[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: dam-l Letters to the Editor, The Circle [Minneapolis] March 2000

Get this guy to reply to every such Schneider letter (feed him!)
We need to answer the appaling no mercury / low flooding line more
specifically if very briefly next tiime.
Great work!
----- Original Message -----
From: Ann Stewart <stewartship@visi.com>
To: Mark Anderson <mark_anderson@wellstone.senate.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2000 11:23 PM
Subject: dam-l Letters to the Editor, The Circle [Minneapolis] March 2000


> [Background: The Circle, a monthly publication which covers Native
American
> issues, published an article by reporter Eli Johnson about Cross Lake in
its
> January 2000 issue. Below is Manitoba Hydro's response which was printed
in
> February, followed by two letters in the March issue now on the stands.
>
>
> [February 2000]
>
> A good neighbor
>
> A recent article in The Circle implied that Minnesotans were enjoying
> electricity generated in Canada at the expense of the environment and the
> Cross Lake First Nation. Unfortunately your readers did not get an
accurate
> or complete story.
>
> Manitoba Hydro projects, built more than 20 years ago, had an impact on
the
> environment and the communities adjacent to some northern Manitoba
> waterways. But that impact does not approach the levels described in the
> story. Furthermore we have taken significant action to address adverse
> environmental impacts and compensate the neighboring communities.
> We continue to work with the Cross Lake Cree to implement the Northern
Flood
> Agreement, which provides, among other things, compensation to the First
> Nations. Our disagreement with that community is an anomaly. We have
> successful working implementation agreements with four of the five First
> Nations who are part of the Northern Flood Agreement.
>
> Several years ago we were close to signing an implementation agreement
with
> the previous leadership from the Cross Lake First Nation worth nearly $110
> million. However, new leadership decided to reject the agreement because
it
> didn't solve the community's pre-existing and unfortunate social problems,
> such as unemployment and poverty. Solving those long-standing issues is
> beyond our ability and beyond the scope of the Northern Flood Agreement.
> We've also developed and funded natural resources programs that help the
> Cross Lake Cree continue with their traditions of hunting and fishing.
>
> Methyl mercury was never an issue at Cross Lake; residents have never been
> advised to control or limit their consumption of fish for this reason.
>
> Despite our differences, we remain committed to negotiating with the Cross
> Lake First Nation in an attempt to find a solution. For more information
> please call our offices at 204-474-3535 (collect) or visit our Web site at
> <www.hydro.mb.ca>.
>
> Yours truly,
> Glenn P. Schneider
> Manager, Public Affairs, Manitoba Hydro
>
>
> [March 2000]
>
> Manitoba Hydro project called a "moral and ecological catastrophe"
>
> Glenn Schneider, manager of Public Affairs for Manitoba Hydro, misses the
> point in a letter to the editor in February's Circle.
>
> Manitoba Hydro, a fully state-owned utility, sells electricity to
> Minnesotans from a hydroelectric project it constructed 20-odd years ago
in
> a fragile sub-Arctic environment. The cheap electricity it sells to
> Minnesotans comes at a very high cost: the ecological damage to a North
> American boreal forest and river system; the economic, social and
> psychological damage to Cree Indians whose hunting and fishing way of life
> and cultural landmarks have been destroyed by flooding; and the
undercutting
> of Minnesota's innovative environmentalists who have worked for years to
> convince their utilities, legislators and public utilities commissioners
> that it's better and cheaper in the long run, to invest in efficiency,
wind
> power, solar power and gas-fired cogeneration in the Midwest.
>
> The self-serving protestations by Manitoba Hydro that it is a "good
> neighbor," that it is improving/conserving the environment, and that it is
> benefiting/protecting the rights of Manitoba's indigenous peoples by
paying
> sums of compensation simply do not ring true. More credible is the 1999
> finding by a church-sponsored Canadian inquiry that Manitoba Hydro's
project
> is a "moral and ecological catastrophe." Sadly, this catastrophe is one in
> which all Minnesotans have been made complicit.
>
> Ann Stewart
> US Information Officer, Minneapolis
> Pimicikamak Cree Nation
>
>
> Minnesotans complicit in destruction of Cree lands
>
> I would like to thank Eli Johnson for persuasively exposing me to the
> crucial issues of hydropower and the environmental and social costs of
NSP's
> power purchases form Manitoba Hydro ("Trail of NSP's hydro power leads to
> destruction in Cree country" Jan. 2000). Clearly, nature has bestowed what
> has historically been Cree land with an enormous hydrological energy
> potential in northern Manitoba. Needless to say, in a spiritual as well as
> material sense, this Indian land, which includes its rivers, was always a
> form of Native wealth. Ironically, this wealth has recently generated the
> Crees' social and spiritual poverty by nourishing the prosperity of
others.
> And these "open veins" -- to use Eduardo Galeano's metaphor -- link me and
> every other Minnesotan to not only the destruction of Cree lands, but also
> to the alcoholism, domestic violence and suicides that Native elders
> attribute to this destruction. Perhaps it's arguable, moreover, that
> Minnesotans are complicit in yet another holocaust, for, in substance, it
> seems like the Corss Lake Crees have been assigned the status of
> "expendable."
>
> When confronted with the history of North American Indian policy, many of
us
> European-Americans submit this retort: "I refuse to take responsibility
for
> the sins of my ancestors. I have never harmed any Indians, and I will only
> take responsibility for those things that I can control." Fair enough.
>
> What is happening to the Pimicikamak Crees, however, is happening now --
not
> in 1492, 1862 or 1890. Therefore, as a non-Indian, this time I cannot
blame
> my ancestors. If I sit idly by while the Cross Lake Crees struggle to
fight
> off greater manipulation of the Nelson Rriver, if I let it happen this
time,
> the blood is on my hands. And the hands of every other Minnesotan who
> chooses to look the other way.
>
> Kevin Sands O'Brien
> (Irish/German/English American)
> Minneapolis
>
>
>
>
>
>
Follow-Ups: References: