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People Of Coal-Rich Northern Cheyenne Torn Between Jobs And Sacred Culture

Lame Deer, Mont., is the capital of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe. The community is struggling with how to build a sustainable economy while preserving the culture and environment of the reservation.

The Northern Cheyenne Reservation sits on one of the richest coal deposits in the country. There are billions of tons of the black rock buried underneath Littlebird, Lame Deer and the surrounding pine-dotted prairie. 

But despite high unemployment and systemic poverty, the Northern Cheyenne Tribe has never touched the coal. Most recently, it even sued the Trump administration for opening up the opportunity for new coal development in its corner of southeastern Montana.

Unemployment  is estimated from 25 to 90%, with drugs, alcohol, suicide due to poverty.  

Many believe that coal extraction is the only path ut, but others refuse to preserve the culture.

Who is right?

http://www.npr.org/2017/06/25/533982860/people-of-coal-rich-northern-cheyenne-torn-between-jobs-and-sacred-culture

northsouthkorea

Preserving culture is much more important as it can lead to great discoveries.

We have plenty of coal as it is and the source is not very efficient or popular. It's a huge trade off which isn't worth.

CuriousGeorge

@northsouthkorea, i disagree. These people live in poverty with 90% unemployment. Drugs, suicide can all stop if they start extracting coal

MayCaesar

Culture should serve the society, not prevent it from reaching its potential. In itself, culture has no worth; its worth purely comes from how it affects the society, and if it affects it in a way that impairs it economically, then this culture needs to evolve.

I do not have too much knowledge regarding The Northern Cheyenne Reservation, but from the photos I can find on the Internet, this is a pretty bleak place, struggling with significant poverty, trash disposal problem, clean water, etc. Hopping on the opportunity Trump's administration opened up for them could reverse the situation dramatically, transforming this reservation into one of the wealthiest territories in the US. And while I understand the argument that "It is not all about money for these tribes", everybody wants to live well and comfortable, regardless of how ascetic their system of values is.

They could build a coal-extracting infrastructure, then relocate to the area that does not have coal in it, while taking proceedings from the coal sales. The US is large, there is a lot of unclaimed territories - but an opportunity like this does not come every day, so better use it now, before coal becomes irrelevant due to new sources of fuel popularized.

WordsMatter

I say no, don't start extracting the coal. However that view has nothing to do with culture. Cultures are constantly changing and if the in group wants to do something that will change it's culture then that's their perogative. The only time a discussion on preserving culture is really warranted is when an outside group is driving the change. I don't think they should extract the coal because it isn't a long term solution. With modern technology when natural resource extraction sites open up they tend to provide more jobs for people outside of the community, which admittedly still has some positive impact on the local economy. Second, we see how many coal towns suffer from these exact same issues because the industry became less sustainable and extraction had to be cut back to stay competitive. I think different solutions should be looked for before just jumping all in on coal.