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Exploiting the Navajos
	Tuesday, 3 December 2002 Exploiting the Navajos The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a case which disputes whether the Navajo tribe was bilked of millions of dollars by a crafty politician who was doing favors for his friends in the coal industry. It's an important case and one that will presumably affirm the notion that the federal government should not be in the business of enabling corporate parasites to exploit Indians. The case, U.S. v. Navajo Nation, revolves around a claim by the tribe that Donald P. Hodel, as Secretary of the Interior during the Reagan administration, colluded with Peabody Coal to cheat the tribe out of millions of dollars in royalties. The collusion, as a U.S. Appeals Court decision implied 15 months ago, was complex in its details but simple in its its net effect: Peabody made a pile of money on the coal it extracted from reservation land, and Navajos were paid a pittance. It wasn't supposed to work out that way, but Hodel, who was taking care of his friends, set a chain of events in motion that enriched Peabody at the Navajos' expense. He did so by ignoring an impartial government agency, the Board of Indian Appeals, which had reviewed the recommendations of other federal agencies with respect to the amount of money the coal company should pay the Navajos for the privilege of extracting coal from tribal land. A lobbyist for the coal company convinced Hodel that the recommended royalty amount was too high and too much of a burden for Peabody Coal. As a result, Hodel never bothered to tell the Navajos about the Board of Indian Appeals' decision. The royalty amount that had been recommended, and which had been upheld by the Board of Indian Appeals, was one that had been suggested by the U.S. Bureau of Mines, which presumably knew what a fair and customary royalty should be in such circumstances. However, fairness evidently was not a factor in Hodel's decision. The Navajos said Peabody had hired one of Hodel's close friends to lobby the secretary on its behalf. That worked well for Peabody. Hodel concealed the decision of the Board of Indian Appeals from the Navajos and instead suggested Peabody and Indian negotiators try to resolve the royalty issue in some other way. Hodel's duplicitous behavior cost the tribe $600 million, the Navajos said. In 1993, the tribe sued the government for that amount, claiming a breach of trust. One of the key issues the Supreme Court will have to decide is the extent of the government's responsibility to manage reservations in the best interests of the tribes. Defining that relationship between the federal government - in this case the Department of the Interior - and the tribe will likely define also the extent to which the federal government is liable for damages if it fails to manage Indian affairs in the best interest of the tribes. That relationship appears to have become increasingly complex in recent years as more responsibilities were shifted from federal agencies to tribal entities. Despite all of the changes, however, there is one constant that remains fundamental: Federal officials should not be permitted to cheat Indians. There is enough poverty on Indian reservations without officials like Hodel making matters worse. The Supreme Court, we hope, will uphold the Appeals Court findings and also compensate the Navajos for the millions of dollars in lost royalties that resulted from Hodel's underhanded dealings.
Black Mesa Indigenous Support (BMIS) works to support the sovereignty of indigenous people on Black Mesa facing forced relocation, environmental devastation, and cultural extinction at the hands of multi-national corporations, and United States and tribal governments. Feedback on BMIS Web