"Tex Hall is eager to bring a synfuels refinery and other tribal energy resources into the market. ''The tribe is concerned about delays ... We really want to work with our senators and kick-start the regulatory and funding process to get the new Indian energy programs under way,'' Hall explained at an early October meeting with the Crow and Fort Peck tribes. At the meeting, Hall proposed the northern tribes consider a strategic formal alliance on energy and economic development. ''Our tribes are rich in energy resources,'' he said.

Wes Martel, a former tribal council member of the Wind River reservation, echoed his sentiments. ''We're here to support Tex's tribal economic alliance,'' he said, adding that tribes can't depend on federal agencies.

At stake is a flagship project at Three Affiliated Tribes and, potentially, a large number of other projects in the region as tribes grapple with options from the fossil fuel or the renewable energy economy. The proposed $80 million Makoti synfuels oil refinery will be sited on the Fort Berthold Reservation, employing some 300 construction workers and providing 80 full time jobs. The tribe has approved a lease for this land, as well as 200 acres to oil companies. The draft environmental impact study was released just this past month.

There haven't been any new oil refineries built in the United States for the past 30 years, for some pretty good reasons. First, the United States doesn't have that much oil; it imports 60 percent of its fuel. Then there are the vast environmental problems with oil refineries.

The Three Affiliated Tribes erected a 65-kilowatt wind turbine near their Four Bears Casino. The reality is that by using the political power Hall has, and the market economy, Three Affiliated Tribes could leverage a much larger wind project of 80 megawatts and could, for instance, leverage an ethanol refinery.

That is on the drawing board, but on a far-back burner. ''We've got close to 200,000 acres we can till up and produce crops for ethanol,'' Hall noted. In other words, a synfuels refinery could be part of the leadership for a new energy economy - moving both North Dakota and North America into a renewable fuels economy, not a Jurassic energy economy."

Get the Story:
Winona LaDuke: Three Affiliated Tribes at a crossroads: Which energy path? (Indian Country Today 3/31)

Relevant Links:
Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation - http://www.mhanation.com

Related Stories:
BIA to hold public hearing on tribe's oil refinery (10/20)
N.D. tribe to avoid burial sites in quest for oil (03/10)
Reservation residents oppose proposed oil refinery (03/10)
N.D. tribe invests in $80 million refinery (03/14)