Opinion

Opinion: Quechan Nation faces media criticism for energy lawsuit

Monday, January 31, 2011

"Recently, Native American tribes’ opposition to solar projects has been well – although inaccurately – documented. The media coverage is the result of a San Diego Federal District Court’s decision[1] where the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation (Quechan) sought and successfully obtained an injunction against the US Department of Interior's (DOI) approval of a 709-megawatt solar farm planned for more than 6,000 acres of public land in the desert in California’s Imperial valley. If built, the project would have been one of the largest solar facilities in the Nation. Today, the “Imperial project” is dead in the water.

A storm of media criticism has been levied upon the Quechan for not “supporting” the project. After all, as stewards of the earth, Indians are supposed to love alternative energy, right? Some commentators[2] have used the fact that the tribe’s casino uses traditional energy to vilify the tribe’s environmental record. One article in the Solar Home & Business Journal,[3] suggested that the tribe does not actually care about its cultural resources, as the site of their “casino was considered sacred and contained precious cultural artifacts” but the “[b]ulldozers ‘roared into action’ despite the elders’ objections . . . .” Other coverage appears to be more evenhanded. A recent article in the San Diego Daily Transcript[4] characterized the Quechan suit as “clearly epitomiz[ing] how the conflicting priorities of ancient tradition and modern urgent necessity are juxtaposed.” Ultimately, that author concluded that his “sympathies are divided between the legitimate needs of the tribes” to preserve their ancient sites and artifacts “and the imperative to quickly respond to climate change.”

These analysis are over-simplified and create a false dichotomy that has nothing to do with the issues involved in the Quechan suit.

The lands at issue in Quechan involved public lands managed by the BLM, containing an estimated 459 “cultural resources,” many of which were of significance to the tribe. All parties agreed that the cultural resources were legitimate, and that the lands had a “history of extensive use by Native American groups.” The tribe’s complaint alleged that the BLM “reached its approval decision prior to evaluating the eligibility of cultural resources identified in the project area and without engaging required consultation with tribes” pursuant to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Protection Act, and various other procedural laws."

Get the Story:
Ryan D. Dreveskracht: Enlightening Quechan Tribe v. U.S. Department of Interior (The Native American Times 1/31)