COAL MINING IN THE POWDER RIVER BASIN

1. The primary industry in the Powder River region is coal. It is the single largest source of coal mined in the United States and contains one of the largest deposits of coal in the world. Most of the active coal mining in the Powder River Basin actually takes place near the Cheyenne River. Because of the Powder River Basin, Wyoming has been the top coal-producing state in the United States since 1988. (Source: SourceWatch website) 2. The Pwder River BAsin is home to the Cheyenne tribe of Native Americans, whose lives have changed drastically as a result of the industry. The region, once home to numerous Native tribes and then family ranches, now includes numerous coal mines, power lines, rail lines, and oil and gas wells. Bison and cattle have been replaced by draglines and trucks displacing habitat 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Indigenous tribal nations in the area are affected by the pollution caused by this industry, which raises serious concerns about the protection of surface and ground water supplies, irrigation systems, wildlife, and the health and welfare of their communities. While the development has led to some environmental gains, according to the journal Race, Poverty and the Environment, most of these have benefited the coal companies themselves. The pollution caused by the coal mining has also impacted tribal life adversely. 3. According to the Powder River Basin Resource Council, air quality surrounding the Powder River Basin strip mines has drastically decreased as a result of frequent toxic emissions related to coal blasting. The advocacy group Urban Habitat asserts that the "link between unsustainable energy consumption in the Americas and the destruction and desecration of Indigenous homelands and culture is undeniable." The San Francisco Chronicle agrees: "The new coal will spew nearly 4 billion tons of carbon pollution into our air — the equivalent of building 300 new coal-fired power plants...Burning coal produces all kinds of other toxic chemicals linked to serious health problems. In fact, coal pollution contributes to four of the five leading causes of death in the United States, and is responsible for an estimated 300,000 preventable birth defects each year." According to the American Lung Association, 24,000 people a year die prematurely because of pollution from coal-fired power plants. And every year 38,000 heart attacks, 12,000 hospital admissions and an additional 550,000 asthma attacks result from power plant pollution. Coal plant polution can also trigger asthma attacks, particularly in children. Indeed, asthma strikes 1 out of every 10 school children and is the number one illness that causes kids to miss school in the United States. Children are at the greatest health risk from air pollution because they are more likely to be active outdoors and their lungs are still developing.

NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBAL GEOGRAPHY AND CULTURE

According to Wikipedia, Wyoming has been the top coal-producing state in the United States since 1988, due to the Powder River Basin, a region in northeast Wyoming and southeast Montana that is the single largest source of coal mined in the United States and contains one of the largest deposits of coal in the world. In 2007, the Powder River Basin alone produced 436 million short tons (396 million tonnes) of coal, more than twice the production of second-place West Virginia, and more than the entire Appalachian region.[7] Overall, the Powder River Basin accounts for about 37 percent of U.S. coal production. According to the Department of the Interior, twenty-five Native American reservations have coal reserves. Navajo, Hopi, and Crow lands all have coal mines. The Southern Ute, Uintah, Ouray, Fort Berthold, Northern Cheyenne, and Zuni have coal reserves with potential for development. The development of coal resources on Native American lands has been guided in part by the treaties between the federal government and native tribes. In the past, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) arranged and managed coal development land leases. The Great Basin culture area, an expansive bowl formed by the Rocky Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevadas to the west, the Columbia Plateau to the north, and the Colorado Plateau to the south, was a barren wasteland of deserts, salt flats and brackish lakes. Its people, most of whom spoke Shoshonean or Uto-Aztecan dialects (the Bannock, Paiute and Ute, for example), foraged for roots, seeds and nuts and hunted snakes, lizards and small mammals. Because they were always on the move, they lived in compact, easy-to-build wikiups made of willow poles or saplings, leaves and brush. Their settlements and social groups were impermanent, and communal leadership (what little there was) was informal. After European contact, some Great Basin groups got horses and formed equestrian hunting and raiding bands that were similar to the ones we associate with the Great Plains natives. After white prospectors discovered gold and silver in the region in the mid-19th century, most of the Great Basin’s people lost their land and, frequently, their lives.