Great Plains Tribal Chairman's Association (SD) Resolution Opposing Uranium Mining

Type: Resolution

Status: Adopted on 7/9/07

Source File: http://www.defendblackhills.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=27

Text:

Resolution No. 03-07-09-07
RESOLUTION OF THE GREAT PLAINS TRIBAL CHAIRMAN’S ASSOCIATION (GPTCA)

Re: Protection of our Reservation Homelands and Natural Resources
The purpose of this Resolution is to ensure that no damage will come to our Reservation Homelands, the people, the culture, and the environment including the air and water, and economy of the Tribes of the Great Plains because of uranium mining or other contaminants or processing in the region of the Upper Midwestern United States.

WHEREAS, the Great Plains (formerly Aberdeen Area) Tribal Chairman’s Association(GPTCA) is composed of the elected Chairs and Presidents of the Sovereign Indian Tribes and Nations recognized by Treaties with the United States that are within the Great Plains Region of the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and

WHEREAS, the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association was formed to promote the common interests of the sovereign Tribes and Nations and their members of the Great Plains Region; and

WHEREAS, the United States has obligated itself both through Treaties entered into with the sovereign Tribes and Nations of the Great Plains Region and through its own federal statutes, the Snyder Act of 1921 as amended, the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1976 as amended, and the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 1976 as amended; and

WHEREAS, The sovereign Tribes and Nation of the GPTCA traditionally has placed the highest regard on the wise and sustainable use of the natural resources and remains a matter of paramount governmental interest to the Tribal Nations as a fundamental exercise of Tribal sovereignty, and

WHEREAS, The GPTCA supports preserving and protecting all of the natural resources on our Reservation Homelands especially the air, water and earth as these resources are the foundation of life, and

WHEREAS, The GPTCA affirms that it is the duty and responsibility of the Tribes to protect and preserve the natural world in its purest form for the life of future generations, and

WHEREAS, The GPTCA upholds the right and freedom of the people to be respected,honored and protected with a healthy physical and mental environment, and,

WHEREAS, The GPTCA finds that there is a reasonable expectation that future mining and processing of uranium in the region of the Upper Midwestern United States will generate economic hardships for the Tribes and their People, including but not limited to the potential damage to the land,air, water, vegetation, and other natural resources, and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, the GPTCA declares the Indian Reservation Homelands should be safe and free from mining, processing uranium and other harmful effects from contaminates, and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the GPTCA declares the Reservation Homelands to be nuclear-free areas for the protection of the people and the Natural Resources of the Tribe, and

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the GPTCA affirms that any person, agency or entity including federal, state, and county governments, or corporations, businesses or companies who shall cause any nuclear pollution, or contamination to enter the confines of the Indian Reservation Homelands should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, and

NOW, BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association calls upon all other Tribes and Indian Nations to join with us to protect our Reservation Homelands, to ensure that no damage will come to the people, the culture, the environment including the air and water and economy of the Tribes of the Great Plains because of uranium mining or other processing of contaminants in the region of the Great Plains Region.