be revoked pending answers to these questions.
There is only one conclusion to come to: Racism remains as great a factor today in the political, social, cultural, and economic life of the State of Minnesota as it was more than one hundred years ago when thirty eight Dakotas were hung by their necks in the largest mass execution in United States history in Mankato, Minnesota. These Dakotas were hung for the act of defending their families and homes. The rights of Native Americans to be participants in the decision making process in a land that was stolen from them is still intangible in a political process and environment dominated by the forces of racism, embedded, as former Governor Benson said, “ in this damn capitalist system.”
The EIS does not consider the value of this bog being left in its pristine state as the primary aquifer and natural filter and supply of fresh water for northern Minnesota as articulated by Roger Jourdain. No place in the EIS or any of the research done in preparing the EIS is this subject ever broached. What would be the cost of manufacturing such a filter today, or fifty years from now after the peat mining is done? Billions of dollars for sure. Yet, while computer models were used to “explain” all other facets of this project, computer modeling was not used to make projections regarding the economic benefits of the Big Bog as the natural water filter that it is, just as Roger Jourdain maintained for many years as he successfully fought off peat mining and the commercial development of the Big Bog.
Not only has racism been employed to create this EIS to justify corporate exploitation of this bog as was done to justify stealing the lands from the First Nations to begin with; but the guidelines established by the Minnesota Legislature have either intentionally--- or to be charitable, inadvertently--- allowed the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to get out from having to address the scientific conclusions put forth by Roger Jourdain who repeatedly stated, “If you destroy this bog you destroy my Nation and you destroy my People.” This most important statement, that brings forward the question of genocide, was not addressed by those hired by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to create the Environmental Impact Statement for this bog mining project, and more importantly, without the inclusion of this observation the discussion of the Environmental Impact Statement got sidetracked into many less significant areas.
This raises a very fundamental and overlooked issue: Roger Jourdain arrived at his scientific conclusions after a lifetime of first hand experience living in this bog; having been forced to live in it as part of the racist reservation system created by the conquerors who now claim to know best how to manage land. And now, a project manager with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who doesn’t know an archeologist from an anthropologist, says that she is satisfied that the EIS was conducted in a way that satisfies the rights, needs, and concerns of the people of the Red Lake Nation have been given adequate consideration in this EIS by being written off with “No response required.”
Racism has polluted our political landscape while bringing destruction upon a vital ecosystem. Congressman Oberstar and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Merriam may want to ponder the fact that their bodies, like the rest of us is comprised of over 60 percent water, which needs to be constantly replenished from a supply of freshwater in order to survive.
The requirement for anthropological study and input of all future Environmental Impact statements must become part of the guidelines the Minnesota DNR uses to create and draft these Environmental Impact Statements. It is up to the Minnesota Legislature to correct this racist and class injustice and to use its legislative powers to withdraw the permit that has been issued to Berger, Limited to truck away the profits from the Big Bog, while destroying this very important, useful, and valuable resource in its present pristine and undisturbed state.
William Brice, head of Land and Minerals division of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources personally saw to it that the “public notice” asking for final input into the EIS was placed in the International Falls Daily Journal and he also, intentionally, saw to it that this “public notice” was not placed in the Red Lake Nation News. Rebecca Wooden, the MNDNR’s project manager for the EIS did not object to this act of racism (20). Tom Balcom, who, at present, now holds Rebecca Wooden’s previous job in DNR planning, was also silent. Mr. Balcom was a part of coordinating this peat mining fiasco in the Big Bog and was part of the “team” that helped to make sure that Mr. Wilm’s concerns were not addressed in a scientific manner in the draft EIS and Final EIS.
The Red Lake Nation was never asked by Koochiching County Board of Commissioners, Congressman Jim Oberstar, nor the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources if their nation wanted to become a partner in this peat mining operation; nor was any consideration given to employing people from the Red Lake Nation to work on the “team” in creating the EIS, or to be employed in the mining operation or any of the preparatory work on roads, pallet building, etc.
Notable, also, is the fact that neither the Leech Lake Band nor the Nett Lake Band was ever consulted or informed that this EIS was being prepared even though this watershed extends to, and impacts on, their lands. These bands have historic claims to ownership of parts of the Big Bog, also. Both have lands that are dependent upon the future existence of the Big Bog in its present pristine state; economically, socially, culturally, and spiritually--- as does the Red Lake Nation--- in accordance with the United Nations’ “Millennium Statement on the Environment,” which specifically states that the protection of ecosystems is very important within this context.
In conclusion, the burning questions that any really scientific--- as Minnesota legislators and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources purport the “Pine Island Bog, Horticultural Peat Development, Koochiching County, Minnesota; Final Environmental Impact Statement of December 2001” to be--- in order to maintain any semblance of scientific integrity, three questions would have to be asked and answered in conjunction with preparing this EIS: 1.) Is the Big Bog worth more in its present pristine state economically, socially, culturally, and/or spiritually than if mined for peat? 2.) What is the Red Lake Nation’s historic opposition to the commercialization of the peatlands of northern Minnesota’s Big Bog based upon and are these concerns relevant? 3.) Who owns the Big Bog? Any scientific study would conclude that the Big Bog is an intricate, complex, and interconnected ecosystem system whose ownership can not be parceled off. This wonder of Mother Nature is jointly shared and owned by the people of the Red Lake Nation and the people of the state of Minnesota. Like any other resource shared and owned by two distinct nations, mutual agreement should be reached over the future of the Big Bog with full consultation and input from the citizenry of each. Adding to the complexity of this situation, the sovereignty of the Red Lake Nation becomes a fundamental issue.
For Gene Merriam, the Minnesota Commissioner of Natural Resources, to have issued a permit without the EIS having input from the people of the Red Lake Nation and from cultural anthropologists employing the modern scientific methodology of etics is a vile act of racism and one of the worst cases of institutional racism in modern times in the state of Minnesota. The plunder and destruction of the Big Bog ecosystem requires that we begin to consider the cooperative socialist alternative to “this damn capitalist system,” which thrives on racist, corrupt backroom deals. The time has come to place science in the service of the people and in defense of our environment rather than being used as a cover for continued capitalist pillage and plunder.
Works Cited
1. Sigurd F. Olson’s Wilderness Days. Olson, Sigurd. Alfred A. Knopf. 1972. Page 44.
2. Alan L. Maki. Personal Notes from Mesaba Co-Op Park, Midsummer Festival, Tribute to John Bernard.
3. Minnesota State Statutes: http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/arule/4410/
4. Roger Jourdain. Page 260. Patterned Peatlands of Minnesota. University of Minnesota, Commissioner of Natural Resources. 1992
5. Draft EIS
6. “Volunteer” Volumes38, 40, 45, 48: numbers 222, 239, 261, 278; “Audubon” Sept. 1981
7. MN DNR Permit to mine
8. MN DNR Prim Map, Upper Red Lake Area
9. Red Lake Nation Resolutions #186-68; 44-05; 171-2000; 226-83
10. Letter from Gerald Brun to public officials
11. Chief May quoted on 2005 Red Lake Nation Calendar
12. Chairman Roger Jourdain quoted on 2005 Red Lake Nation Calendar
13. Treasurer Dan Needham quoted on 2005 Red Lake Nation Calendar
14. Oberstar. Speech to the State DFL Convention in Duluth 2005
15. International Association of Machinists 2005 Contract with Boise Cascade. International Falls, MN
16. Freeberg and Grund files obtained by ALM from MNDNR
17. Final EIS, MN DNR
18. “Secret Is In the Soil.” Beager, Laurel. International Falls Daily Journal. Page 1. 01 March 2005
19. Collection of Letters from Dan Wilm to Minnesota DNR and public officials; along with leaflet circulated to the public obtained by ALM from Wilm.
20. Copy of “Notice” and list of publication(s) obtained from Brice
Works Consulted
MN DNR Prim Map, “Upper Red Lake Area”
Pine Island Forest Bog “Draft EIS” and “Final EIS” prepared by Minnesota Department of Natural Resources with assistance from Bemidji State University, HDR Engineering, Freeberg and Grund (Bemidji).
The Patterned Peatlands of Minnesota. Edited Wright, et al. University of Minnesota Commissioner of Natural Resources. 1992
United States Army Corps of Engineers Document, Native American History in the Mississippi
Headwaters Region. Brochure is printed and distributed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, in cooperation with The Leech Lake Reservation Heritage sites Archaeological Program.
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United Nations Environment Program. “Earth’s Ecosystems Crucial for Economic, Social, & Spiritual Stability.
Personal notes from numerous in person interviews, telephone conversations, MN DNR records, and written correspondence.
E-mails with public officials and state legislators and MN DNR personnel.
“Piles” of files in the Little Fork, Minnesota Forestry Office of the DNR as presented by Pegg Julson, the head of the office.
Numerous newspaper articles, including: International Falls Daily Journal, Duluth News, Red Lake Nation News.
Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net
