Make a tax-deductible contribution 
to help cover costs of the Nashville lawsuit. 
 

Sign on to letter to Attorney General Doyle. 
urging him to drop the lawsuit to block Mole Lake's 
power to protect its water quality and wild rice. 
 

****Please post and distribute widely**** 
       Please distribute to groups without e-mail 

 
From the Midwest Treaty Network, 
Wolf Watershed Educational Project, 
Mining Impact Coalition of Wisconsin, 
 
and EarthWINS 

Monday, 01 Feb 1999 15:04:23 -0600 

Your support is needed NOW in critical legal cases 
involving two northern Wisconsin communities 
resisting Rio Algom's proposed Crandon metallic 
sulfide mine.  The mine would be located partly 
within the Town of Nashville in Forest County 
(about 100 miles northwest of Green Bay), which 
includes the Mole Lake Sokaogon Chippewa 
Reservation. 

Nashville and Mole Lake residents are concerned 
about the future of their drinking water and wild 
rice beds, if the shaft mine releases sulfuric 
acid wastes or reduces the groundwater table. 
(For background and maps on the Crandon mine, see 
http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/content.html , 
including the state Mining Moratorium law at 
http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/minelaw.html ) 

*NASHVILLE voters in 1997 ousted their pro-mine 
town board after it made a Local Agreement with 
the mining company, and voted in a new town 
board that voted to rescind the Agreement.  The new 
board has gone to court to prove that the Agreement 
had been reached illegally, in violation of open- 
meetings laws, and the company is expected to 
sue the town in return.  In a positive example of 
interethnic cooperation, the Nashville board has 
been working closely with the Mole Lake Chippewa-- 
both to protect their common land and to secure 
more appropriate economic development. (See 
http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/nash-twn.html ) 

*THE MOLE LAKE CHIPPEWA in 1995 secured 
enhanced regulatory authority to protect their 
reservation's water quality under the federal Clean 
Water Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) granted the tribe "Treatment-As-State" (TAS) 
status, which gives the tribe to set its own water 
quality standards and grant certain permits--powers 
previously afforded only to states.  Now, Wisconsin 
Attorney General James E. Doyle is suing the EPA 
to rescind Mole Lake's TAS status. In so doing, the 
State is attempting to prevent one of its own 
communities from protecting its clean water and 
cultural resources. The tribe's wild rice beds are 
the center of its ancient cultural heritage, and 
should be a treasure for all citizens of the state. 
The state's legal action singles out a small tribe 
that is at potential risk from water contamination, 
in a clear case of environmental racism. In Wisconsin, 
cultural genocide is apparently not a relic of the past. 
Citizens need to send a message that the state lawsuit 
does not represent them, and only serves the 
interests of mining companies. 
(See Cultural Impacts of the Crandon Mine at 
http://www.alphacdc.com/treaty/mtn-cnx3.html ) 

****************************************** 

If the Nashville town board or Mole Lake Chippewa 
prevail in these two legal cases, their authority alone 
may be able to stop the Crandon mine. We are asking 
groups concerned about the environment, cultural 
preservation, or human rights to IMMEDIATELY 
take two actions: 

1. Please make a tax-deductible contribution to cover 
costs of the Nashville lawsuit.  Make the check out to 
"Town of Nashville Legal Defense Fund" and send to: 
  
    Town of Nashville Legal Defense Fund, 
      c/o Chuck Sleeter / Joanne Tacopina 
      P.O. Box 106 
      Pickerel, WI 54465 

Any donation would help, and benefits can also 
help educate the public about the local battle 
against the Crandon mine. 

2. Have your group sign on to the letter below 
to State Attorney General James Doyle, urging him 
to drop the lawsuit that would block Mole Lake's 
power to protect its water quality and wild rice. 
The letter will also be released to the media in 
March. Send your group's name, contact person, 
rough membership numbers, address, phone, 
and e-mail BY MARCH 1st to: 

      Wolf Watershed Educational Project 
      c/o Midwest Treaty Network 
      731 State Street 
      Madison, WI 53703 
      E-mail:  
      Tel./Fax (608) 246-2256 [days] 

***************************************** 

Dear Attorney General Doyle, 

We support the attempts by Wisconsin Indian tribes 
to obtain and maintain Treatment-As-State (TAS) 
environmental standards, and further respect the 
authority granted by Congress to the EPA to recognize 
TAS status.  We insist that agreements entered into 
by Wisconsin officials and tribes never undermine 
the legal authority of tribal governments to protect 
the health and well-being of their respective 
tribal members or tribal lands, waters, or air.  We 
respectfully request you to drop all current state 
lawsuits against the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) with respect to already granted TAS 
status, and refrain from future lawsuits which 
attempt to undermine the sovereignty of Wisconsin's 
Native American nations. 

Congress has acted under federal environmental 
statutes to authorize the EPA to delegate to Indian 
tribes specific enforcement and regulatory authority 
to the same or a similar degree as is delegated by the 
EPA to the states. 

The Clean Water Act sets the standards governing the 
water quality that must be maintained or achieved in 
rivers and other navigable waters, and requires 
dischargers into these waters to obtain permits 
imposing maximum levels of allowable pollutants. 
In 1987, Congress amended the Act and authorized 
the EPA to delegate to a qualifying tribe regulatory 
authority to set water quality standards under 
Section 303, to grant permits for dredging and 
filling under Section 404, and grant discharge permits 
the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. 
In 1986, Congress had similarly amended the Safe 
Water Drinking Act to allow the EPA to to delegate 
to a tribe primary enforcement authority over 
underground injection well regulation or other 
program enforcement. 

The Clean Air Act is the principal federal statute 
regulating emissions into the nation's air, and 
functions primarily by requiring sources of air 
pollutants to obtain new source or operating permits. 
In 1990, Congress amended the Act to authorize the 
EPA Administrator to treat tribes as states whenever 
tribes are capable of carrying out those functions. 

Many of Wisconsin's 11 federally recognized tribes 
are seeking or have obtained TAS status from the EPA, 
in an attempt to protect their reservation waters or 
air from polluting industries such as mines, coal- 
burning power plants, and paper mills.  Yet state 
agencies and officials appear to prefer economic 
interests over the human and sovereign rights of 
indigenous peoples, their traditional means of 
subsistence, their right to development, and their 
sacred relationship with the land, water, and air. 

We ask you, Governor Tommy Thompson, and 
Department of Natural Resources Secretary George 
Meyer to stop blocking attempts by Wisconsin tribes 
to obtain or maintain TAS status. We oppose any 
pressure on the tribes to give up their pursuit of 
TAS status in return for gaming rights. We feel 
that you are wrongly representing Wisconsin 
citizens by vowing to sue the EPA when any tribe 
successfully achieves TAS status, and by claiming 
that only the state government has sovereign 
authority over the air and navigable waters of 
Indian reservations. 

We particularly oppose your lawsuit against EPA 
for granting TAS status in 1995 to the Mole Lake 
Sokaogon Chippewa Community.  The tribe is 
attempting to protect its drinking water and 
wild rice beds from the potential threat of acid 
mine drainage and groundwater drawdown.  We 
feel that the lawsuit represents only the interests 
of the Rio Algom mining company in opening its 
proposed Crandon mine adjacent to the reservation. 
The State of Wisconsin is attempting to prevent 
one of its own communities from protecting its 
clean water and cultural resources.  The tribe's 
wild rice beds are the mainstay of its ancient 
cultural heritage, and should be a treasure 
for all citizens of the state.  Your legal action 
singles out a small tribe that is at potential 
risk from water contamination, and in doing so 
fits the criteria of environmental racism. 

We strongly feel that Wisconsin should initiate 
a respectful government-to-government 
relationship with tribes to protect our 
common resources. In the 21st century, 
we should not be repeating the cultural 
genocide of the 19th century. 

Signed 

Please sign and send your group's name, contact person, 
rough membership numbers, address, phone, 
and e-mail BY MARCH 1st to: 

      Wolf Watershed Educational Project 
      c/o Midwest Treaty Network 
      731 State Street 
      Madison, WI 53703 
      E-mail:  
      Tel./Fax (608) 246-2256 [days] 
 

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