As you consider the resolution asking the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to expand their environmental impact statement for the proposed Millennium Bulk Terminals to include Missoula, we ask that you take a moment to consider the impacts your action may have on the Crow Tribe.

Opportunities for job creation and investment in Montana’s Indian Country are frustratingly scarce. Today, the Crow Tribe has a rare window of opportunity before it, and we are doing everything in our power to take advantage of it before that window closes.

Our Crow Land sits on 9 billion tons of coal. We’ve recently received concurrence to lease 1.4 billion tons of that coal for production, which will result in substantial long-term revenues for the Crow Tribe. If we succeed in developing a new mine, hundreds of new jobs will be created. With unemployment at nearly 50 percent on our reservation, those jobs are sorely needed. For the Crow people, there are no jobs that compare to a coal job – the wages and benefits exceed anything else that is available. All of this tribal revenue and employment income will be immediately circulated and multiplied within the economy of southeastern Montana.